Water and sauna

Because we are on BLM land here at Toolik, all grey water (used water from toilets, showers, dish-washing, hand-washing, and everything else) has to be trucked out of here at enormous expense. So efforts to conserve water are constant. There are "towers" (raised outhouses/drop toilets) in a bunch of places around camp, and we are highly encouraged to use those rather than the the few flush toilets available. Lots of us don't have water in our housing areas and keep pee bottles in our rooms that we can empty into the latrines as needed. Letting yellow mellow is the standard for when we do use the flush toilets. And showers are very limited. The standard is two, two-minute showers per week. 

To help keep water use low without us all stinking terribly all the time, there is a completely fantastic lakeside sauna that is fired up at least twice per week. There are men's hours, women's hours, and then co-ed hours. The idea is to go into the sauna and sweat it out for as long as you like...

...and then go outside onto the deck (protected from view of the rest of the station, so that anyone who wants can do this whole process au naturale), soap up with diluted Dr. Bronner's, and then use water pumped up directly from the lake (and heated in the sauna in pitchers with you, if you like) and use that to rinse off. I LOVE outdoor showers and this version of that really takes the cake. What a view!

I felt like a million bucks--clean, ruddy-cheeked from the heat of the sauna--as I made my way back through camp, with million-dollar views in every direction.

Sauna time was the first camp activity I participated in after arriving and it was such a great experience, I plan to be there whenever it's offered from now on. Well, until the bugs come out in force in the summer. Then we'll see. :)