Camp Sanitation & Health · 7 min
Food, water and camp cleanliness
Why this matters
197.6(c)(3) puts camp cleanliness and waste disposal on the camping exam by name. It is also how you avoid the two things that ruin a multi-day trip: everyone ill, and a bear in camp.
By the end of this lesson you will be able to
- Run food hygiene for a group in the field
- Store food correctly, including where canisters are required
- State the waterborne diseases of concern in New York and their prevention
Food hygiene for a group
- One person cooks, and they wash their hands first. Fewer hands in the pot is fewer routes for illness
- Keep raw meat separate and cook it through. A thermometer weighs nothing
- Serve into individual bowls rather than letting everyone dip into the pot
- Watch the temperature window: fresh food does not keep for days in a July pack
- Wash up promptly and properly. A greasy pot left overnight is both a hygiene problem and a bear attractant
Food storage and wildlife
New York has a healthy black bear population, and Adirondack bears in high-use corridors are experienced at getting food from people.
- Bear-resistant canisters are legally required in the Eastern High Peaks Zone from 1 April to 30 November for all food, food containers, garbage and toiletries. Elsewhere they are strongly recommended and often the only thing that works
- Hanging is far less reliable than it looks and most hangs fail. If you hang, it must be well out from the trunk and well below the branch, and even a good hang loses to a determined Adirondack bear
- Cook and eat away from where you sleep, and store food away from both
- Nothing scented in the tent: toothpaste, sunscreen, lip balm, wrappers, the shirt you spilled dinner on
- Never leave food unattended, including a pack at a summit or a boat at a landing
Smaller animals do more damage in practice. Mice and red squirrels will chew through a pack for a wrapper, and raccoons at road-accessible sites are professionals.
Rubbish
Everything out, including food scraps, orange peel, eggshells, tea bags and the bacon grease. "It is natural, it will rot" is how a site becomes a rubbish pit and how animals learn where the food is. Carry a dedicated rubbish bag, and pick up what other people left: it takes a minute and it is the clearest signal of professionalism your clients will see.
The waterborne diseases
| Organism | Illness | Prevention |
|---|---|---|
| Giardia lamblia | Diarrhoea, cramps, bloating, often a week or two after exposure | Filter (0.2 micron), boil, or chlorine dioxide |
| Cryptosporidium | Similar, often more severe | Filter or boil. Resistant to iodine |
| Bacteria (Campylobacter, E. coli) | Acute gastrointestinal illness | Any of the three methods |
| Norovirus | Violent vomiting and diarrhoea, spreads explosively in groups | Hand hygiene. Water treatment does not address the usual route |
Note the last line. The illness most likely to take out an entire guided party is the one that travels on hands, not in the water bottle.
From the field
Two clients go down with vomiting on night two of a four-day trip. It is not the water: you treated all of it. It is far more likely someone came into camp with a virus and the cook pot spread it. You isolate the sick, stop shared serving, enforce hand washing, push fluids, and make the call about whether the trip continues.
This lesson is part of the NYS Licensed Guide Exam course. Open it in the course to answer the retrieval checks that go with it, track what you have read, and quiz the whole unit. Lessons, quizzes and the glossary are free.