Be an Anti-Dirtbag With These Clever Portable Camp Showers

Field magazine

Camp Shower Testing Criteria

How I Tested Each Product

I tested the following showers on several car camping trips in Wyoming’s Bridger Teton National Forest. For the more versatile showers, like the WaterPORT, Yakima, and Nemo, I also tested their gear-cleaning abilities after a few dirtier packraft and bike day trips.

I evaluated the showers for their capacities, water pressure, heating time, and ease of use and made my decisions based on their performance in these categories.

Budget

There’s no shortage of portable camping shower options on the market these days, but the price of some of these systems is admittedly pretty steep—take the $550 RoadShower for example, a great design that’s realistically way out of most people’s budgets (there’s a reason so many people make DIY versions with PVC pipes). For this reason, I focused most mof my efforts on testing outdoor shower options in the $50-$150 range. I find this range strikes the best balance of value and use, though you definitely sacrifice some of the luxuries of the heater and roof-mounted systems.

Environment

Another major consideration is what kind of environment you live in or will be traveling in. I found that gravity showers simply do not work with the trees where I live—the lodgepole pines and aspens in Wyoming have high, useless little branches and the junipers and pinyons in Utah are just not tall enough. I hadn’t considered this before starting this project, but gravity showers strike me as something that only work if you have big sturdy Midwest or East Coast trees from which to hang them. Or if you have ample time to search for the perfect tree and campsite, which frankly, I don’t. Like all camp gear, what constitutes “the best” is personal and subjective, so keep that in mind.

Type of Shower

If you’re looking for a versatile shower that you can use car camping and backpacking, then the propane and roof-mounted showers aren’t for you. Conversely, if you want a pressurized shower that can clean your camping gear or one that gets hot enough to rinse your oily dishes, then the more basic gravity showers probably won’t be very useful.

With all that said, I did my best to cover a range of styles, types, and designs for a range of uses. Read on for my top picks.