Sap Is Really Sticky….

 

The author’s toiletries bag

Did you ever feel like you missed the memo?

I spend a lot of time in Algonquin Provincial Park and one thing that I have noticed is that there are a lot, A LOT, of pine trees there.  Where there are pine trees, there is SAP!  A lot of sap and every last bit of it is sticky, and it doesn’t wash off and it gets all over everything…did I mention that sap is really sticky!

So anyways, I am in the middle of the park when a guide friend of mine says, “Oh by the way, isopropyl alcohol gets pine sap off”.  I am left thinking “What? How did I not know this, did I miss the memo…”.

Now at least half of you are saying to yourself right now, “Wow, I can’t believe he didn’t know that”.  The rest of you are saying, “What? I didn’t know that”.

To get pine sap off your skin, rub some alcohol or hand sanitizer on your skin until it loosens and then rinse it away.  If it has gotten on your clothes or your sleeping bag or tent, carefully scrape the sap away (or put it into a freezer, if it fits and one is available) and then rub alcohol on the remaining spot with a cotton ball or rag and rinse thoroughly and wash as usual.

So, the hand sanitizer that you keep in your toiletries bag, with the toilet paper and the benzyl chloride baby wipes, actually does double duty.  It will get your hands, oh, so germ free and it will remove that really sticky, impossible to get off by any other means, pine sap.

References:

Eddie Carrara , “How To Remove Tree Sap From Anything”, https://dengarden.com/cleaning/removepinepitch, (accessed 9/15/2018)

Katie Herrel, “How Do I Get Sap Off My Gear?”, https://www.backpacker.com/gear/how-do-i-get-sap-off-my-gear, (accessed 9/21/2018)

“How to Clean a Tent”, https://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/how-to-clean-a-tent.html, (accessed 9/21/2018)