View Full Version : rain tarp?
Pickleodeon
11-23-2008, 11:38
Is a rain tarp necessary? My question is, how do you cook when it's pouring and windy? Do any of you carry a small tarp to hang up, or is it a waste of weight? and if you don't, what do you do in the rain? just wear a rain jacket? Thanks.
SawnieRobertson
11-23-2008, 11:50
You'll probably be in or pass by a shelter where you can take your hot meal during the day. If it is r-e-a-l-l-y pouring, you may even set up housekeeping in one for the duration. Even if you are tenting/hammocking, you can go to the nearby shelter to do your cooking and talk with the others who are crouching in their sleeping bags. None of my food HAS to be cooked or heated. In fact, the MH turkey tetrazinni that I love tastes good cold, warm, or hot. It's okay. You are hungry. You will eat anything. But about the tarp, for section hiking I loved it until it was stolen. For serious thru-ing, I would not want the weight. Even Band-Aids get intolerably heavy.--Kinnickinic
If you carry a tarp for your shelter - problem solved.
Most tents will have some type of vestibule that can be used for cooking if you use caution.
On the AT, most folks use the shelters for cooking even if they don't sleep in them.
I'm sure some folks carry a small tarp, but most choose to forego the added weight.
Unless it's pouring, you can usually cook right in the rain. I've done it a number of times. Alcohol stoves can get put out from water dripping on them, but if you have a large pot, it most likely will shield the stove from water drops. Filling and starting the stove can be done by just leaning over the stove until you light it. If you have a cannister or liquid fuel (white gas or kerosene) it's even easier. The hardest thing about it is keeping the striker on your lighter dry.
You may find yourself hiking from landmark-to-landmark and stopping beyond them for breaks, meals and to camp. My meals were ordinarily only hot in the morning and evening.
Once days became longer and warmer, breakfast was more often than not cold and on the trail often at my first break 200 feet or more beyond the first water source.
While hiking, I snacked on cold food when I took breaks.
My evening meal was with few exceptions hot and ordinarily required almost an hour to prepare. I had other things I could prepare quickly when the weather was foul or I didn't have that much time to devote to cooking.
Remember, options are good. Keep it simple, but be remain flexible.