bring your own cooking stoves, food or share?

[pattihm]

Hi all,

I'm a new member, and a beginning backpacker. I've done a lot of camping via canoe, kayak, oh and pop-up; in the boundary waters of Minnesota and the Everglades of Florida, but I have never backpack camped.

Anyway, in my search for information, I was wondering when two or more hikers are traveling together is it usual that one set of cooking stoves, food etc., is packed or do individual members pack their own equipment, cook their own meals etc? On the one hand redundancy is probably not a bad thing, as long as it's not adding too much weight; yet bringing only one set of equipment among two or three hikers would allow for more food.

Thanks in advance

Patti

[SGT Rock]

Well that is sort of an opinion and style thing. There are a lot of variations. I personally take my own stove and pot even when hiking with others, but my pot and stove are VERY light. If you were hiking with a heavy stove then ganging up is a good idea.

[minnesotasmith]

But, I keep reading over and over on trail journals how people bail out of going on a thru-hike at all, give the Trail a try but drop out after only a few days of hiking, hike at highly different daily mileages, have starkly different attitudes towards how long to spend in towns or what weather is not worth hiking through, etc., etc. To me, it sounds as if more people than not who plan to hike the AT together will find that they cannot make that work. Plus, of course, if you get separated, plans to meet up at a certain point at night (to camp & cook) may go awry due to many causes (injury, either of you missing a turn, not seeing a shelter sign, weather, or just getting tired sooner that day than planned, so not hiking to the promised rendezvous point). Thus, IMO, it seems each person should pack every day as if they were hiking alone.

[pattihm]

Thus, IMO, it seems each person should pack every day as if they were hiking alone.

Well, it sounds as if you and SGT ROCK are in the same ballpark, and I have to admit that makes sense to me as well. I was talking to the friends I'd be hiking with and the question came up.

Thanks, looking forward to other replies.

Oh, Minnesotasmith . . . moved to NC from MN myself. Weather's a tad milder :jump

[minnesotasmith]

"moved to NC from MN myself. Weather's a tad milder"

Not during May - October, it's not! (I moved here for family reasons, not BC I thought the climate was an improvement.) FWIW, both of the two big hikes I have in mind to do after the AT are in Alaska, and I want to do a substantial portion of the my AT thru-hike during winter (no bugs, no snakes, no crowded shelters, less sweat in my eyes, and it'll be a less usual way to have hiked the AT).

OTOH, the food and the gun laws are better in the South.

[Hammock Hanger]

Hi all,

I'm a new member, and a beginning backpacker. I've done a lot of camping via canoe, kayak, oh and pop-up; in the boundary waters of Minnesota and the Everglades of Florida, but I have never backpack camped.

Anyway, in my search for information, I was wondering when two or more hikers are traveling together is it usual that one set of cooking stoves, food etc., is packed or do individual members pack their own equipment, cook their own meals etc? On the one hand redundancy is probably not a bad thing, as long as it's not adding too much weight; yet bringing only one set of equipment among two or three hikers would allow for more food.

Thanks in advance

Patti
The only time I will do this is if my hiking partner is my husband. If you are doing a small section with a close friend and absolutely know that you are gong to start together, stay together every night and finish together, sharing is fine. The thing with long distance hiking is partners who start together do not always stay together. One may want to hike further then the other, sharing restricts each hiker from doing his/her own thing. One either has tohike slow or one has to push harder.-- It use to be the rule of thumb to split gear up and par down as a way of reducing the weight. Now a days with lighter gear it is not needed as much. -- I personally always carry everything I need in my pack so I can hike MY own hike. (Unless of course I'm with my husband... well actually the last two hikes with him I carried all my gear as well. He cooked on his big stove I cooked on my pepsi can, he slept in the tent I slept in the hammock. Guess I'm just use to my way and like my gear.:rolleyes: )

Sue/HH

[Stuart]

Bring your own unless you are hiking with someone close enough to you to eat out of the same pot, in which case you are probably with an inseparable partner, then sharing a kitchen begins to make more sense, i.e. share food, stove, pot, fuel.

[Jaybird]

Patti:

like the good Sarge said...it's ALL about preference...

i got a 3 piece (2 pots & handle) aluminum cookset for a Christmas present a couple years back.....i think the total weight is about 22oz.

although its a nice cookset...for weight purposes...i've only carried the larger pot when hiking with others....i also can carry my ISOPRO MSR cannister, coffee, matches, POCKETROCKET (stove) & spork all inside the pot. (so, i guess its a "multi-tasking" piece of equipment).

With ALL that said....i'm buying a .7liter 1 piece cook pot for my next hike for the fall. :D

good luck hikin'!

[minnesotasmith]

"Bring your own unless you are hiking with someone close enough to you to eat out of the same pot"
------------------------------------------------------------

Jaybird, just how much weight and cost difference is there for titanium vs. aluminum vs. stainless steel cookware? (A metal spoon for stirring/eating, perhaps a quart metal drinking cup, and about a 2-quart squarish pot are all I figure I'm likely to need in the way of cookware, if I strip down to essentials so I can go halfway ultralight.) Given some early indications that aluminum is implicated in contracting Alzheimer's, I'm trying to stay away from aluminum cookware.

[Alligator]

Still don't have the cookware situation worked out yet Agent Smith? A non-stick surface will prevent any worries about Alzheimer's, which I believe is an urban myth.

[Lone Wolf]

Always carry your own stuff. Always be self-sufficient.

[minnesotasmith]

"Still don't have the cookware situation worked out yet Agent Smith?"

I lost my old camping cookware in a move and a divorce. I'm too broke right now to do much gear-buying (should start a job this week), so I'm just eating food that requires no cooking while hiking. PB & J sandwiches are good for days, while raisins and such are good indefinitely. Too, given that overnight is as long as I'm going to be out, the weight of 3 or 4 cans is no biggie to me. (Besides, IMO it's not a bad idea to train to carry some weight, given that when I thru-hike I'll be carrying rather more weight than I require on a day- or overnight-hike.) Remember, my hike 8 days ago from Amicalola to what apparently was the flank of Springer was done with about a 14# pack, and I hardly noticed that amount of weight. (I'd rather carry all the food I'll want for that time than to save a pound or two.)

"A non-stick surface will prevent any worries about Alzheimer's, which I believe is an urban myth"

A nonstick surface won't survive my using a metal utensil in it, which I would prefer to use over plastic due to durability vis-a-vis breakage. (If I used plastic, I perceive that I'd need to bring spares to an extent I would not if my stirring/eating utensil(s) were metal.) Remember that I plan to do at least part of my thru- in winter, leaving around January 2006; plastic is more brittle when it is cold, so it will be more likely to break.

In any event, I figure on using stainless until I can afford titanium, which I'll buy long before my thru-hike. If I get stainless first, and wait until I have found through recent overnight hiking experience exactly what size/type I need before I buy anything of titanium, well, that just seems the wiser way to go.

[Kerosene]

Consider buying a Lexan spork. It won't scratch the non-stick, it's almost as light as titanium, and you really have to try hard to break it. I'd estimate the cost around $2.

[SGT Rock]

There was someone at Kincora with a nice sized small pot (about .9L) that I think was steel with a non-stick coating. The hiker (sorry I forgot the name) said he got it at Wal-Mart and it was cheap, and it only weighed something like 4.? ounces without the lid. Take a pot like this and put an aluminum pie pan on it for a lid with a soda can stove and a foil windscreen and you could easily end up with a sub 6 ounce pot and stove combo.

The link to alzheimers is very thin and was an old conclusion that has pretty much been discounted by serious researchers but not under the pass along of urban mythology - something like the over emphasis on spinich and iron. Anyway, there was a study of aluminum pots and actual aluminum content in the food measured scientifically and it pretty much showed that you get about the same aluminum content out of any pot since there is residual aluminum in the air, ground, water, etc.

However about non-stick coatings, there is some belife (I don't know about the science) that they could be more harmful than aluminum if the coating breaks down and gets into the food from scratching the surface or whatever.

Personally I would look at the $35 Ti SnowPeak set as a good value. I only carry the big pot with a foil lid and it weighs less than 4 ounces like that. I also use a plastic spoon that I haven not had break yet, but I have only used if for 3 years, so it might break someday :D

[Alligator]

Yes, I second the lexan, either a spoon or a spork. I have never had one freeze to breaking in many winter trips. Perhaps a real cold day in NH. You can get four each of a complete set (knife fork and spoon) from Wal-mart, maybe once you start working, for just a few dollars. You'll have spares.

[Alligator]

However about non-stick coatings, there is some belife (I don't know about the science) that they could be more harmful than aluminum if the coating breaks down and gets into the food from scratching the surface or whatever.


I've heard that one too Rock, and I think I'll be a gonner. Most folks keep non-stick well after scratching. I haven't checked extensively into this one though.

[SGT Rock]

Oh, a good solution that is $37 is the AntiGravity Mama's Kitchen Solo Set. It includes a 3 Qt pot, pot grabber, stove, windscreen, pot cozy, Bowl/cup and cozy, soap, scrubber, and a measuring cup. The entire thing weighs something like 10.9 ounces and all you would need to add is a bottle of alcohol and a spoon. You could also pair the kit down to suit your needs to go a little lighter as it suits you.

[minnesotasmith]

But, what are the pots/cups in the "AntiGravity Mama's Kitchen Solo Set" made out of? If it's that inexpensive and that light, it has to be aluminum.

[Stuart]

I'm using the antigravity stove and the 3-cup pot. I like it, but in time may go to a titanium pot which has the handle permanently attached. The one problem that I have with the Antigravity setup is that the small pot is placed directly on the stove and to do so you have to be a lot more careful than normal about getting a well balanced placement of the pot on the stove. I wouldn't call the situation sturdy. Anyway the problem I have is that the pot lifter/grabber/handle-thing seems to lock up a bit and catch when trying to release it from the pot. So you've got the stove burning, you just put the pot w/ water onto the stove to boil centered and balanced tenuously and the damn pot handle thing won't release. I spilled the pot once because of this. Maybe it's just my pot lifter/handle thing, I don't recall having the one that came with my MSR pots do this.

I do like the Antigravity stove and have noticed that the fuel efficiency seems to be enhanced by having the pot directly on the stove rather than just above it.

[Stuart]

The Antigravity pots are aluminum.

I'm not worried about it, but I can't remember why :D

[Frosty]

[QUOTE=minnesotasmith]"PB & J sandwiches are good for days, while raisins and such are good indefinitely.

plastic is more brittle when it is cold, so it will be more likely to break.QUOTE]

PB&J work best if you carry bread and jars (plastic of course), and make them up when you are ready to eat rahter than carrying sandwiches for days.

As someone said, Lexan is good. Also Wendy's spoons are incredubly strong and free.

[minnesotasmith]

Like I said, I'm only going to be doing dayhikes or overnights for a while. PBJs will keep fine for overnights (even though it is summer). I don't particularly mind if the bread gets soaked by the jelly. Also, if the sandwiches are made up ahead of time, that simplifies sanitation WRT my hands touching food, as I can eat premade sandwiches without touching them, but can hardly make them from scratch while on the trail without touching them. Also, making them up ahead of time ends up being cheaper IMO, as I can buy the economy-size jars, and take a bit out of them as needed over time, whereas that would be less practical for doing so on the trail IMO.

Now, if you would take the position that it would be better training for my thru- to practice doing as many activities in the field as I can, then I could see that that was a valid point.

[MizWaterfall]

My husband and I carry separate cooking equipment, food, etc. The only "cooking" items are the fuel and his lighter 'cause I'm always losing mine.:rolleyes: Weight isn't a big issue because we both use tin-can stoves and titanium pots. I guess the biggest reasons that I don't want to share are (1) he eats yucky foods (tuna, mushrooms, super-salty Lipton rice meals, etc), and (2) he's not as picky about cleaning his pot as I am.

[minnesotasmith]

Tie them to your pack with a cord that is long enough for you to use them easily.

[Stabes]

I plan on thru hiking with a friend next year and the subject also came up as to whether to share gear, food etc. Talking to a friend who thru hiked last year, he suggested each person having a package at home filled with the items that you will be depending on your partner to carry. That way if one person wants to leave the trail or you find taht your hiking pace widely differs, you would only have to tough it out together until that package arrived. I will probably still be self sufficiant, but it sounded like a good idea to me.

[Kerosene]

It's inconvenient enough to rely on a partner during a week-long section hike, let alone a thru-hike. Most thru-hikers end up hiking with several different people throughout their hike. Even close couples need to get away from each other every so often.

Most of my hikes have been with a less experienced partner where I had to go at their pace and help them out in general. While that's fun every so often, I had a revelation when I hiked with ATwalker99 south of SNP a few years ago. He was an accomplished thru-hiker and totally self-sufficient. I never worried about him and we would usually walk at our own paces and meet up for a mid-morning breakfast at a viewpoint or a shelter for lunch or stop at our destination for the night. If we missed each other we didn't tend to worry too much and we were both self-sufficient. Coming south out of Rockfish Gap we knew that a big storm would hit that afternoon, but we weren't sure if we could make it to the Maupin Field shelter 21 miles away. I finally decided to 'go for it' and reached the shelter at 4 PM. ATwalker99 hadn't shown up at dusk (it was October and the sun set just after 6) but to my surprise strolled in just as big drops started to fall in the fading light.

If you do share equipment, you share the weight of the tent (3-4 lbs), stove (1-5 oz), pot (5 oz), and perhaps a few more ounces for the fuel bottle, water bag, etc. All in all, you'll be lucky to shave 2.5 pounds off your pack weight. Buying a lightweight single-wall tent and using an alcohol stove shaves the same amount of weight and retains your flexibility.

[Frosty]

Like I said, I'm only going to be doing dayhikes or overnights for a while. PBJs will keep fine for overnights (even though it is summer). I don't particularly mind if the bread gets soaked by the jelly.
Actually, you said that PB & J sandwiches keep for days. Go back and check. I fully agree that PB&J for day hikes and overnighters is fine. Go for it.