View Full Version : Where to cook at shelters?
Finally going to do my first section hike through GSMNP (70+ miles, 7 days) this summer. Six nights in six shelters.
Obviously not going to cook at the shelters because of the plentiful bear population. What is the protocol for distance? Do I just go down the trail and cook? Walk into the woods and find a spot?
What about making coffee in the morning? That doesn't sound like a big deal.
Thanks.
Moose2001
10-28-2011, 20:23
If you don't cook at the shelters, you'll be the only one who doesn't!
I thought cooking where you sleep was frowned upon. That's just what I've always read. I'd rather cook at the shelter!
Pedaling Fool
10-28-2011, 20:46
No, almost everyone cooks where they camp. Probably thinking about grizzly country.
Northern Lights
10-28-2011, 20:58
I thought cooking where you sleep was frowned upon. That's just what I've always read. I'd rather cook at the shelter!
Everything you read will tell you not to cook where you sleep, but I found everyone did on my section hike. I did not see one person trek into the woods to cook and no bear activity in our shelters. I think you'll be fine.
Virtually all of the shelters have a picnic table right in front of the shelter for cooking. Most of the new or recently remodeled shelters have built-in tables and benches underneath the roof overhang for cooking. It is considered bad form to cook right on the sleeping platform, but even that is a common practice in miserable weather or really crowded conditions.
OH, forgot to say: Have a GREAT hike and have fun!!!!
clsvideo
10-29-2011, 11:17
I know Yellowstone actually has a cooking area set up a certain distance away from all campsites in the back country. So, I know for sure in Grizzly country you don't want to do it. I personally don't cook where I sleep unless I'm in Florida.
Tipi Walter
10-29-2011, 12:04
What shelters?
What shelters?
Mollies Ridge
Spence Field
Derrick Knob
Double Spring
Mount Collins
Icewater Spring
I've been to Spence Field shelter over the summer when I did a 2.9 of the AT and looped back down to Cades Cove.
Have you been to these?
Go Vols!
Tipi is making a funny because he is super big into tenting (in his big Hilleberg Tents) - he's sometimes like a pack mule but camps comfortably:
seriously, back to cooking - it's fine to cook in the shelters - just do be careful not to spill food in the shelters - the mice don't need extra encouragement
Tipi is making a funny because he is super big into tenting (in his big Hilleberg Tents) - he's sometimes like a pack mule but camps comfortably:
seriously, back to cooking - it's fine to cook in the shelters - just do be careful not to spill food in the shelters - the mice don't need extra encouragement
Up north, porcupines will chew the shelter floors near the outer edge of the sleeping platform to get salt, either from spilled food or sweat soaked into the wood. I noticed that several of the shelters in the Hundred Mile Wilderness have cooking shelves under the eaves on the sides or back of the outside of the shelter. Seems like a good idea, especially since a lot of hikers who don't sleep in shelters often use them to cook in (or near).
Maple_Sky
10-30-2011, 08:33
Most of the shelters in the Smokies have a bench and a high "table" running across the front of the shelter, which is what I used to cook on. I would say, out of courtesy, don't bring any food or drink other than water on to the sleeping platform. This summer, I had a guy spill a sugary Bailey's and coffee drink on my sleeping bag that he was drinking on the platform above me. It was not cool.
That said, even though most people are trained not to eat near where you sleep, most people I have encountered out there find it acceptable to cook around the shelter on the benches provided for cooking. Among hikers, the attitudes about keeping "smellables" out of the shelter range from "meh" to crazy strict... I stayed at a shelter with one guy who was an Army Ranger and used his food bag as a pillow, because he said if anything tried to get his food in the night, he would just "defend" his food. And there were great thuds and cursing in the night as the shelter mice breached his defenses... hahaha
On the strict side, in the Smokies this summer I was stopped at a shelter for my afternoon "cocktail" (3 ibuprofren and a cup of coffee) and was sitting on the inside bench at the table at the front of the shelter, having nice chat with some other hikers about native plants. Up walks a woman who is a paid guide for REI... she loudly proclaims that pack hangers attract bears, and cuts all the pack hangers down, even after I told her I was pretty sure the ATC sweat crew that was camped there was using them. She then announces to the women she's leading that it's ok to cook at the outside bench in front of the shelter, but not at the inside bench (which is maybe 2 feet closer to the shelter than the other bench). Since I was heating my coffee water on the "forbidden" bench, she directed her attention to me, and started giving me a lecture on Leave No Trace. I just laughed, packed up, and moved on, but I felt sorry for all the people who had to stay at the shelter that night and get "educated."
Sorry if this is too long, I have a story for everything! Just cook on the bench out front or by the firepit on a flat rock and you're fine--have a great hike!
Funny story about the "REI Guide" - sounds like she has gone out for a few weekends, read some nonsense and talked to some know-nothings in her store, collected a bunch of shiny gear and "declared herself" an expert.
... Up walks a woman who is a paid guide for REI... she loudly proclaims that pack hangers attract bears, and cuts all the pack hangers down, even after I told her I was pretty sure the ATC sweat crew that was camped there was using them. She then announces to the women she's leading that it's ok to cook at the outside bench in front of the shelter, but not at the inside bench (which is maybe 2 feet closer to the shelter than the other bench). Since I was heating my coffee water on the "forbidden" bench, she directed her attention to me, and started giving me a lecture on Leave No Trace. I just laughed, packed up, and moved on, but I felt sorry for all the people who had to stay at the shelter that night and get "educated."
These type of people irk me to no end. I like to compare the LNT inquisitions to Star Trek's "Prime Directive". We are a part of nature whether we think so or not. Just be a part of it...
Leave No Trace is an important philosophy and I generally subscribe to it - it is a problem that it's general principles are being "taught" in such an empirical and self righteous way. These sort of people hurt the overall ideals that we need to clean-up after ourselves, bury our poop, not pollute streams and creeks, avoiding a lot of fire making, keeping quiet and staying on trails, and not messing up sensitive areas and vegetation - - - - cutting down pack hangers and being bossy about how someone cooks is absolute nonsense.
rmitchell
10-30-2011, 12:38
If you don't cook at the shelters, you'll be the only one who doesn't!
I think all of the shelters in the Smokies now have a covered picnic table and a cooking shelf on the side. In a week's time you will likely encounter a bear near a shelter. They know the routine. Do not leave anything unattended. Do make use of the bear cables.
That is a classic section hike.
rmitchell
10-30-2011, 12:40
Most of the shelters in the Smokies have a bench and a high "table" running across the front of the shelter, which is what I used to cook on. I would say, out of courtesy, don't bring any food or drink other than water on to the sleeping platform. This summer, I had a guy spill a sugary Bailey's and coffee drink on my sleeping bag that he was drinking on the platform above me. It was not cool.
That said, even though most people are trained not to eat near where you sleep, most people I have encountered out there find it acceptable to cook around the shelter on the benches provided for cooking. Among hikers, the attitudes about keeping "smellables" out of the shelter range from "meh" to crazy strict... I stayed at a shelter with one guy who was an Army Ranger and used his food bag as a pillow, because he said if anything tried to get his food in the night, he would just "defend" his food. And there were great thuds and cursing in the night as the shelter mice breached his defenses... hahaha
On the strict side, in the Smokies this summer I was stopped at a shelter for my afternoon "cocktail" (3 ibuprofren and a cup of coffee) and was sitting on the inside bench at the table at the front of the shelter, having nice chat with some other hikers about native plants. Up walks a woman who is a paid guide for REI... she loudly proclaims that pack hangers attract bears, and cuts all the pack hangers down, even after I told her I was pretty sure the ATC sweat crew that was camped there was using them. She then announces to the women she's leading that it's ok to cook at the outside bench in front of the shelter, but not at the inside bench (which is maybe 2 feet closer to the shelter than the other bench). Since I was heating my coffee water on the "forbidden" bench, she directed her attention to me, and started giving me a lecture on Leave No Trace. I just laughed, packed up, and moved on, but I felt sorry for all the people who had to stay at the shelter that night and get "educated."
Sorry if this is too long, I have a story for everything! Just cook on the bench out front or by the firepit on a flat rock and you're fine--have a great hike!
I have worked on sweat crews. They probably used the metal park service lock box and bear cables.
Rain Man
10-30-2011, 12:55
Funny story about the "REI Guide" - sounds like she has gone out for a few weekends, read some nonsense and talked to some know-nothings in her store, collected a bunch of shiny gear and "declared herself" an expert.
With her cock-sure ego she's like too many on WB.
Rain Man
.
Rain Man
10-30-2011, 13:00
Here's the sign in LeConte Shelter in the GSMNP this past week.
Rain Man
.
Wow - I stand corrected - still though, boiling water for coffee isn't exactly "cooking"
Don Newcomb
10-30-2011, 17:57
These type of people irk me to no end. I like to compare the LNT inquisitions to Star Trek's "Prime Directive". We are a part of nature whether we think so or not. Just be a part of it... If you notice, most Star Trek episodes were about when it was OK to violate the Prime Directive.
rmitchell
10-30-2011, 21:43
The sign on LeConte shelter is new since July. Looks like it is posted on the side opposite the cooking bench. May be it is sponsored by the LeConte Lodge kitchen.14275
Rain Man
10-31-2011, 13:08
The sign on LeConte shelter is new since July. Looks like it is posted on the side opposite the cooking bench. May be it is sponsored by the LeConte Lodge kitchen.14275
I can see that same sign in your photo. It's on the left-hand wall as you look into the sleeping area.
To me, the sign is a bit confusing. I take it that you should not cook on the sleeping platform itself.
Rain Man
.
Pound Hound
11-19-2011, 20:02
Being from Alaska we were horrified at the lack of bear/animal concerns that hikers had at or around shelters on our AT hike in 2009/10. We got over it after the first night. Almost everyone cooks and eats and sometimes hang their food in the shelters. Every year you hear of stories of a bear or other animal coming into the shelters and having a snack. It never happened to us, discounting mice, but it happens. Just look around at what other people are doing and go along. Several times we had to ask people to use the cables or hang their food away from shelters. If we came to a shelter and others had already hung their food in the shelter, we did the same. My pet peeve were hikers who spilled their food and didn't clean it up.
Relax and HYOH
Pound Hound and Garage Man
Feral Nature
11-19-2011, 20:45
Enjoying this thread!
Sailing_Faith
11-19-2011, 21:45
If I were not able to have the first cup of coffee in the shelter, I would fear for the poor bear that might happen to show up!
rmitchell
11-20-2011, 20:35
Rain Man is right. The sign is there, but confusing. Here is a photo of Spence Field Shelter. If the shelf is not for cooking, then what for?14420
yes, pretty much everyone cooks/eats/ spills crap in shelters and doesnt care about it. and people are surprised why there are so many mice at some shelters? 1 of many reasons why i dont sleep in/near shelters...
peakseeker
11-22-2011, 14:08
yes, pretty much everyone cooks/eats/ spills crap in shelters and doesnt care about it. and people are surprised why there are so many mice at some shelters? 1 of many reasons why i dont sleep in/near shelters... I second that.....I never sleep with mice tha :) But seriously, do as you please just make sure just try and " leave it as you saw it ".
That is my self disciplining rule which has worked for years without REI guides or others like her complaining :)
bamboo bob
11-22-2011, 17:10
I always cook at the shelter and then move on to sleep. that way the bears don't bother me at my campsite because they are busy back at the shelter. Ever notice the candy wrappers and left over food that people throw under the shelter? Is it leave - no -trace if you can't see it? The best way to leave no trace would be to get rid of the shelters all together. That would reduce the number of backpackers to maybe PCT levels. Ore Hill may be the start of a movement.
coach lou
11-22-2011, 17:24
[QUOTE=Papa D;1213256]Tipi is making a funny because he is super big into tenting (in his big Hilleberg Tents) - he's sometimes like a pack mule but camps comfortably:
That is actually a walk-in closet under Tipis Rain cover, with a small Frigidare!!!