Do you cook where you camp?

[FarmRookie 2015]

I'm planning to do the GA section starting June 22 or 23. This will be my longest hike to date and the first where I'll need to resupply. Most of the advice I've seen says to never cook where you'll be sleeping. As with most things, like hanging your food, I suspect there may be folks successfully doing something other than conventional wisdom.

[max patch]

I almost always cook where I camp and I believe most others do as well.

[Odd Man Out]

Given all the bear problems the have been having in GA, it couldn't hurt.

[BobTheBuilder]

I usually tent or hammock near a shelter and cook on the table at the shelter.

[The Ace]

As a general rule, I cook and clean up both my stuff and me away from where I pitch my tent and leave my smells behind. However, I am human; sometimes I am exhausted and sometimes it rains and sometimes it is cold, etc. I am careful, but not obsessive. Nevertheless, I always accept the consequences of my actions. No, I don’t go walking out in the woods in the morning just to make a cup of coffee. I always sleep with my food, with my food sealed in an odor proof sack.

[SunnyWalker]

FarmRookie: I do a combination of the two. Sometimes I cook where I am camping, albeit not right next to the tarp. Other times, I stop about 16:00 hrs., and cook, clean up, and pack up and keep hiking. I have really enjoyed stopping to cook and then moving on until camp time. That "evening hike" has been real enjoyable and I will have to say that style is a type that is not reliant on the Shelters. To each their own! Happy Paddys Day God bless all here!

[Siestita]

OP--I first read the advise that you mention years ago, concerning areas in the western USA where brown bears/grizzlies are present. Human encounters with those exclusively western bears reportedly end badly more frequently than human interactions with black bears do. So, if I ever backpack in grizzly habitat, such as Glacier National Park, I'll probably probably take special precautions there, eating and sleeping at different locations, carrying bear spray, and storing food in a special grizzly proof container.

For AT hiking in "nuisance bear habitat", I eat where I please and then secure my food and toiletries. I secure food either either by hanging it from pre-installed cables (where those exist), or using a "Bear Vault" canister that I purchased eight years ago for a Sierra Nevada jaunt. If I possessed more patience, and a better throwing arm, I might instead hang my food, as many here do.

The AT through North Georgia has developed a reputation as a nuisance bear corridor. There are some other parts of the AT where hikers rarely encounter nuisance bears. I sleep peacefully with my food in those places.

[Dogwood]

Not currently up to date about all the potential issues like between black bears and humans on the AT in the GA section but if camping/hiking in most grizzly areas, some black bear areas like in some Yosemite/Sierra areas, I'll cook and clean up the cookware away from where I sleep and OFTEN store my food and all scented items away from where I sleep or hang it. It's not just food scents animals are attracted to! If I was bushwacking or in the backcountry in GSMNP not staying not at bear fenced shelters or with bear cables, bear hanging hooks, bear boxes, etc I would carry a canister or definitely properly hang food. I like seeing bears on hikes and desire to do what I need so that we all can enjoy them. But, I too sometimes get exhausted, find it human inconvenient, and lazily excuse myself from cooking away from where I sleep though I'm often doing one or more other things to alter my behavior to avoid potential wildlife/human inter-reactions. BAD HUMAN! Seriously, I should heed the cooking away from where I sleep advice more often IN THE PLACES I TEND TO HIKE, which as of the past several yrs, is not the east coast. I do sometimes store my food in an odor proof Opsack inside another sealed WP stuff sack and sleep with it as my pillow. NOT SAYING THAT"S RIGHT or right for everyone or in all situations though. I'll do the food pillow thing because sometimes besides my wet muddy shoes that's all I have for a pillow. I virtually always carry a 25 ft length of Spectra cord in my cookpot so if at all concerned about the wildlife and I can hang my food properly I do it. Bear canisters - no, as an Uler I don't like them but as a human who desires to coexsist happily as often as I can with the wildlife I'll carry one or make other arrangements to carry and store my scented items safely. Again, it's not just food scents animals are attracted to! Mice have been my greatest concern though. Those little buggers can do amazing things to get at food. Thwarting there advances on my trail food hasn't always been easy but it's a war I aim to win! And, NO, I don't often hike with peanut butter or cheese as one of my trail food choices so don't any of you ask me for any. In some places I've hiked, the bears getting at trail food from hikers issue pales in comparison to the insect advances on my food. Think being awakened up by a bear trying to get at your food is an issue try waking up and a zillion palmetto bugs(cockroaches) or a swarm of ants or an army of spiders or hoards of stinging 12 inch long centipedes are lurking around you and your chow seeking a snack or doing whatever those things do. Several times skunks, or more accurately put, families of skunks with all their friends have shown up at my campsite during the night, while cowboy camping, sniffing around seeking some morsels. When the skunks arrive I just stop breathing wanting to not flinch a muscle or make any startling moves or noises. They usually wander off after a while if I do that. Their noses and faces are so cute especially UP CLOSE like when placed on your face!

What I desire, and know is warranted, is for human beings to realize and apply strategies that address our own behavior as something that affects wildlife behavior AND CEASE thinking in only human centric ways when considering wildlife/human encounters. Labeling or describing negative wildlife/human encounters such as saying "bear problem areas", "bear issues", "bear problems", etc puts the focus and blame on wildlife, or specifically in my example the bears, and takes the focus off what humans can and should be doing to avoid potential negative human/wildlife encounters!!! *IT IS US, AS HUMANS, WHO CAN AND SHOULD TAKE THE HIGHER GROUND IN ALTERING OUR BEHAVIOR THAT WILL LEAD TO FEWER NEGATIVE HUMAN/WILDLIFE ENCOUNTERS!!! *That's the bigger picture here that is so often overlooked and ignored by many outdoors people and specifically hikers!!! IF we don't do this where do you think wildlife and wildlife/human encounters is headed? Think about it.

[Dogwood]

should have said ...I'm often doing one or more other things to alter my behavior to avoid potential negative wildlife/human inter-reactions....

[Bronk]

Cook at the shelters and then after dinner hike a couple more miles and set up your tent. You'll get a couple extra miles in that way and be camped away from the nuisance animals that sleep in the shelters.

[prain4u]

FarmRookie: I do a combination of the two. Sometimes I cook where I am camping, albeit not right next to the tarp. Other times, I stop about 16:00 hrs., and cook, clean up, and pack up and keep hiking. I have really enjoyed stopping to cook and then moving on until camp time. That "evening hike" has been real enjoyable and I will have to say that style is a type that is not reliant on the Shelters. To each their own! Happy Paddys Day God bless all here!


+1 on this .

Some factors which influence my decision are: 1) What I am preparing (the expectation of a mess and lingering odors, the expected food preparation time). 2) The availability of water to make the meal--at whatever location--if water is a factor for the meal. 3) My location in the late afternoon in relation to where I may want to be located by sundown.

[FatHead64]

Cook at the shelters and then after dinner hike a couple more miles and set up your tent. You'll get a couple extra miles in that way and be camped away from the nuisance animals that sleep in the shelters.

Just an aside I see in many discussions of bear hanging. What I was taught was to hang "smellables", not just food. That was in more grizzly oriented territory, but I believe the concept is valid. Food, cookware, toothbrush/paste, band aids, etc. Anything that would have a smell that could tend to attract should be hung, if you are going to be hanging. FWIW.

[RED-DOG]

No i do not cook at my campsite, I stop about an hour before i plan to camp cook, eat, clean up then hike another 2-3 miles then camp, i never eat at camp.

[58starter]

If you are just heating water to make a meal then I do cook where I camp. However, I alway take my pots and dishes way away from where I am sleeping to clean them( never in the water source ). Never had problem with racoons or mice this way.

[88BlueGT]

I cook where I camp. When I hang my food... I hang my food, garbage, cookset, utensils, etc.

[swjohnsey]

I don't cook where I camp and sleep with my food.

[88BlueGT]

I don't cook where I camp and sleep with my food.

?? I don't understand this. You don't cook where you camp but you sleep with your food...... ? :confused:

[gizzy bear]

i just wanna say, God didn't give raccoons those little masks for no reason....those little criminals will tear up some food...and they have creepy reflector eyes too... ugh!

[FarmerChef]

Their noses and faces are so cute especially UP CLOSE like when placed on your face! :eek:

Can't say I've ever had a family of skunks come up and nuzzle me in my muzzle. Eek.

We have a lot of food with us when we camp because there are 5 in our group plus the dog's food. If we're tenting, I typically cook in the immediate area. Then I set up a bear bag and try to hang it all. But that's a lot of weight to pull up when you've got 40 pounds of food hanging from a skinny little piece of spectra (and yes, I do the sturdy stick wrapped around the line trick. It does help.). Inside that bag goes anything that could smell like food. Including clothes if one of our kids decides to wear their dinner.

At a shelter I'll cook at the table or firepit and I'll hang the food on bear cables or in a bear box if provided. But in the absence of those things, I usually just hang the food in the packs they're in from the pack hangers (food only goes in those with the mouse "guards" on them). As others have said, I don't fear the bear getting my stuff in most places on the trail. I fear the mouse and the squirrel who scoff at our defenses and chew through miles of silnylon to take a few bites of tortilla. Sigh.

If I was out west or in certain sections of GA, you bet I'd hang and prepare my food away from where I sleep. The black bear doesn't frighten me but out west that's a different story.

[swjohnsey]

?? I don't understand this. You don't cook where you camp but you sleep with your food...... ? :confused:

Biggest threat on the trail is mice! :eek:

[garlic08]

I prefer to eat and wash up near water, then I prefer to camp some distance away from that location, for plenty of reasons. Water attracts bugs, animals, other people, and cooler air and condensation in the morning. My best campsites have been on high, dry breezy ridges.

[SunnyWalker]

We need to not be complacent when it comes to bears, any bears. They are an animal and unpredictable. Keep your distance if you can, do your thing on hanging food, etc. Don't try to fight a black bear when its after your food thinking it is not going to hurt you cuz its not a grizzly. You aren't going to win. What I mean is banging pans and yelling is one thing. Getting up close to throw rocks or something is crossing a line I think could be dangerous. Just my opinion.

[Watson]

I have gotten in the habit of just hanging my whole pack after I eat and set up my sleeping area. I use stuff sacks for everything, so it is just simpler and takes less than a minute to repack the whole pack after I eat in the morning. (Or take out my breakfast to eat as I walk)

[10-K]

I haven't been cooking at all as of late. Just eating. So much easier.

[Astro]

I haven't been cooking at all as of late. Just eating. So much easier.

10-K, what have you been eating?
Always looking for new ideas for easy/no preparation meals.

[Deacon]

We need to not be complacent when it comes to bears, any bears. They are an animal and unpredictable. Keep your distance if you can, do your thing on hanging food, etc. Don't try to fight a black bear when its after your food thinking it is not going to hurt you cuz its not a grizzly. You aren't going to win. What I mean is banging pans and yelling is one thing. Getting up close to throw rocks or something is crossing a line I think could be dangerous. Just my opinion.

My daughter an I were guests at the Mt. Leconte Lodge and was seated in the dining room for dinner, when a large bear came to the door, pawing the door like it wanted in. The whole wall is glass so we could see it coming. About 3 or 4 of the staff ran to the door, opened it and barraged the bear with stones while yelling at it together out of here. It was obvious they had done this before. The bear ran to the top of the hill, stopped and just stared for a while, then ambled off.

[Lone Wolf]

I'm planning to do the GA section starting June 22 or 23. This will be my longest hike to date and the first where I'll need to resupply. Most of the advice I've seen says to never cook where you'll be sleeping. As with most things, like hanging your food, I suspect there may be folks successfully doing something other than conventional wisdom.

i cook next to my tent and in the vestibule most mornings

[Theosus]

If you are just heating water to make a meal then I do cook where I camp. However, I alway take my pots and dishes way away from where I am sleeping to clean them( never in the water source ). Never had problem with racoons or mice this way.

This sounds like the wise choice to me. Dumping hot water in a bag of noodles and letting it steep for ten minutes seems very "smell free", whereas reheating some rehydrated peppers, onions and steak bits for campside fajitas seems far "smellier".

[leaftye]

I don't even eat where I camp.

[Tinker]

I usually cook in a shelter and sleep nearby. Never been bothered by bears, though some of the sounds I've heard at night might have been bears.

I did see one at night once when I got up to pee, probably 50 feet away. He must've been trying to get into the metal hiker box when I got up. I saw the reflection of his eyes. When some dogs barked down in the valley, he temporarily looked away, then got back to staring at me. Surprisingly, I didn't feel threatened at all (at first - when I went back to my hammock it took a few minutes to get back to sleep, but I was well aware that the bear wasn't interested in trying to eat anything that might fight back). In the morning, everyone still had their food.

Interestingly, bears could easily reach the food bags hung beneath mouse baffles in shelters but they don't. They must be much more afraid of us than we are of them (most of us who have been hiking for years, that is). :)