cooking where you camp

[jefals]

But remember this---After a big dinner you're sleeping in your shelter with a 2 lb bag of food with you in the tent---Your stomach. Any righteous bear can probably smell you and your sweat and your scalp and your old bug spray and probably your 2 lb bag of food in your gut. We are walking cheese sticks.

Hmm... you know, this is giving me some ideas, how I can describe myself on the online dating site... hmm...

[Miner]

Probably should have mentioned that I'm generally in the Sierras. Now that is black bear country - people have seen em, but nobody I've run into has, including folks who have been hiking and camping up there all their lives.
Again, I wouldn't be frying burgers up there, but I kinda agree with folks that think a mtn. House meal is c oing to be ok..

I have to question where these people you referred to normally camp. Or are they just young? As someone who has been backpacking in the Sierras for over 25 years, I find the lack of bear encounters amazing. I've lost track of how many bears I've seen over the years. I will say this, in areas like Yosemite where bear cans are required, I've had less bear encounters in my camp then I use to back in the 1990's. Still see them on the trail though.

On the AT, I normally cooked at a shelter. If I wasn't planning on camping there, I still stopped to cook at the last shelter. In the Sierra, I often stop to cook somewhere else then my camp. That is partially due to how long the days are in summer since I normally hike til its dark or 8pm which is a little late to wait for dinner. And partly to avoid bear encounters in areas that don't require a bear can (which means I don't have one). If I'm going stoveless, I could care less.

[jefals]

Probably should have mentioned that I'm generally in the Sierras. Now that is black bear country - people have seen em, but nobody I've run into has, including folks who have been hiking and camping up there all their lives.
Again, I wouldn't be frying burgers up there, but I kinda agree with folks that think a mtn. House meal is c oing to be ok..

I have to question where these people you referred to normally camp. Or are they just young? As someone who has been backpacking in the Sierras for over 25 years, I find the lack of bear encounters amazing. I've lost track of how many bears I've seen over the years. I will say this, in areas like Yosemite where bear cans are required, I've had less bear encounters in my camp then I use to back in the 1990's. Still see them on the trail though.

On the AT, I normally cooked at a shelter. If I wasn't planning on camping there, I still stopped to cook at the last shelter. In the Sierra, I often stop to cook somewhere else then my camp. That is partially due to how long the days are in summer since I normally hike til its dark or 8pm which is a little late to wait for dinner. And partly to avoid bear encounters in areas that don't require a bear can (which means I don't have one). If I'm going stoveless, I could care less.

I'm specifically referring to Desolation Wilderness where bear cans are required. When I was up there, I came across several other folks hiking up there. One guy told me he had been hiking up there over 40 years and never seen a bear. Another person told me something similar. Instead of "forty years", this one said he'd been hiking up there "all his life" and never seen a bear.
On the other hand, I've seen some youtube videos of hikers in the area where they are filming a bear.

I was at Marlette CG on the TRT a couple days ago. A sign there did mention that I was in bear (and mountain lion) country, and it also mentioned that encounters with either of those critters are rare.

[Venchka]

I'm specifically referring to Desolation Wilderness where bear cans are required. When I was up there, I came across several other folks hiking up there. One guy told me he had been hiking up there over 40 years and never seen a bear. Another person told me something similar. Instead of "forty years", this one said he'd been hiking up there "all his life" and never seen a bear.
On the other hand, I've seen some youtube videos of hikers in the area where they are filming a bear.

I was at Marlette CG on the TRT a couple days ago. A sign there did mention that I was in bear (and mountain lion) country, and it also mentioned that encounters with either of those critters are rare.

Yo Jeff!
That sign sounds like CYA by the local trail management. Such signs are absent in much of the Rockies where folks are expected to look after themselves.
Yellowstone seems to be doing a good job since the nightly bear feeding was stopped. Designated backcountry campsites have a combined kitchen and food hanging arrangement or lockers. Campers are encouraged to camp 100 yards from the kitchen area. Glacier has a similar system in place. Bear cans are not required in the improved backcountry sites. Based on trip reports and photos, people cook and sleep at the site they have been assigned to.
Wayne


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[FreeGoldRush]

At most shelters along the AT in the south I found the bear cables are just steps away from the shelter. Since it was determined it was safe to store food and trash right next to the shelter, why is cooking any different?

[pyroman53]

In black bear country - cook where I camp. Try to be somewhat careful. If staying at shelter, cook there, but be extra careful with spills. The area around shelters is worse than around my 2 year old grandson's place at the dinner table.

[Venchka]

We need to examine reality.
If backpacking were as dangerous as some of us imagine it to be, Colin Fletcher wouldn't have survived to write the books that started it all.
Wayne


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[davesailer]

Since you're talking about big, bold creatures...

From Tips for Coexistence with Grizzlies:

• Remember the 100 yard rule: locate your cook area and food cache at least 100 yards downwind from your tent when not in established campgrounds.
• NEVER cook or eat in your tent - the tent will smell of food and may attract bears. Avoid cooking greasy, odorous foods.
• Locate your cook area and hang your food at least 100 yards downwind from your tent.
• Remove the clothing you wore while cooking before going to sleep. Store these clothes in your vehicle or with your food and garbage.
• Wash all dishes immediately after eating. Dump water at least 100 yards from your campsite.

[Venchka]

Since you're talking about big, bold creatures...

From Tips for Coexistence with Grizzlies:

• Remember the 100 yard rule: locate your cook area and food cache at least 100 yards downwind from your tent when not in established campgrounds.
• NEVER cook or eat in your tent - the tent will smell of food and may attract bears. Avoid cooking greasy, odorous foods.
• Locate your cook area and hang your food at least 100 yards downwind from your tent.
• Remove the clothing you wore while cooking before going to sleep. Store these clothes in your vehicle or with your food and garbage.
• Wash all dishes immediately after eating. Dump water at least 100 yards from your campsite.

That's aimed at car campers and some of it is redundant.
According to my research, there might be a dozen Grizzlies scattered around the North Cascades. The chance of seeing one would be a once in a lifetime event.
The two bear fatalities in recent memory, Glacier and Yellowstone, both occurred when a hiker and a mountain bike rider surprised bears on a trail or road. Middle of the day. No cooking. No camping.
Go read trip reports at Backcountrypost.com and see how 99.99% of visitors coexist with the two largest grizzly populations in the lower 48. Everybody, humans and bears, wins.
Look at Joey's videos. His YouTube channel is My Own Frontier. He's the real deal.
Have fun in the woods.
Wayne


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[lucky luke]

... -- if some big, bold creature smells that mountain house while you're making it or eating it, he's not gonna care if you're in camp or not, is he? If he wants it, he's going to come get it.
...

yup, the creature is called the common throughhiker. hairy (and some bald) all of them bold, big, smelly, hungry. you bet, he wants your mtn house, he´ll get it. if making bear noises wont scare you away, he might even get downright dirty and try yogiing.

[English Stu]

I cooked at shelters even if I was not staying. If hanging food 100yds from your camp make sure you can find it! I had one nervous experience and now certainly put a twig arrow nearby or even something better. On the JMT I made sure at one place by tying a trash bag (not smelly) to a tree nearby.
Things can look different in the morning and if the weather has changed they probably are. In tree-less areas if hiding bags in rocks I have seem recommended taking a photo of the location and a Grid reference if far away.

[Feral Bill]

As an aside, you don't have to eat on the trail in the middle of your hike to avoid cooking in your campsite. The classics recommendation is to sketch out a rough equilateral triangle about 100 yards on each side. Your camp site is one corner, your cooking/eating location is another corner, and your food storage location is the third point. The bear is most likely to check out your cooking/eating location and food storage area, not where you are sleeping.


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yes, but how often does anyone do this, even in grizzly country?

[rocketsocks]

Of all the steaks, chickens, sausages, hot dogs, frog legs, pork ribs, and burgers cooked, I never once had a bear visit my grill.

[Tipi Walter]

Of all the steaks, chickens, sausages, hot dogs, frog legs, pork ribs, and burgers cooked, I never once had a bear visit my grill.

I carry and eat so much peanut butter on a trip that a bear would eat like a king---but so far they don't seem interested. Yellow jackets on the other hand . . . .

[Longboysfan]

You're right on the cook and sleep at night. I've never seen anyone stop eat and leave.

I did get up and out of camp - bad site that was too windy to eat at - one early AM. Went an hour plus up the trail to great water source.
Pulled everything out there and ate cleaned up - water filled up and off I went.

[PatmanTN]

yes, but how often does anyone do this, even in grizzly country?

I did it every single night while in Glacier National Park last year. I was solo in mid-September (during hyperphagia) and walked in grizz tracks for the better part of each day. Never ran into one but would go fishing at the lakes or walk around exploring and routinely found fresh prints at places I was just at; had to have missed by mere moments.

[cbxx]

I gotta think that after several days or weeks on the trail the food smells (and many other smells bears might be curious about) are all over you and your clothes. I'm in favor of being careful and taking precautions, but at that point it might not make much difference. (FYI - I hang my food and cook away from camp.)

[jefals]

According to my research, there might be a dozen Grizzlies scattered around the North Cascades. The chance of seeing one would be a once in a lifetime event.

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Uh, yeah, that's kinda what I'm thinkin...

[Venchka]

Uh, yeah, that's kinda what I'm thinkin...

Always with the negative waves.
Once in a lifetime due to rarity not fatality.
As for how to coexist with Grizz in Yellowstone and Glacier just read the Backcountry info online for the parks, trip reports at Backcountrypost.com and videos from folks like Joey at myownfrontier.
Wayne


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[twinsinpa]

Well all of you guys certainly confused me!! i am about to go on my first section hike with my sister and now i don't know where to eat! Can someone plz help. we will be hiking in PA. i really dont think we will be able to stop at a shelter cook and eat and then hike some more. at least that wasn't my plan.