Cooking in shelters

[TexasMess]

It's been a few years so I don't remember all the regulations, but I've seen photos of folks using their stoves in the shelters. One would think it's a fire hazard, making it not quite legal. Can anyone verify?

[Tom]

Peculiarly, I'm not able to find an explicit rule prohibiting it. The only rule I can find is that you can't light or maintain a stove or lantern within 50' of a fuel tank or dispensing facility.

There is also no rule that says I can't light my stove on top of dry grass, so I suppose as with anything, some common sense comes into play, and that I would be held responsible for the results of my actions and decisions. Don't be the camper that creates the "Great Shelter Fire of 2015" story that gets told to new hikers for the next twenty years.
Even in a rainstorm, the overhang of the shelter provides for enough space (albeit narrow) that allows for some cooking.

Certainly the stove you select would play into the risk; twig stove: Yikes; White Gas: ehhhhh; Isobutane setting on top of canister: Meh.

So, illegal? Not so sure. Prudent? I'd say no.

[treeplanter]

I plead guilty to doing this. Years back, at Duncan Bay Narrows, were were stuck in our shelter during an all-day rain (cold and windy too). We made meals inside our shelter with our stoves and even moved the outdoor picnic table inside the shelter so we had something to sit on. Of course we exercised due caution while preparing our meals and using our stoves. Come night, we moved the table back outside to make room for our sleeping bags. The next day dawned clear (but chilly), and everything went back to our normal.

[Tightlines01]

Huh. I've done it several times before. Never worried about it. I use a small ISO butane stove though and really don't see much difference between that and cooking on a picnic table with it (which I'll do almost every time I have a site with picnic table).

[johnhens]

I spoke to a NPS person and was told that as far as she knows, there is no reg against cooking in the shelters. As others have said, use good judgement in the use of open flames in the shelter.

[Midwest Ed]

. . . .use good judgement in the use of open flames in the shelter.

On very cold days, before the fuel canister pumps, I used to light my old Svea 123 by dosing it liberally with gas, standing back and throwing a match. After the 2 foot flame died down, reach in to open the valve just before the flame went out. Then I would carry it inside the shelter to cook.

[DonNewcomb]

On very cold days, before the fuel canister pumps, I used to light my old Svea 123 by dosing it liberally with gas, standing back and throwing a match. After the 2 foot flame died down, reach in to open the valve just before the flame went out. Then I would carry it inside the shelter to cook.

I've seen videos of people lighting a 123 that way, Never done it myself, at least not on purpose. Carry the stove inside my jacket for a while to warm it up and use about 5 cc of alcohol to prime. Still one of my favorite stoves. Hard to get parts any more.

[zims]

I have always used my jetboil in shelters. Never had a problem., Even offered a ranger a cup of coffee on a cold day in daisy farm once.

[Tortuga]

I'm guilty of cooking in the shelters with my catfood alcohol stove. It was cold, rainy, and humid. Since alcohol burns very quickly, even if I had a spill it's highly unlikely the shelter would catch fire. If there's been a dry spell, I wouldn't risk it.

[DonNewcomb]

I've cooked in a shelter; only on a cold, rainy, miserable day.

[Chorizo]

Not uncommonly in May or June you get one of those weather patterns where the temp is 43F and its humid and foggy, still, lightly sprinkling, and you have no idea when this pattern will break. It can go on for days. At that point its time to take the cooking in the shelter because everything that gets the slightest bit wet might be wet and cold for days. I've been held up several times in that kind of weather. Obviously thunderstorms too.