Tarp for sitting out rain / cooking under

I've also wanted something for rain protection during the day. Years ago I bought an Integral Designs silnylon tarp, 5'x8'. It is easy to deploy it quickly, and seems quite well made. I used it as a cover for my bivy sack in the night, as well as a daytime shelter. The weight of the tarp was worth it for those long periods of rain when you just wanted to sit withoug having to worry about getting soaked more.
Jim

I went backpacking a few weeks ago, and the weather forecast was wet (we got snow). So, in my last-minute packing, I took an 8×10 foot Equinox tarp to serve as a cooking shelter for two of us. That worked fine, but it was way more than what we needed. Maybe 6×8 feet would have been sufficient, but that depends on the trees and the cords you have.

–B.G.–