Cooking During Ranger Checkout

I think it'd be unlikely that your Ranger will let you leave base camp without the pot.

However, stranger things have happened.

I concur with Ed – stranger things have happened. I have a different take I guess, I understand that this is the Backpacking Light forum but sometimes you just have to play by the rules given. Philmont practices crew cooking which means large pots, no turkey bags, etc. If you accept that going in, and the fact that you are going to have to use their bear ropes, you can focus on other aspects of lighter gear. I found lightweight 6 quart pots, lightweight tents and having each scout minimize personal gear. Our packs could have been lighter but I did not have to worry about a Ranger saying no to something we have been training with.

Just my $.02.

Philmont cooking is different from what we normally practice. When we trek at Philmont, we play by Philmont rules. Just that simple.

The following quote relates to "turkey bags", but is also somewhat related to other cooking methods. (Guidebook to Adventure 2014)

"Turkey Bags
A common food preparation inquiry amongst crews travelling to Philmont relates to the use of oven cooking bags, or as they are sometimes called, “turkey bags”. Though their use may be a common practice on camping or backpacking trips on the local level, Philmont asks that units DO NOT use this cooking method while on an expedition at Philmont. Rangers will teach the proper cooking and cleaning procedures to the crew at the beginning of the trek using pots, camp suds, hot water, and Philmont sumps. This is an important skill for crew members to learn, and helps reinforce the Patrol Method on the trail by rotating this valuable position on the crew duty roster to all members of the crew."

In 2010 I took a crew out there. We are very experienced backpackers and have our own ways of doing thing. We split the food up into tent piles and cooked by tents. In other words we carried 5 stoves (one per tent, we only had 10 people) and cooked that way. We used freezer zip locks for rehydrating the meals and proved to the Ranger you could do it in the bags that they were packed in too. He fought us some but once we proved our method he backed down.

He also couldn't understand our bear bag method until we showed him. Everyone puts their stuff in a stuff sack and then into the bear bags that Philmont issues. Why? Your stuff is already in a stuff sack, clip it on the rope and hoist it, no need in carrying an extra bag. Some where on here is a pic of our bear bag final product. forum_thread_id=32657&skip_to_post=296260#296260

I didn't agree with the amount of water they tried to make us carry. He tried to make everyone carry 2 liters on the trail. We carried 3 pumps plus the tablets they issue, plus bleach. Everyone also had a one gallon jug for camp. He was ok with it once he saw how we used filters when needed on the trail and tablets in camp. We also were in the North country, water is a little easier to come by, so he let us go with that.

The Ranger also told us that in his two years, he had never had a trek not check out any crew gear from Philmont. We were his introduction to that too. Their stuff is proven, but, if you know what you are doing and plan, you can do it lighter.

my opinion is if they want me to carry a big pot, they can provide someone to carry it for me.

Prove your methods and don't back down. There is always a different way to do something,

I like your attitude and conclusions Nate, and i think it's true, there is usually more than one way to skin a cat.

But sometimes it requires thinking outside the box and/or going against convention or conventional wisdom. I have a lot of respect for people who can think and create creatively, and don't allow themselves to be limited by others beliefs, even if they are the commonly accepted.

The reality is that EVERY dinner provided by Philmont is essentially a meal for two people.

How a crew decides to cook it is ultimately their prerogative. Is it sensible to bring six stoves and smaller pots for two people each, one massive stove and pot, or somewhere inbetween?

As far as the rangers go, they are there to teach the Philmont Way- for 2.5 days. That's all.

Just don't leave more trace then they ask you to (turkey bags.)

We provided our Ranger with the same setup we were using a 32 Ziploc containers with Cozy
We also demonstrated that we could wash our "bowls" in the small pot that we picked up at Philmont.

Another weight saver was we used our own Tyvek RainFly. Our Troop now has 4 of them and they have never been turned out at the Ranch

I'm digging around a bit to see if I can make a couple of dining flies (we've got two crews going this summer for the first time). Could you help me with plans or pictures to get me started? I've been looking around the web for a few days but I'm not coming up with proper plans.

Thanks in advance!

What you are looking for in a dining fly is a 10×12 foot rectangle (more or less). If you have somebody who can sew, you can get 8 yards of Silnylon. You cut it in half, and sew the halves together along the long edge using a flat-felled seam. Then you dress the edges either with a roll hem or gross-grain trim. That's over-simplified, but if you look in the Make Your Own Gear section you can get some ideas. My sweet 72-year old mother has sewn 2 different tarps for me.

Here is a thread to look at:

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=62522

These plans should definitely be looked at for ideas how to sew it together (but you don't want the tapered shapes)

https://diygearsupply.com/diy-guides/tarps/

If you would like to save a whole lot of time and heartache, then buy one of these:

http://www.campmor.com/10-ft-x-12-ft-ultralight-backpacking-tarp.shtml?source=CI&ci_sku=20070&ci_gpa=pla&ci_kw=

http://www.warbonnetoutdoors.com/cloudburst/

My crew is taking the Cloudburst Tarp in that last link. I had my mother sew 6 additional Lineloc 3s (3 on each side) to make it able to anchor in the ground even more securely. My crew in 2012 took the Campmor tarp and it worked fine. Both are less than half the weight of the tarp Philmont provides

So you might sit under a tarp while your ranger is showing you the Philmont method of cooking…yeah, lets go with that to keep this reply "on topic". Anyway –

A word of caution on the Tyvek – it is light and strong but it is also bulky. It will not pack down nearly as small as a silnylon tarp. But, if you want to try Tyvek, spray glue is the way to go. I think the stuff I use is called 3M Super 77.

About how much does a 9×12 Tyvek tarp weigh?

ZPacks lists Tyvek at 1.85 ounces per square yard.

Thanks Matthew.

I originally posted on this thread in 2010 about bear bags and cooking by tents….2016 I went back to Philmont and this time decided to cook the Philmont way.  I have to say it worked great for the boys I took.  I gave them time together and turned more into a social event that a meal.  One thing that altered was that one boy liked to do the cooking….they let him…not me….he even did his other duties as well (great young man that recently Eagled)  We did built coozies for the pots out of thermal bubble wrap, those worked great for holding the heat and only weight an ounce or so.

Bear bags were different,  we still went with individual bags with names on them.  I went to a grain mill and they gave me enough feed sacks for everyone.  When they got to a point, tent mates would combine into one bag.  Made the morning SO much easier to separate stuff.

Cooking style depends on your crew, 2010 worked great for that group of boys, 2016 style was perfect for those.

My crew also went in 2016.  We had an alternative cooking method (individual insulated bowls) we were prepared to use.  We explained and demonstrated it to our ranger, but he insisted we use the Philmont method.  We cooperated while he was with us.  After he left, we used whatever method made the most sense for what we were preparing.  I will admit that some of the meals do work better with the community pot method.

For bear bags, we also used individual bags.  I sewed them from silnylon and had different colors for each tent pair (each person had their own bag).  Worked great.  We also had an oops bag of a different color.  The bags were about 20L each.  In hindsight, I would have made the oops bag larger or made two.

We brought our own tarp, a 10X12 silpoly.  Philmont is replacing the old heavy tarps with much better 12X12 MSR tarps.  I will not bring my own tarp again.  However, do not use their poles.  Philmont does allow you to tie the tarp to trees now, as long as you use their bark protection method.  If trees are not available, use trekking poles.