A Sierra cup, Sierra Club cup, or Appalachian Mountain cup, is a multipurpose utensil designed for

camping Camping is a form of outdoor recreation or outdoor education involving overnight stays with a basic temporary shelter such as a tent. Camping can also include a recreational vehicle, sheltered cabins, a permanent tent, a shelter such as a Bivy bag ...

hiking A hike is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century. Long hikes as part of a religious pilgrimage have existed for a much longer time. "Hi ...

, and

backpacking Backpacking may refer to: * Backpacking (travel), low-cost, independent, international travel * Backpacking (hiking), trekking and camping overnight in the wilderness * Ultralight backpacking, a style of wilderness backpacking with an emphasis on ...

. Though designed for use as a

cup A cup is an open-top vessel (container) used to hold liquids for drinking, typically with a flattened hemispherical shape, and often with a capacity of about . Cups may be made of pottery (including porcelain), glass, metal, wood, stone, pol ...

and originally designed for collecting water from

stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a strea ...

s, its handle and wide top allows it to also be used as a ladle,

bowl A bowl is a typically round dish or container generally used for preparing, serving, storing, or consuming food. The interior of a bowl is characteristically shaped like a spherical cap, with the edges and the bottom, forming a seamless curve ...

, or cookware. Named after the American environmental organization

Sierra Club The Sierra Club is an American environmental organization with chapters in all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded in 1892, in San Francisco, by preservationist John Muir. A product of the Pro ...

, Sierra cups were historically considered the " Swiss Army knife of camping", being the primary food utensil of campers and an icon of camping food for most of the 20th century. Sierra cups are typically small containers, holding about 10 fluid ounces. Sierra cups are wider at the top than bottom, allowing for stacking. Some variants have straight handles or handles that can fold away or be removed to save storage space. They typically have a fixed wire handle that is formed into a hook for attaching the cup to a belt. While metal Sierra cups may be used for cooking food or purifying water, they were not designed for this use and do it poorly, as the broad rim increases the time necessary to boil water. Additionally, metal Sierra cups can become very hot very easily, which can burn the user when attempting to eat from it; burning one's lips on a Sierra cup while attempting to eat or drink was considered "standard practice" when they were in frequent use.

History

The Sierra cup was invented in the early 20th century, perhaps as early as 1905. They were a direct evolution of the tin cups used by campers in the 19th century, including naturalist

John Muir John Muir ( ; April 21, 1838December 24, 1914), also known as "John of the Mountains" and "Father of the national park, National Parks", was a Scottish-born American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, botanist, zoologist, glaciologi ...

, who often brought a tin cup with him during his trips to the wilderness, and founded the Sierra Club in 1892. However, David Brower, the first executive director of the Sierra Club, stated in his 1990 autobiography that the Sierra cup is simply a modified imitation of the Appalachian Mountain Cup, which features a very similar design and was created by the Appalachian Mountain Club. Sierra cups were originally made out of tin, but switched to

stainless steel Stainless steel, also known as inox, corrosion-resistant steel (CRES), or rustless steel, is an iron-based alloy that contains chromium, making it resistant to rust and corrosion. Stainless steel's resistance to corrosion comes from its chromi ...

after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Since then, modern Sierra cups have been made with other materials such as

aluminum Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

titanium Titanium is a chemical element; it has symbol Ti and atomic number 22. Found in nature only as an oxide, it can be reduced to produce a lustrous transition metal with a silver color, low density, and high strength, resistant to corrosion in ...

, and

plastic Plastics are a wide range of synthetic polymers, synthetic or Semisynthesis, semisynthetic materials composed primarily of Polymer, polymers. Their defining characteristic, Plasticity (physics), plasticity, allows them to be Injection moulding ...

References

External links

"Nancy Newhall, Tioga Mine, California"
– a photograph of

Nancy Newhall Nancy Wynne Newhall (May 9, 1908 – July 7, 1974) was an American photography critic. She is best known for writing the text to accompany photographs by Ansel Adams and Edward Weston, but was also a widely published writer on photography, co ...

with a Sierra Club cup hooked in her belt, by

Ansel Adams Ansel Easton Adams (February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984) was an American landscape photographer and environmentalist known for his Monochrome photography, black-and-white images of the American West. He helped found Group f/64, an association ...

Camping equipment Drinkware {{product-stub