[pct-l] Stoves, stoves and more stoves....

[Diane Soini of Santa Barbara Hikes]

Steel-Eye is right. We love to talk about stoves because stoves are  
really cool. They've got fire, they've got technology, and they're  
part of the best part of hiking: EATING!

I started my hike with a wood burning stove. I did not like it  
because it was messy and bulky.

I switched to the Etowah alcohol stove. The stove fit inside my pot  
so it saved a lot of space. Then it rusted.

Later, I made a very small stove from a small aluminum can. The stove  
and my homemade wind screen fit inside my pot. I did not need a pot  
stand.

It takes very little alcohol fuel to make dinner and dinner was my  
only cooked meal. I used a very small plastic water bottle, maybe  
8oz. I never needed the entire thing filled for any section. However,  
to finish the trail, I filled a large 20oz bottle with alcohol at  
Cascade Locks and was done with worrying about fuel. I might have  
found some fuel along the way, I don't remember, but I never ran out.

Nowadays, I have a stove that comes with the caldera cone. I like the  
way it contains the burner safely. The cone is kind of bulky, but I  
roll it up and shove it into my plastic coffee cup. Now that I'm not  
a thru-hiker, I enjoy lingering over a cup of coffee on my section  
hikes. If the cone would fit in my pot, that would be perfect. There  
was a gal at one of the kickoffs who made a cone that would do just  
that. The cone was in two pieces.

I tried esbit but got bad cubes that would not light so now I don't  
trust them. I did not like the mess they leave on my pot. I used to  
be a huge esbit fan way back when and still have my original little  
folding esbit stove.

My friend used a tiny little stick fire to cook. No stove at all but  
still a hot meal.

On Jan 19, 2013, at 10:00 AM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:

> From: Randy Godfrey <randy3833 at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: [pct-l] Stoves, stoves and more stoves....
>
> PCT friends,
>
> There is so much discussion over and desire to use the alcohol  
> stoves. I feel like I'm missing something here. Are the advantages  
> of using an alcohol stove that great over using a canister stove?