[pct-l] alcohol fuel

[kevin at antelecom.net (Kevin Corcoran)]

You could walk into anyplace that carries car supplies and probably 
find HEET. I live in Lancaster, just down the road fom Mojave, and I 
walk into the auto store in July and buy a few bottles every year. 
Why they stock it here, even in winter, is beyond me; not to mention 
that the clerk never bats an eye selling me two dusty bottles of it 
in July.

Kevin Corcoran


>sorry if this information is available elsewhere, but I am new to 
>the list and I won't have access to my PCT guides and Yogi's book 
>until right before I leave for the hike...
>   
>   do most folks include alcohol fuel in their resupply boxes (it 
>appears to be legal to do so in the small quantities that a solo 
>hiker would use, per this extremely useful compilation of USPS regs 
>on shipping flammables) http://www.gottawalk.com/shipping_fuel.htm
>   
>   Anybody have experience/problems with mailing alcohol?  Or do 
>folks generally buy it along the way?  If so, since denatured 
>alcohol comes in those monster jugs, what do you do with the rest? 
>HEET comes in smaller bottles but has lower BTU content, and I 
>wonder how easy it is to come by along the trail?
>   
>   I live in CA so shipping costs don't seem like they'd be 
>prohibitive if I went with the mail option, and this idea seems 
>workable provided the bottle doesn't leak all over my carefully 
>dried foods :)
>   
>   Thanks for any help you can provide...
>   Mike