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[pct-l] RE: pct-l-digest V1 #388

        I've seen Wolf and his two can approach to trail cooking, and it
seemed to work for him.  The cooking can is slightly larger than the
stove can.  You use a can opener to make some holes in the side of the
stove can, close to the top.  You're using the "church key" partner of
the opener to make air holes in the stove can.

        The set is that you put an ounce or two of alcohol in the stove
can, light it, then put your cooking can on top. If you have enough
holes, the fuel will stay lit.

        I recall that Wolf used alcohol he bought in drug stores,
usually 'witch hazel.'  I think that just about any alcohol would do, be
it ethanol or methanol, natured or denatured.  It's pretty cheap stuff
when you buy the kind you can't drink.

        I don't know how easy it is to find along the trail.  Wolf's
thru-hiking story is in the Jan/Feb PCTA magazine, so I guess he did all
right.  One problem with this method is that you use a lot of fuel
volume to create much heat.  The reason is that alcohol contains oxygen
molecules, which take up space and weight in the fuel.  I'd guess that
alcohol has between 2/3 and 1/2 the Btu content per quart as white gas.

        Before you try this on a long trip, you might want to try it out
at home a bit.  Wolf has lots of hiking style characteristics that are
interesting to think about, but impossible for others to successfully
emulate.  Wolf is one of the strongest, fastest, and most determined
hikers I have ever met (he's also a very nice person).  He hikes
extremely lightly, and is capable of continuously churning out 30+ miles
every day in very difficult terrain.  Recognize that his high daily
mileage and light pack (he puts Ray to shame) enables him to use
techniques that the rest of us may find unworkable.
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