Re: [pct-l] Zip Stoves

[bjensen4@juno.com (Birgitte Jensen)]

     David, in the San Jacinto & San Gorgonio Wildernessses and any FS
land "nearby" (So CA portion of the PCT), as well as the Sierra PCT (like
Inyo Nat Forest/John Muir Wildernesses, etc) Zip (or any other
wood-burning stove; dunno if there are other commercial ones, but people
construct all kinds of homemade hobo-stoves from time-to-time <g>)
"Stoves" fall into the category of CAMPFIRES, not Backpacker STOVES
(liquid-gas or canister-type, you know what I mean). This means that when
there's high fire danger - not usually in early spring in the Sierra, but
some sites restrict fires year-round... - or anyplace/time  campfires are
prohibited, you can't use a Zip at all; when fires are restricted to
exisiting fire-rings, that's where the zip has to be used, etc etc. There
are places where zips are "banned" altogether, even beyond Fire Danger
warning zones: check with FS office, ranger stations, etc., for the area
you'll be travelling, and get the skivvy on what's permitted for that
particular time-of-year, etc....
     You didn't ask, but some folks demand the "reasoning" behind
restrictions before they feel  a rule applies to them personally <g>,
so.... Wood-burning stoves have the same problem as campfires with 1)
creating sparks - the Zip fan is kinda like a battery-operated "breeze",
which enhances wildfire danger, as we all know 2) not being able to
instantly extinguish the burning fuel (no flick of a knob to turn the
thing instantly totally-off if a "problem", ahem, develops 3) the fuel
isn't totally-combusted, thus leaving messy and (more important) possibly
smoldering left-over fuel in the form of hot ash, coals, blah blah.
There's the possibility of burn scars being left from the fire, and not
everybody is gonna tidy up zip-fire residue and pack it out, etc; that'd
an aesthetic concern as well as a potential fire hazard which gas stoves
don't bring to the backcountry.
     After all, like you said, the basic idea of a Zip is that it's a
mini-campfire with its own bellows; you gather fuel for it from the
forest floor (like any other campfire), build it/tend it like any other
campfire, and thus save the weight/expense of having to buy fuel at a
sporting goods store and lug it in your pack - tho as you also mentioned,
you can't even avoid carrying zip "fuel" in certain areas or in inclement
weather, groan....
    A Zip "stove" on a JMT-hike might prove to be one of those
hassels-to-save-hassle, if you know what I mean..... When are you going,
BTW?                 bj


On Fri, 2 Oct 1998 10:25:46 -0700 "David Long" <David_Long@email.msn.com>
writes:
>Don't know if this applies to JMT, but I asked the backcountry rangers
at
>Mt. Rainier N.P. about ZIP stoves.  They said it's fine to use them in
the
>park, but you can't gather wood in the park to burn; you have to bring
in
>wood from outside, such as National Forest land.  That kinda defeats the
>whole idea of the ZIP stove:  that you gather the fuel as you go rather
than
>carrying it with you.
>
>That has me wondering if the ZIP stove is going to work for me for my
>thru-hike next year.  Anybody else thru-hiked with a ZIP?

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