Fairly certain this will be one of the dumbest questions you've ever seen

I used white gas stoves for years as I was cooking for groups. They are great for that purpose, and your best bet in winter conditions. That said, I would not even consider one for a thru-hike on the AT where canisters and alcohol are readily available. The weight penalty is too great for me.

Now, if I am out with buddies for a few days and we want to do some serious feasting, white gas it is, but under those circumstances I am not really considering weight.

yeah after checking out some how-to's on youtube I've decided to go with the double-walled soda can stove with some aluminum foil folded over a few times to make a wind screen. I think I can carry a 20oz soda bottle full of alcohol, screen and stove for a total weight of about 18oz, and I can use that much alcohol for a good 20 days (assuming a few days of no cooking). plus it's cheap.

Sounds like a plan. You can carry a smaller fuel bottle with the availability of alcohol resupply along the AT.

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Originally Posted by Mags

Mind you, I am a VERY BIG COFFEE DRINKER as well and I just give up coffee on solo backpacking trips. Garlic is still amazed. ;) (If you stay with Garlic and his wife GP, bring some coffee. :D )

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I've found those tea bag type coffee servings work well if you put a couple in a water bottle overnight. By morning, you'll at least have some decent tasting iced coffee. Not hot, but still providing that eye-opening taste we've become so addicted to. Works for me.

I'm REAL close to leaving my stove and pot at home...I gotta get used to the idea that I'm going hiking and not camping!!

Good questions here. However, listen to those with experience. Save yourself some grief and postage and leave the Sterno type products at home. You will not use them they work real slow and just is the wrong thing in the wrong place. They belong in the buffet line at a restaurant.

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Originally Posted by pyroman53

I've found those tea bag type coffee servings work well if you put a couple in a water bottle overnight.

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That will work.

I just this afternoon tried one of the Starbucks Via instant coffee packets, which has coffee and a little sugar and makes 16 ounces of "iced coffee." I mixed it in one of my 1-liter water bottles filled about half full with cool tap water. It seemed a little weak, so maybe I put in too much water, but overall not bad. Kind of like an iced Americano in flavor. Expensive, though, but probably worth it for me for section and weekend hikes.

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Originally Posted by fiddlehead

"Fairly certain this will be one of the dumbest questions you've ever seen"


Not even close to the dumbest question.
From what I remember, that would be the time someone asked if she should be treating the water that she is washing her underwear in.

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Was she going to drink it after?

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Originally Posted by Finn&Fionna

yeah after checking out some how-to's on youtube I've decided to go with the double-walled soda can stove with some aluminum foil folded over a few times to make a wind screen. I think I can carry a 20oz soda bottle full of alcohol, screen and stove for a total weight of about 18oz, and I can use that much alcohol for a good 20 days (assuming a few days of no cooking). plus it's cheap.

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Jeffmeh has a good point. If you go the alky route, bear in mind that many hikers say that if you carry more than 8 or 10 oz of alcohol at at time, you may be better off with white gas. Alky stoves are best for a quick boil (optimally near-boil, to avoid the delta H of vaporization for chemistry majors) once a day, using 1/2 oz or so of fuel per day per person. Alky does not have the energy density of gas and the extra fuel you carry can overcome the weight advantage of the tiny stove.

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Originally Posted by peakbagger

One a section hike we met another person heading south. He had a standard propane bottle with burner and was complaining about the weight. He saw my pocket rocket and decided he needed one of them. He asked me how long a cannister lasted, I told him 10 days. We were jumping around the trail and ran into him a week after with his new stove, he was out of fuel and was wondering why. It turned out he was cooking beans and rice and was simmering the rice for 20 minutes. We suggested he adjust his menu to items that didnt require long cook times. I arranged to leave a cylinder under my my car tire at the next road crossing and when we met him a wekk or so later he was up to five days.

JUST REMEMBER "YOUR MILEAGE MAY VARY"

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That's exactly why I'm testing all this new-found AT knowledge in my backyard BEFORE I head out. I've got a nice 1/2 acre testing site with an easy means back to the real world should I learn any tough lessons.

it was more of a cost thingfor carrying a whole bottle. i haven't figured the cost of a alcohol on the trail yet, but if its super cheap ill carry less.i also figured since itll be in a soda bottle, that empty space in the bottle is no worthless, might as well use it. I won't be cooking enough to justify a a gas stove

Thanks Garlic. To the OP, if you read Mags' article earlier in this thread, if you carry more than about 10 oz. of fuel your weight advantage over a canister stove disappears. I wouldn't sweat 12 oz. or so, but like anything else it doesn't pay to carry more than is needed plus a bit of contingency.