take a stove or not

[None yet]

If you didn't start with a stove, did you later purchase one? If you started with a stove and sent it home, did you regret it?

[Lucy Lulu]

I was out west back packing several years ago, and sent my stove home. I did not regret not having the stove. I did not use a stove this year over about an 800 mile section on the AT. I did not miss the stove.

[RCBear]

I could live without hot meals, for awhile. I can't live without hot coffee in the morning.

Sent from my Galaxy Note 2 using Tapatalk 2

[Starchild]

Only one backpack ever that I did without a stove and that was my very first backpack, my first purchases when I got back was a hot meal, the second was a backpack stove.

I most likely could do it now a lot more comfortably, but with stuff like esbit fuel, which can be the stove in itself, I don't see the need to go without. I also enjoy the cook time, so a added incentive to bring it for me.

[Deadeye]

I've never gone without stove, but I have forgotten the fuel! I did just fine without it, but I do like hot coffee or tea in the morning and at lunch, so for a few ounces, I'll keep bringing the stove, and try to remember the fuel.

[slbirdnerd]

I suggest taking one and if you find you like living without it, send it home. If you plan to cook, fires can be a pain at times. Plus, if there isn't an established fire ring, you're violating LNT principles: http://lnt.org/.

[Coffee]

Coffee makes a stove required equipment for me and since I need to have it anyway, hot food is a bonus. I can see going without hot food but never without morning coffee.

[Grampie]

There is nothing like having something hot to eat and drink when it's cold and wet. Bring a stove it adds to the creature comforts you will learn to like.

[Old Hiker]

A hot lemonade at night helped keep me warm. Never remembered to do it, but it really wasn't necessary during 2012, but a hot water bottle may have come in handy 2013.

I do like my coffee/hot chocolate mix in the morning and then sometimes for lunch. It's worth the weight for me.

Almost ran out of fuel only once: in the Smokies, as the grocery store at Fontana didn't have any canisters. I was able to buy one from a hiker half-way through the Smokies JUST before my canister ran out.

[Mags]

Something I wrote a earlier that may be of interest:
http://www.pmags.com/going-stoveless...od-for-thought

The overall synopsis: Is it for everyone and all situations? Nope. Is it a good tool to have in the kit and may work for some people and some situations? Yep.

[4eyedbuzzard]

No pasta, no rice, no hot oatmeal and NO HOT COFFEE?

A stove and fuel just doesn't weigh that much. 1 oz alky stove, windscreen, and 12 ounces of alcohol fuel (bottle of yellow HEET) weighs about 12 ounces (and the weight goes down every day as fuel is used). That will heat about two cups of water 16 times at 3/4 oz per boil under optimal conditions. Even factoring in colder water, air temps, and some wind, you can probably count on 5 days worth of hot breakfast cereal and coffee/tea and a hot pasta or rice or couscous or other dinner. That's hard to pass up to save, say, an average of 12 ounces carried weight.

Going one step further, for a few ounces more, any canister stove will have you eating before hikers with alky stoves even have their water hot. If it's really cold, you won't regret carrying it over the alky stove.

Add that hikers that go stoveless often wind up carrying more weight as the foods they carry almost always have a higher water content. And in freezing conditions, some of these foods become very hard to eat. Anything with water will freeze and become a flavored ice cube and you'll have to carry it next to your body to thaw it. It is also difficult to reconstitute most dry food without the aid of heat.

[Mags]

As I said, it is another tool that works well for certain situations and hiking styles. It is never just about weight.

During hot and sticky weather, such as in the middle of of a thru-hike in the Mid-Atlantic, a hot meal may actually be a minus.

In Maine, in late-September, a hot drink could be nice.

Good to have choices, different tools and applying it to different situations.

[4eyedbuzzard]

If you didn't start with a stove, did you later purchase one? If you started with a stove and sent it home, did you regret it?

If you are starting a long hike and are unsure, you could take a cheap alky stove to start and try it, then bounce it up the trail (or get another one if you choose to go back - make one or buy one, they're cheap) and go a week without to see if you like one option over the other. As Mags and others noted, going stoveless is a choice. Only you can find out which choice is best for you.

[Slo-go'en]

This is another one of those "it depends" answers. In the spring and fall when it's chilly out, it's nice to have hot food and drink. In the summer, not so much. A lot of hikers go stove less during the summer months. The advantage is you usually get to eat quicker. You can make and eat a PB+J sandwitch faster then some people can prime thier stove. But don't expect to save much weight, no cook food tends to be heavier and have more bulk then the usual pasta and instant mashed potato meals most people cook.

[ChinMusic]

I just did an AT thru and didn't bring a stove. I got my fill of "real" food in towns and ate a lot of tortillas on the trail. I never missed hot food and I am not a coffee drinker.

[Coffee]

I'll have to give cold Via a try as Mags suggested in his article. Never thought of it. I like hot coffee but it is the caffeine that is essential to have.

[garlic08]

I brought a stove on my first long hike, the PCT, and after a few weeks decided to mail it ahead. I thought I sort of missed it, but then a few weeks later I mailed it ahead again, and eventually sent it home. After a few months of trying it both ways, I decided my hiking was better without it. I haven't carried a stove on a three season trip since, including the CDT, the AT, and a few other shorter trails.

As Mags says, it's good to have a choice, and the US Post Office easily provides that.

[Tipi Walter]

But don't expect to save much weight, no cook food tends to be heavier and have more bulk then the usual pasta and instant mashed potato meals most people cook.

I think this is true, at least for me on long trips w/o resupply. My dehydrated meals go a long way and 20 days worth only fill a small stuff sack. One of the secrets is to do your own home drying and put into ziplocs.

Beyond this, even backpackers with stoves go stove-less at times and much of the food they eat is "snack" food requiring no cooking---bread, peanut butter, cheese, fruit, crackers, granola, probars, etc etc. VARIETY is the name of the game and a stove increases the variety of food choices you have.

[max patch]

I drink a pot of coffee a day, but after a couple weeks I decided it was too much of a hassle to cook breakfast. I found I didn't miss the coffee at all. In CT I mailed my stove ahead 3 weeks as an experiment. I was glad when I caught up to my stove. However...as there are now more proteins which can easily be carried (think tuna in foil, etc) than when I thru'd, and based upon the posts of garlic and others who have hiked without a stove, I'm going to give it try next long hike. I'll start off with it, mail it ahead, and make the final decision when I catch up to it.

[Second Hand]

I always carried a stove and found I never used it. This year I did about 200 miles without a stove. In shoulder season and winter I switched to using an esbit stove. It's small, cheap and easy. Generally I only use it to make some hot tea before bed or early in the morning when it's really cold.