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View Full Version : To Stove or Not to Stove? That is my Question.



bkristynicole
10-13-2016, 14:18
And if to stove, what stove may it be?

I am pretty set on all my big basics- tent, sleeping, pack, shoes-ish. However, the question of whether to bring a stove or cooking implementation is still tugging at my mind. I hadn't even thought about not bringing a stove until I did a solo for a week with no hot meals... It got me to thinking.. If I wanted a hot meal while on the trail, surely I might be able to score one (or at least something hot) when I went into wherever to re-supply. This would mean that I wouldn't have to carry a stove and I wouldn't have to fiddle with cooking when I expect I will be dead tired. But then, a friend of mine, Wanderbus told me that I might live to regret that decision... He finished a AT thruhike in 2013 and told me that after a particularly raining or draining day a hot meal could be just the ticket to uplift one's spirits.

I have previously used coke can stoves, which is probably why I even thought to not go with any stove. You see, I absolutely hate fiddling with it. While hiking in Patagonia this past April, I used an MSR setup and loved it... But yet again my thruhiking friend told me that it was heavy and expensive.

So, here I am... I need suggestions... thoughts... opinions on the matter.

Engine
10-13-2016, 14:41
Personally, I look forward to a hot meal at the end of a long day too much to give it up. But many hikers are going to a zero-cooking solution for their diet and seem to do just fine. I could probably manage to deal with that diet for a week or even two, but not for 5+ months.

As for stoves, there are many threads on that subject and they all tend to end up evenly divided between alcohol stove and canister stove users. They both have advantages, but I'm an alcohol stove user. I did the white gas thing for many years and alcohol stoves were very liberating when I finally tried them. I use a Caldera Cone system now and have no complaints.

jj dont play
10-13-2016, 15:39
I did stove to HF and then sent it home. Planning on future thru hikes and will definitely remain stove less. Don't have to worry about getting extra water etc and you can just eat when starving instead of having to cook. Plus when it gets hot the last thing I wanted was a hot meal. Start with the stove, it'll be nice to get you started and in the colder temps. Decide on ditching it later, it seemed to be about 50/50 on folks ditching the stove at HF


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QiWiz
10-13-2016, 16:21
This is a very individual decision. Some people are very happy to go stoveless and others would never be happy. Personally, I look forward to a tasty hot dinner and some morning coffee. I find that an Esbit, Alcohol, or wood stove system can be carried with a titanium or aluminum pot for minimal weight penalty (less than 5-6 oz) and is worth it. Canister stove systems are easy to use but heavier, due mostly to the fuel canister itself. YMMV. Easy to send home if/when you decide it's not worth it.

Raid
10-13-2016, 17:40
I have used my stove to heat water for my Gatorade bottle on a cold night. I kept the bottle at the bottom of my quilt to keep my feet warm. In addition, I had warm water to drink the next morning. It's also emotionally and physically satisfying to have a warm meal at the end of a cold day.

Lone Wolf
10-13-2016, 17:54
don't even think of asking someone to boil you some water when you get to a shelter and it's 40 degrees and raining.

left52side
10-13-2016, 18:28
Have you looked into esbit cooking???
That is A really super ultralight form ,then if you decided you didnt really need/want to cook it would not be that much of A weight penalty ... Also multi functional as you can use the esbit tablets for emergency fire starter.
I myself like mentioned above find that A hot meal at the end of the day is so rewarding on the the cooler nights.
Also someone had mentioned above about the days of summer when it is hot not wanting a hot meal.
In the summer for myself I find myself hiking later into the day with the longer days of sunlight and often not eating dinner until after dark when it has cooled off a bit.
And even in the summer I still enjoy A hot meal at the end of a long day.
As far as being able to do it stoveless of course you can and there are lots of people doing it,some are opting to rehydrate there meals with there body heat etc and eating it at room ? temperature .
I myself use an alcohol stove made by zelph and A 10cm pot made by batchstovez.
It is always evolving and changing though as I have alot of different variables of alcohol stoves I use under certain circumstances.
But my kits never weigh over 7 ounces total and I generally never carry more than 12 ounces of fuel at a time.
But again as mentioned above this is entirely a personal decision for you to make.
I myself would check out an esbit stove,sounds like it might be right up your alley.
Here is A link from zpacks and the stove they carry.
http://www.zpacks.com/accessories/esbit_stove.shtml

CarlZ993
10-13-2016, 18:38
Both styles will work. Personal preference. I've only gone stove-less when it was mandated (flame ban). I'm not a coffee drinker so I don't have to have something hot in the morning. But, I do prefer a hot meal. Especially when it's cold.

rocketsocks
10-13-2016, 18:49
"Soup is good food"

GriZZiLLa_Ga-Me09
10-13-2016, 19:45
Personally I'm getting the MSR WINDBURNER for my 2nd thru. Looking forward to boiling water fast this time around. A stove is a luxury item since it is something you can do without so it all preference. I just grub pop tarts and such in the mornings on trail.

garlic08
10-13-2016, 19:52
Put the stove in a "bounce box" for a while, mail it to yourself up the trail. Try a few weeks with, a few without, see if it makes a difference. I did that on my first long hike, the PCT, and by the halfway point I was committed to stoveless hiking, and remain so over 10,000 miles later. Everything got better for my wife and me. No more warm, salty glop that glues to the pot, no more looking for fuel at resupplies, no more cooking out in harsh weather and bugs, easy to carry the pack on an airline.

It's really impossible to tell whether it will work for you or not. On my AT hike, fewer than 5% of hikers I talked to about such things went stoveless. For some, it really works very well.

Hikingjim
10-13-2016, 21:01
sitting on my ass boiling 250 ml of water on a canister stove for a coffee doesn't seem like much work to me, and I like the option of hot beverage and the odd hot meal.
Worth carrying for me, but many people I know don't bother

dudeijuststarted
10-13-2016, 21:50
I was miserable NOBO in March/April because I tried stoveless. Very stupid. I got through the hundred mile by creating "coffee shop hour." I'd pretend I wasn't stepping over 5 foot high roots and that I was walking into a Starbucks, and I'd sit down and make myself a coffee. After that coffee I'd push out 2-3 more miles and set up camp. A stove can alleviate psychosis.

Tipi Walter
10-13-2016, 22:22
I was miserable NOBO in March/April because I tried stoveless. A stove can alleviate psychosis.

"A stove can alleviate psychosis". I agree but it's subtle. I went stoveless on an 18 day trip last year and felt like I painted myself in a corner with food options. You really have no options except constant snacking. A stove greatly increases Variety, and variety is the name of the game when it comes to backpacking food.

Constant snacking results in increased stress on the teeth so beware of cracked or broken teeth or dislodged crowns.

By cooking you're able to drink hot teas or coffee, make fried eggs or toast or grilled cheese sandwiches, warm the body with hot oatmeals and soups, and most important, create a pleasant ritual in the morning and the evening preparing meals. On long winter trips this is vital as a stove warms the hands, the cooked food warms the stomach, snow can be melted at dry camps, hot water bottles can be procured etc.

Oh and if you're into foraging, cooking allows for much easier consumption.

-Rush-
10-13-2016, 23:34
I have a cook kit that weighs just under a pound. It's a gas stove setup. I can boil hot coffee in the morning and be sipping in 3 minutes or less. That alone is worth the extra pound.

shelb
10-13-2016, 23:58
As a section hiker, I have done several week long sections without a stove. It was no big deal. When I went on a 2-week hike this past summer (200 plus miles), I brought my stove (an MSR pocket rocket). I was glad I did. I never used it for breakfast or lunch - only dinner.

jjozgrunt
10-14-2016, 01:38
I love my hot brew (tea) morning, noon or evening, as well as a hot meal. Tried stove-less and didn't work for me. That said my Ti esbit stove, Ti cone, Ti pot and 18 hexi tablets don't weigh much, and all fit in the 900 ml pot.

Nodust
10-14-2016, 08:15
I live a hot breakfast, coffee and warm meal in the evening when I'm done hiking. But I recently hike the Pemi Loop in the Whites and went stove less. Not so much for the weight savings but just time. Things were so much less complicated, just stop and eat whenever you want. Get to where you will sleep for the night just setup and sleep. Eating had already been done.

This was my first no stove hike and I enjoyed it. If my goal is more miles than just sitting around camp I would consider it again.


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squeezebox
10-14-2016, 10:36
I've also heard that going stoveless means food with more moisture. Poptarts vs raw oatmeal for example. Over 5 days of food that could add up to the wt of a small stove set up.

Tipi Walter
10-14-2016, 13:29
I've also heard that going stoveless means food with more moisture. Poptarts vs raw oatmeal for example. Over 5 days of food that could add up to the wt of a small stove set up.

You are correct but I didn't bring up this fact because most backpackers are on short snippet trips with 4 or 5 day food loads and won't see an appreciable advantage to dehydrated and cooked meal weight savings until they are out longer. But you're right---no-cook foods are heavier. Dehydrated meals are very light and all the water weight you add later comes from the forest you are hiking in and therefore is not carried at the start of the trip.

FreeGoldRush
10-14-2016, 14:52
I've also heard that going stoveless means food with more moisture. Poptarts vs raw oatmeal for example. Over 5 days of food that could add up to the wt of a small stove set up.

At age 25 you can go a long time on things like pop tarts and Snickers bars before you are aware of the negative impact it is having on your health. I'm 46 and very much feel the health benefits of better food. Carrying a stove does not automatically mean you eat better, but I suspect going stoveless works best for the younger crowd.

daddytwosticks
10-14-2016, 16:07
I've gone stove less on a couple of overnight and three day hikes in the heat of summer. I was fine. Anything longer or cooler weather, no way. :)

jj dont play
10-14-2016, 16:42
I've also heard that going stoveless means food with more moisture. Poptarts vs raw oatmeal for example. Over 5 days of food that could add up to the wt of a small stove set up.

I eat dry oatmeal stove less, pour some in your mouth then take a swig of water and swallow. You just got to shift the focus from meals having to be an enjoyable experience to it just being a necessary function. Plenty dry things you can still eat, taste isn't always great but that's not important.


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rocketsocks
10-14-2016, 16:59
I eat dry oatmeal stove less, pour some in your mouth then take a swig of water and swallow. You just got to shift the focus from meals having to be an enjoyable experience to it just being a necessary function. Plenty dry things you can still eat, taste isn't always great but that's not important.


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garlic08
10-14-2016, 17:54
I've also heard that going stoveless means food with more moisture. Poptarts vs raw oatmeal for example. Over 5 days of food that could add up to the wt of a small stove set up.

You make a generally good point, but that's a poor example. Assuming you're referring rolled oats as bought in a supermarket, they are not "raw". They are parboiled, and can easily be eaten without further cooking. Look up "muesli." (Don't try that with steel cut oats.) Other dehydrated items that are generally cooked, but don't have to be, are instant mashed potatoes, Ramen noodles, instant refried beans (excellent with corn chips) and couscous. Corn grits do NOT work.

Also consider the last day or two before resupply for a stoveless hiker. The pack is definitely lighter then!

For stoveless hiking to be successful, it may help to stop thinking about traditional "meals." I can eat quite a bit at every break, say five or six times a day, and call it good. One advantage I think of when I hike in grizzly country is there are no cooking odors. That's probably mainly psychological, but it's important for those with a bit of a grizz phobia.

Pop tarts and Snickers never make it into my food bag. Lots of nuts and nut butters, cheese, tortillas, dried fruit, rolled oats--it's a pretty good diet of mostly real food, lots of whole grain and natural fats. On my AT hike I did not lose more than couple of pounds, and returned to my job as a firefighter with little noticeable loss of strength or muscle mass.

SawnieRobertson
10-14-2016, 18:06
Use Esbit stove and tablets. Bring along a scrubber for the bottom of your cooking pot. Almost weightless, takes up almost no space, reliable

Turk6177
10-14-2016, 18:31
I really think a warm meal at the end of the day is spirit lifting. Considering the light weight of a cat can stove with a little alcohol fuel and a titanium pot, you can bring it and only cook a couple times a week to change things up and it would be worth it.

GriZZiLLa_Ga-Me09
10-15-2016, 13:49
Everything is comparable. What doesn't kill you makes you..........
Regardless whether you have a stove or not the last couple days before resupply are lighter. Last time with crappy gear i weighed in near 35 lbs after resupply and was flying with a 25 pack going into resupply.
Compare my trail legs to that of someone who topped out at 20lbs and well you get the idea.
Made Moosilaukie and the rest of the Whites look like foothills. Never stopped on any NOBO ascent. I pushed myself to that point though. The stove and fuel in my pack did not weigh me down one bit. It seems of all the items someone would consider going without, stove would be near the end of that list.

Old Hiker
10-15-2016, 16:17
Had a stove until Harpers Ferry and sent it home. MSR Pocket Rocket. Picked it up again in Hanover. Was an adjustment to get it back.

Had a small jar of instant coffee, powdered milk and hot chocolate when I had the stove for the mornings, switched to caffeine pills when stoveless.

Stoveless:
Tortillas (heavy) had good calorie content, peanut butter (heavy), went to nutella when I was tired of PB. Also grabbed an 8oz block of cream cheese for the first day or two out of town.
Belvita breakfast bars
Pop tarts
King sized candy bars, any flavor

With stove: usually Mt. House type meals. Warmth at night and in the morning was very welcome.

bkristynicole
10-17-2016, 11:54
don't even think of asking someone to boil you some water when you get to a shelter and it's 40 degrees and raining.

I would never think of it! :-)

The Roaming Gnome
10-17-2016, 12:25
Like others have said, to go with or without is a personal choice. Personally, I like having a warm meal when it's cold out. There are so many light weight options available. If you don't like fussing with an alcohol stove then you could go with a BRS stove http://www.gearbest.com/camping/pp_116350.html . The stove weighs under 1 ounce (mine came it at .89 ounces). Paired with a 550ml titanium pot and the smaller of the Jetboil Isobutane canisters, you've got yourself a pretty light setup. The canister and stove would fit nicely inside the pot too. Most of the weight is in the canister. The smaller Jetboil canisters I believe have a net weight of 3.5 ounces.

Cheyou
10-17-2016, 16:15
Use Esbit stove and tablets. Bring along a scrubber for the bottom of your cooking pot. Almost weightless, takes up almost no space, reliable


Yes that is a very good compromise.

Thom

cmoulder
10-17-2016, 18:01
Don't even need the scrubber as you can always wipe it on grass, moss or sand to clean it! :D

I have an Esbit setup that is nowhere near the lightest, but it still weighs in at only 11.7 oz including fuel for breakfast/dinner for 5 days. At that weight I'll never go without my morning coffee and oatmeal or go to bed without a hot dinner. Alky set-up complete with fuel is about 18 oz and still totally reasonable on weight IMO.

Wise Old Owl
10-17-2016, 21:40
Have you looked into esbit cooking???
That is A really super ultralight form ,then if you decided you didnt really need/want to cook it would not be that much of A weight penalty ... Also multi functional as you can use the esbit tablets for emergency fire starter.
I myself like mentioned above find that A hot meal at the end of the day is so rewarding on the the cooler nights.
Also someone had mentioned above about the days of summer when it is hot not wanting a hot meal.
In the summer for myself I find myself hiking later into the day with the longer days of sunlight and often not eating dinner until after dark when it has cooled off a bit.
And even in the summer I still enjoy A hot meal at the end of a long day.
As far as being able to do it stoveless of course you can and there are lots of people doing it,some are opting to rehydrate there meals with there body heat etc and eating it at room ? temperature .
I myself use an alcohol stove made by zelph and A 10cm pot made by batchstovez.
It is always evolving and changing though as I have alot of different variables of alcohol stoves I use under certain circumstances.
But my kits never weigh over 7 ounces total and I generally never carry more than 12 ounces of fuel at a time.
But again as mentioned above this is entirely a personal decision for you to make.
I myself would check out an esbit stove,sounds like it might be right up your alley.
Here is A link from zpacks and the stove they carry.
http://www.zpacks.com/accessories/esbit_stove.shtml

Uh Esbit sucks if you have Aluminum pots. Have you found a way to clean them or are you using something else?

GriZZiLLa_Ga-Me09
10-17-2016, 22:19
The wise old owl sat on the oak.
The more things it heard, the less that it spoke.
The less that it spoke, the more that it heard.
Why can't we all be more like this wise old bird.

Off topic-Owl's name just reminded me of a poem. ��

AfterParty
10-17-2016, 23:38
Two words boiling coffee. Or the ocatioanl day hot food sounds good just carry a fancy feast stove make a wind screen and boom easy to use. Light and can be stowed at minimal weight hit.

The Roaming Gnome
10-27-2016, 11:13
Uh Esbit sucks if you have Aluminum pots. Have you found a way to clean them or are you using something else?

Dido...I love Esbit but that pine tar residue is a deal breaker. It sticks to aluminum, titanium, your hands and clothes.

WiredMonk
11-02-2016, 21:15
At age 25 you can go a long time on things like pop tarts and Snickers bars before you are aware of the negative impact it is having on your health. I'm 46 and very much feel the health benefits of better food. Carrying a stove does not automatically mean you eat better, but I suspect going stoveless works best for the younger crowd.

I cannot agree more. I know if I'd had done a thru in my younger years, going without a stove and living on handy snacks would be doable. Now a days...I think my body would pull a Donald Trump and say, "You're fired". (not being political, referring to his "reality" show.). My metabolism doesn't process things the same, and the wrong food will bind things up in a hurry.

I also enjoy the pause in the day where I prepare some better-than-GORP or boil some water for coffee and just enjoy sitting on my backside and watching nature without just moving through it. I'm ready to go at a slower pace and enjoy the walk. I could drop the pound, pick up the pace and hope that all helps me breeze through the trail. Then, I can come back to civilization and get back to what I'm going to the trail for? The purpose of the trail for me is to get away from things here... I'm going to try to enjoy every moment I can. I'm going to sit there an extra 15-20 minutes and make something worth eating, for my mind and body, then I'm going to stroll at a pace that's one pound heavier/slower than the stoveless folks.

RockDoc
11-03-2016, 13:25
Stove, yes.
I think the no-stove idea is overrated and misrepresented.
I met hikers (young males, only) who were going oh so very light, making big miles, and eating sports bars and snickers. The only question on their lips was "when does the all-you-can-eat buffett at Pizza Hut open?"

This is a bastardization of nutrition. A gluttony/starvation cycle. Yes you can do it, if you want...

garlic08
11-03-2016, 22:53
Well, you see what you want to see. I see so many hikers with stoves eating nothing but boxed mac'n'cheese, Knorr's sides, Ramen noodles, and coffee. Great nutrition there, right?

My no-cook bag includes whole grain muesli and couscous, cheese, nuts and nut butters, dried fruit, fresh vegetables, dried beans and hummus. I completed my AT thru hike (in 3.5 months) weighing the same as when I left home, and returned to my job as a firefighter with no noticeable loss of strength or muscle mass. Mature adults can make a good diet on the trail without a stove.

Trikiriki
11-04-2016, 07:47
Ultimately you have to do what works for you! HYOH You have so many options that are so light weight these days that it would not be a significant weight penalty to take one for even occasional hot meals/beverages and if you find you aren't using it, stick it in the bounce box in case you find out later on that you do want it. Give yourself some options. While no cook may work, you might get tired of it after several weeks and just want to mix things up. Don't put yourself in a rut before you even step on the trail.

Personally, I like the hot meals and because I dehydrate my own food and mix up my variety, it is lighter and tastes better to me than the mountain house types and I customize the spices to suit my tastes. It takes more planning of course but to me, that's part of the adventure! I like coffee in the mornings. Sometimes I like a hot tea at night. That's what works for me, but maybe not for you.

Whichever way you go, get out there and ENJOY the trail!

Secondmouse
11-04-2016, 09:57
in the end, you're going to be the only one who can decide if it's right for you. try it for a while and see how it goes but understand, 3 days going stoveless is not going day after day after day...

if you want a safety valve, you can throw a couple of the 14 gram Esbit tabs in your kit and suspend your pot with rocks (assuming you are even bringing a pot). or you could even make a twig fire (but that doesn't work so well when it's been raining).

and don't listen to comments about the ick on the bottom of the pot. yeah, it's there. but yeah, it cleans off easily enough on the trail so it's just not a big deal...

left52side
11-04-2016, 17:54
I have watched lots of videos and read many blogs on this topic,and personally for me I like to carry A alcohol stove with me and eat dehydrated meals at night as well as have my coffee in the morning.
I have tried week long hikes stoveless and I myself was already tired of the no cook foods by the end of the week.
I guess as mentioned above the choice ultimately is up you and no one else.
There is always really light options such as esbit or even wood burning where you carry no fuel with you.
There is also the re hydrate without heat method where you just place your meals in A ziploc type container and place in A warm spot(your pack if hiking or quilt etc....)
And it will re hydrarte but take longer and not be hot.
For me I think of A hot meal at the end of the day as A reward and honestly do not mind spending the funds on such luxury items as mountain house type meals....
It is just A bonus for me a good moral boost to A day long hike in freezing rain etc...

scrabbler
11-04-2016, 18:03
So this person has posted like 5 different threads, is a new user, and hasnt responded to a single one. Troll alert.

FreeGoldRush
11-04-2016, 18:38
you can throw a couple of the 14 gram Esbit tabs in your kit and suspend your pot with rocks.

This sounds like an interesting option. Can someone who has done this comment on how practical it is?

left52side
11-04-2016, 20:54
So this person has posted like 5 different threads, is a new user, and hasnt responded to a single one. Troll alert.

WHOA lets not jump to conclusions !!!!
That is A little harsh in my opinion and A good way to scare A new forum member away and not want to post.
I often times when ask for opinions myself wait sometime for some replies to get an overall feel for what the general forum thinks and base my reply upon that.
Also I checked out OP profile and they have not been on in A couple days,possible out on A hike trying out some of the replies fro the topics he/she posted about ;)

left52side
11-04-2016, 20:59
This sounds like an interesting option. Can someone who has done this comment on how practical it is?

I always carry A couple solid fuel tablets in my ditty bag for emergency etc.
I have used them in A similar manner to try them out etc... Im not sure how practical it is to use them that way full time but honestly if you are considering esbit as A main fuel source you can get an esbit tray for literally a few grams so why not carry one for the three or so grams...
Zelph has the brian green esbit tray on there stovie page and the thing is so light ......

Secondmouse
11-05-2016, 10:00
This sounds like an interesting option. Can someone who has done this comment on how practical it is?

I do it a lot. all you need is 2 or 3 rocks to suspend the pot 1.5" above the Esbit and one underneath to support the burning tablet.

you live in Alpharetta, you're welcome to come over and check out my boil kits. this is the time of year I go out back and fool with fire in my wood stoves...

marisajane
11-05-2016, 13:06
Just finished my thru hike a few weeks ago! and am a proud member of #TeamStoveless.

I don't cook a whole lot in real world life, and eating hot meals was neither necessary nor precious for me (and I TOTALLY GET where folks who enjoy hot meals are coming from on this point), so I stopped using my stove in the Smokies, sent it home in Hot Springs, and didn't regret it once in the months that followed. Saved me time and effort and the end of long days when all I wanted to do was eat a McDonald's cheeseburger and collapse. Which btw you can do- so many options if you're stoveless! It's not all snack foods! In my experience prepackaged lunch meat lasts for 3-5 days, depending on weather; McDonald's never seems to die ever; you can pack out those salads in bags, blocks of fancy cheese, gas station hot dogs, fresh fruit, on and on. No these aren't all healthy options but neither were the ramen and pasta sides I was cooking on my stove. As a bonus/not bonus, all those harmful preservatives in foods like deli meat work in your favor when it's 100+ degrees in PA and you're carrying smoked turkey slices. And when you get into town there's a hot food and coffee treat to look forward to.

Obviously yes, as everyone has said, do your own thing and whatever works best for you. It's always possible to send a stove home and/or recollect it, you gots options.

George
11-10-2016, 00:58
Had a stove until Harpers Ferry and sent it home. MSR Pocket Rocket. Picked it up again in Hanover. Was an adjustment to get it back.

.

probably one of the most practical areas of the AT for stoveless as weather is warm, 2-3 day resupply is possible - both for availability and the ability of nobo (and probably sobo) to make milage by this point

gives you a 4-6 week break from your food routine / when you go back to cooking you have another change

as others have said, an early season start without hot food is not a popular alternative

George
11-10-2016, 01:06
Uh Esbit sucks if you have Aluminum pots. Have you found a way to clean them or are you using something else?

a little water and a flat rock - 30 sec of grinding / maybe do the edges with some sand

store in a worn out ziplock between cleaning

George
11-10-2016, 01:12
This is a bastardization of nutrition. A gluttony/starvation cycle. Yes you can do it, if you want...

like many other life forms, humans evolved to deal reasonably well with that system

bkristynicole
11-11-2016, 12:38
"So this person has posted like 5 different threads, is a new user, and hasnt responded to a single one. Troll alert."

I am no troll. I haven't been on this site for a few days, but I had been reading the responses and looking into the suggestions made. I don't think that I have posted 5 threads. I do mostly reading. I have done a lot of hiking, but nothing this long... And all of that hiking was done without a stove.

I thank everyone for all the suggestions. I am weighing the pro's and con's of the suggestions... and leaning towards a cooking method of some kind. I still have time to work that out since I don't plan on maildropping the entire trail...

Del Q
11-11-2016, 18:02
No cook, went stove-less years ago and happy with that. Sure, hot food is tasty and cozy..........I eat really well and eat my cooked food in town and when I get home.

Peanut butter, honey, jerky, dehydrated turkey then add some water, few hours, chunks of turkey, may packets, tortillas, instant oats with nido, protein powder and dried fruit, hard pretzels (fav), cheese, SPAM, mustard packets, nuts, nuts, Rip Van Waffle's (tried those yet - yum yum), tuna packets with oil, dried persimmons, snickers..............and of course some "hooch" to wash it all down.

-Rush-
11-13-2016, 21:01
When I got destroyed by cold temps, wind, rain, and hail in the Smokies recently.. being able to cook a hot meal while I dried out in a shelter was a nearly life-changing experience. lol.. I guess it really depends on where you are and what the conditions are. I always carry a stove and keep the kit under 1lb.

josh_ATL
11-14-2016, 02:53
I'm all for going stove-LESS. I drop some pack weight and it makes town food taste that much better. You pass thru or near a town every couple days where you can resupply and grab a bite to eat. I'm a big fan of packing out pizza or subs or a bag of hamburgers from town and eating them for dinner and maybe even breakfast the next day. While I was in the Shennies I went almost a week carrying nothing but a couple bars for breakfast, and ate at the waysides for lunch and dinner. I feel like the lighter your pack is the more miles you can do without feeling so fatigued and the faster you can get into town to get real food. I usually try to keep my food where I'm hitting town the day I run out. Probably also helps that I use a 36L pack that can't hold much more than 4/5 days worth of food. But then again...I'm one of those crazy ultralighters who'll give up a lot of comfort stuff for a lighter pack. Everyone figures it out their food situation pretty quickly as they go. I've seen a lot of people start off with stoves and ditch them, especially during the Summer months when the last thing you want is anything hot. Then again I've seen folks like /\ Rush /\ cooking bacon and mountain house eggs when its 20 degrees outside and found myself drooling over hot coffee and breakfast. I'd say start with a stove, but act like you don't have (ie. don't cook, only buy food that you can prepare without hot water) and see how going stoveless works, and it you don't need it, get rid of it, and if you feel like you do then keep it.

JEgestad
11-14-2016, 07:39
got a really hard time deciding if i shall bring it

sending it home will be a pain, so have to decide before

never cooking anything at home anyway, and i dont drink warm drinks, and used it once on my last 5 days trip, think i just skip it

garlic08
11-14-2016, 09:18
got a really hard time deciding if i shall bring it

sending it home will be a pain, so have to decide before

never cooking anything at home anyway, and i dont drink warm drinks, and used it once on my last 5 days trip, think i just skip it

If sending a stove home is a pain, then send it to yourself a week or so up the trail via General Delivery. If you send it Priority Mail via the USPS, you can forward it for free if you don't take delivery of it. You don't even have to show up at the PO, just call them. You can keep "bouncing" it up the trail indefinitely that way, or start carrying it again if you miss it.

I see you're from Denmark--do you have the "poste restante" system there? It works the same here, different name.

Venchka
11-14-2016, 21:47
Double check with USPS on the number of times you can forward a Priority Mail package for free. I seem to remember reading that you could only forward a box twice. I could be way wrong. Best to check at the source.
Wayne


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JEgestad
11-15-2016, 03:29
ahh cool, will remember that, time for some more research on that part

dont really use the danish post service, they gotten so expensive 4$ for a single letter and it takes longer to deliver than to walk and deliver it yourself

garlic08
11-15-2016, 09:45
Double check with USPS on the number of times you can forward a Priority Mail package for free. I seem to remember reading that you could only forward a box twice. I could be way wrong. Best to check at the source.
Wayne


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Good point, never tried it more than once. Thanks for bringing that up.

Venchka
11-15-2016, 10:42
Good point, never tried it more than once. Thanks for bringing that up.

Please remember that I don't know for sure. I looked briefly at the USPS site and couldn't find anything on forwarding packages. Good luck.
Wayne


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johnupton318
11-28-2016, 16:22
Lots of posts here, but for what it's worth, I sent home my stove after about 800 miles. I didn't miss it. Cooking/cleaning was a chore I didn't feel like messing with, and the saved weight allowed me to pack our food I usually wouldnt have (like fresh avocados). I say go stove less. I carried a tiny ultralight titanium pot in case I ever wanted to hear something over a fire. I only ever used the pot as a cup.

Greenmountainguy
01-07-2017, 19:18
I met a guy who left Georgia in (wait...) December, before Christmas and he had no stove. I met him in Massachusetts in March and was astounded. He had a 25 lbs. pack but no stove and no cookset. Hiking through winter without even a hot drink?
The difference between having a hot drink when cold, wet and tired is hypothermia. If you are fanatic, take a small titanium pot and a cat food stove.

cliffordbarnabus
01-08-2017, 01:01
suffering will teach you who you are.

also, peanut butter is money!

garlic08
01-08-2017, 08:09
I met a guy who left Georgia in (wait...) December, before Christmas and he had no stove. I met him in Massachusetts in March and was astounded. He had a 25 lbs. pack but no stove and no cookset. Hiking through winter without even a hot drink?
The difference between having a hot drink when cold, wet and tired is hypothermia. If you are fanatic, take a small titanium pot and a cat food stove.

There's no denying the value of a hot drink in quickly getting heat energy right into the core. But it's not very much energy when you look at the numbers. A Snickers bar has much more heat energy in calories than the typical hot drink. An experienced hiker who has enough insulation and can keep it dry has no need for a stove to stay warm, as evidenced by the winter thru-hiker who did it.

By definition, a winter thru-hiker is taking quite a bit of risk. Leaving the stove behind increases the risk incrementally, but that was his call and it worked out for him. I guess he had no need to melt snow for drinking water.

Greenmountainguy
01-11-2017, 21:49
... A Snickers bar has much more heat energy in calories than the typical hot drink. An experienced hiker who has enough insulation and can keep it dry has no need for a stove to stay warm, as evidenced by the winter thru-hiker who did it.
By definition, a winter thru-hiker is taking quite a bit of risk. Leaving the stove behind increases the risk incrementally, but that was his call and it worked out for him. I guess he had no need to melt snow for drinking water.
Yes, Snickers has a lot of calories, but they do you far less good in my opinion that would a hot pot of tea with sugar while waiting for a hot dinner. Calories in the gut do not equal heat applied to the body through a mechanism like a hot drink.
I think that even fit, young, thin, athletic, the risks are more than incremental. And what about enjoyment? Maybe his enjoyment came from being alone on a normally well populated trail. Maybe he had a job he needed to get back to, but still, a light stove and a kettle and plastic bowl probably could still have been packed at around 25 lbs.
If I saw him in mid-March in North Adams, MA, he hit Maine in what, another two weeks? He had packed through the Smokies in the middle of winter. The Smokies are not, admittedly, the White Mountains, but I would not have attempted such a trip in winter no matter what my pack weight or stove situation.

shelb
01-11-2017, 23:09
I have hiked stoveless for periods up to 2 weeks. - but never in winter type weather. Personally, I agree with many other posters that I would want something warm at least once a day, which would warrant the need for a stove... In the summer - to each his own! No biggie either way!

Further down south
02-12-2017, 06:46
Hike your hike .... make your own decision . Bring the stove you can always send it if you do not want it . It is only a pound of weight to have a cooked meal . Dude , the snicker bars and peanut butter tortilla diet is not good for your body . You will damage yourself doing it . Also , candy is a empty calorie and will get you going for a minute and you will crash . You need complex carbs and simple carbs to even out the energy ... a pound to eat good is not much . The typicsl hiker diet is not good for you bro .... have fun , escspe society , find you inner peace ... enjoy yourself . It is not a race ..

CHILL_TX
02-18-2017, 18:12
Start with a stove. If you find you don't use it, send it back. Then, your pack will feel a little lighter and you'll never wonder if you should've brought a stove when you didn't.