Stove suggestions for a (hopefully) future PCT hiker.

I am looking for a stove that would be pratical on a PCT thru hike. I was considering alcohol but I am open for suggestions.

Thanks

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I've said this many times on this forum - I love my JetBoil!"

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I may be one of the few people who actually made comparative tests of alcohol stoves. You can make one by stuffing fiberglass in a cup or the bottom of a soda can, adding 1 to two ounces of denatured alcohol and lighting it off. No holes to drill, filler ports to drill or other fancy crap and guess what? it has the same heat output as the pressure alcohol stoves. Doesn't look as sexy though.

But you may want to look at a leave no trace wood stove. There are a few out there. Two and a half ounces of twigs will cook your dinner and you don't have to carry any fuel.

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I just picked up a Colman Exponate Xpert for $30 at a local sporting goods store. It runs on the powermax fuel canister that colman is going to be discontinuing, but I also picked up the adapter that allows you to use any ISO/Butane fuel cells. It holds the cells upside, allowing it to use the liquid gas and not the vapor gas. Thus allowing it to work down to about -15F with no problems. (I have not tested this yet).

The stove is not the lightest around - but it is good bang for the buck. If you want light, I would look at the colman exponate extreme. The simplicity of the stove can't be beat really. Works in all conditions that I will be exposing myself to.

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Russel,

Somehow that does not surprise me....... But you know it is all about those looks! That is why I want to build one of those whitebox stoves.... Ohhhh la la

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Yer right! It's not how it cooks, it's how it looks.

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Coghlans Emergency stove.

http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/campingsurvival_1894_104512748

It's tough. It's light. It's brainless. It's infallible. It can use three different types of solid fuel. (Trioxane, Hexamine, Sterno Fuel.) Solid fuel = No leaks. No dangerous flamable liquids/fumes. You can use one of the fuel pucks to light a fire in wet conditons. (Each puck burns 9 minutes.) If you run out of fuel, you can use pine cones and twigs. If you're only going to be boiling water on it then it is perfect. 1 puck = 1 cup of boiling water in about 7 minutes. It's not quick , but it's only 5 bucks, comes with 24 fuel pucks. And the fuel refills are only 2 bucks for 24 pucks. What other stove, inluding it's fuel can you fit in almost any jacket pocket? And only costs 5 bucks?

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Hi jmrdelorean, here is the link to the Pacific Crest Trail Association if you don't already have it.
http://www.pcta.org/index.asp

As far as stoves go, I am of two schools of thought, and therefore use two different methods depending on how I am feeling about weight vs. convenience at the time I pack my stuff.
I own two stoves, an MSR Whisperlite that works well, but weighs 1 1/2 pounds with fuel. This is almost instant cooking and canister stoves are even faster. A friend of mine has a jet boil and uses nothing else.
ALWAYS check for fuel leaks BEFORE you light any fuel stove! (ask me how I know)

My second stove is a modified coffee can which weighs almost nothing and burns fuel tabs,sterno,alcohol, twigs, pine cones or bark. Cooking over a wood fire or coals you have raked away from a campfire is a valuable skill to have, but it does impact the environment and the landscape. However the production of white gas and fuel canisters has an impact as well, including disposal of canisters.
Many areas are now "stove only" and I agree with their reasoning. I agree with TJCeeJay the Coghlans stove is definitely an option because of its low weight, but be prepared to make your own windscreen from tin foil or a disposable tin pan.
I am sure you will find the right stove for you. I made my decision by trying a couple at home that I had borrowed.
May the forest be with you!

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If you consider alcohol, consider the caldera cone set up at Trail Designs. The owner used his along the JMT. (look up the word "caldera" and you will see how the stove got its name!) The Coghlan stoves above are better known as esbit stoves. For the Cadilac of wood stoves, check out the Bush Buddy. For gas stoves investigate canister stoves such as Snowpeak titanium self-lighting stove.

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There are a lot of sites devoted to long-distance hiking. White Blaze is one well-known site. If you ask on them, you will get a good idea what through hikers use. A big part of the decision will be based on what you intend to eat. A lot of through hikers just boil water for instant meals, so anything will work. Others may want to be more creative or have more choices, so they might choose a canister stove.

I have a Coleman Xtreme, among others. I bought it to use as a winter stove. Once the canisters are unavailable, the whole reason for buying it will be moot. The adapter is big and awkward from the picture I saw on the Coleman site. I would never use this stove on a through hike-too heavy and the cartridges aren't readily available. Plus, if you don't have one already, I'd definitely stay away from it.

There are some pretty light canister stoves. I have a Primus Micron, but most stove manufacturers make at least one canister model.

You can buy alcohol stoves online, but if you want to make one, there are dozens of designs available and plenty of sites that show how to do it. There are also videos on YouTube on how to make them.

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Tom D raises a good point, there is a big difference between cooking and boiling water. Personally I prefer to carry dry goods and cook a real meal at least once a day. That uses more fuel than just boiling water, so you have to carry more. Since white gas is still much cheaper than fuel canisters if you buy it by the gallon, that is what I use. As for the extra weight , well, my dog carries my stove and fuel if I don't want to.

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Quote:

I may be one of the few people who actually made comparative tests of alcohol stoves.

A friend of mine has made well over 40 alcohol stoves, of various configurations, to see what worked best. I'm glad HE did it. I don't have that kind of patience. He especially likes the one he built using the larger sized "Guinness" cans. He was able to get a good 15+ minute burn with one filling of fuel. This stove boiled 2 cups of water in about 3 minutes.

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Needing a replacement for a white gas Whisperlite I decided to go to an alcohol burner. If cooking is just going to be boil water & add to dehydrated these stoves work fine. Using 70% isopropyl @ $0.79/16oz is inexpensive fuel. The fuel serves also as part of your 1st aid kit. 1/2 oz brought 500ml of 60F water up to a boil in ~5 minutes. Bit slow & sooty. Might be due to the 30% H2O. Would consider 91% iso, Everclear or denatured for colder conditions. Forgot the exact weight, but the Trangia (not the lightest alcohol burner), Clikstand + Windscreen is probably around 8oz. The whole kit plus more stuff fits inside a 1.3L pot. No real parts to break or do routine maintenance on. You will need a plastic fuel bottle. Like the bottle rubbing alcohol comes in. Alcohol on metal that has not been properly treated for alcohol is not the best choice.

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