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Planning a Trip

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    • Planning a Trip

      Planning a trip, prepping in the next couple years then on to the AT. What is a best light weight stove to purchase for this AT trip and how much fuel storage/containers do you bring initially. I know you can pick up along the way in towns and care packages can be dropped for you, but what would be the starting amount of fuel back up and a good quality light weight stove? Thanks in advance!
    • Howza, welcome to the Cafe! :thumbup:
      I will let the others adress the "light weight stove", since I optimize on convenience with a 11oz Jet Boil Flash Lite.

      But as for fuel on the AT there are so many outfitters along the way you may be able to get by with 100g cannisters most of the time, or go with 230g which is more economical. No need to go with extra weight and size of 450g. :)
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General
    • Hello Howza!
      Welcome to the Cafe. As a new member, you get three dancing bananas! gif.014.gif gif.014.gif gif.014.gif
      We have a thread called Welcome to the Cafe. Feel free to post there to introduce yourself, although there is a good chance all the regulars will see this post too. This forum is a bit unusual. We are group of misfit outdoor enthusiast who hang out to discuss hiking or anything else that interests us. Thread drift is encouraged and we police ourselves (i.e. We don't need moderators to tell us to be nice., but we've learned that avoiding politics helps).

      As for your question, a good resource is The Trek, an on-line magazine about hiking that does an annual survey of long distance AT hikers. They cover a wide variety of issues. As for stoves, the 2021 survey found that 86% of those surveyed used gas canister stoves, with only a small percent using other options (no stove, alcohol, solid fuel, liquid petroleum).

      As for which specific stove, there are two basic types to choose from. One is your standard stove that attaches to the canister. You put to pot on top, and cook. These all work pretty much the same way. Some may be lighter than others, but the weight difference among them is minimal. Of these the MSR Pocket Rocket is by far the most popular (51% of canister stove users). Snow Peak and BRS stoves are also popular, with the latter being a very inexpensive option. The other way to go is with a Jet Boil system (like Astro). These are systems that integrate the pot and stove in one package. They tend to be heavier, but are designed to boil water very fast (powerful) with minimal fuel (efficient). Most people use these for just boiling water which is poured into a pouch of dried food, so you are not cooking in the pot. You can use commercial trail food pouches, or mix your own in quart-sized zip lock freezer bags (Freezer Bag Cooking - FBC). The advantage here is that prep and cleanup are fast and easy, and your fuel goes a long way (less resupply).

      Here is a link for the survey results:
      thetrek.co/appalachian-trail/s…l-2021-thru-hiker-survey/
    • First, welcome to the Cafe.
      For spring, summer, and fall seasons my wife and I use an alcohol stove known as the Etowah II. It burns alcohol, which can be bought in almost any kind of store. Denatured alcohol works best. We carry the alcohol in an old mouthwash bottle. The down side is that there is no easy adjustment. Then during winter we use a stove that burns a liquid fuel sometimes known as white gas, or Coleman fuel.
    • I posted a lot about gas canister stoves as they are most popular. But like LIhikers, i also use alcohol. Mine is a home made eCHS stove with a JetBoil stash pot. I am not familiar with the Etowah II. Looks nice.

      Alcohol used to be the most popular stove on the AT. But the problem with alcohol stoves is there is huge variability among various designs and to be most effective, the whole system (stove, pot, windscreen, stand) should be optimized to work together as a unit. In other words, there's abit of a learning curve, whereas gas canisters can be used "right off the rack".
    • I don't use canisters stoves. Below are Alcohol stove options.

      I use a Zelph stove. He's a cottage person and has reduced his offerings. Some reduction is due to that the base product he used to make the stove, changed.
      zelphsstoveworks.com/

      Trail Designs is the maker of the Caldera Cone cooking system. Great product and great people to do business with. I have a favorite Titanium cook pot and a favorite series of Zelph stoves. I did a "Contact us" at Trail Design and they set me up a custom link that would take my pot and stove, and build the cone to use them together in the height I wished! Trail Designs can get your head dizzy with all the options for alcohol and Esbit and Wood fueled stoves.

      traildesigns.com/


      Happy hunting.
      Pirating – Corporate Takeover without the paperwork
    • Welcome and I second the Zelph alcohol stoves. Very fuel efficient and the fuel- either denatured alcohol or Yellow Heet fuel additive is readily available along the trail at hostels, Dollar General, drugstores hardware stores and convenience stores.
      "Dazed and Confused"
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