Going stoveless

“Please just seperate the paper from the plastic and keep the bags clean so it doesn't get my Range Rover dirty, kay? 8)

Listen to Tarpy, the AT thruhikin' sonofagun! How far did you make on YOUR AT hike Tarpy? Weekend warriars? Hell yes! Every weekend I can! Weren't you the one above saying all you need is a bit of cold ffod and a bivie for an OVERNIGHTER?”

“Dang, I just realized how bad we mucked up dude’s thread on hiking info. Hiking threads are a bit rare and we screwed it up! Sorry about that Dude. It’s tough to stop rippin’ on each other when yer having fun. Back on track!

So I bought some of those great Terango Chips and I must say, they are the best tortillas I’ve ever had. To be truthful I wanted the cool triangular plastic container and fell in love with the chips. But now that I have the container, what the hell do I use it for besides more chips? I was going to take chips and dehydrated refried beans next time I go out. Yummy!”

“Mmmmm...nachos with cheese dip on the trail.....”

“You know how sensitive I am about my trail mileage....

What's ffod and bivie?”

“ffod=fukkin' food on da'trail!”

“I thought you were a Christian? Hey what was that other guys name... started with an N I think... maybe that was him.”

“Steve Hiker does not crap on the trail. That is where he pitches his tent. Right on the trail :-)”

“Im definetly starting to leave my stove at home, I just dont care for making food to much, and I could save time and weight for still good food

I wait untill Spring to stop thow, but Im going to.”

“As far as bringing a stove,
I notice most on yall posted about not getting your coffee. I'm not a coffeee drinker at all. As far as warm food?, If I'm soloing, I'll walk till just before dark and so I'm still warm from walking when I turn in. In the morning it takes me less than 30 mins to get up, pack and be on the trail. One of the beauties of packing light. I'll be warm from walking in no time.
BTW, Thanks for the ideas adout eating out of a baggie. I'll see what I could come up for meals. I hate freeze dried meals from the outfitter! That's some nasty tasting sh!t.

Now to address my point of view about plastic and camp fires;
* I believe in No-Trace camping. That's one reason I like to stay light when soloing.
* Now, I never build a fire if it's just me so I'll pack out my trash.
* BUT, If I'm with a group and we're in a designated campsite and a Fire Ring is established then that means it's no longer "No Trace". Agree?
* So, I have no problem with burning a piece of plastic wrapper. I do not try to burn cans because everbody knows that (lets all say it) "Metal don't melt". Burning the wrapper from ramen Noodles or a ziplock baggie will not destroy the widerness. Be freakin logical here. We're not toasting a tire here.
* Tarp Rat is right. If you do take all your trash out and throw it away, It will be sent to a landfill and decompose over MANY MANY MANY Years.

* So if you pack out all trash and toss it or burn it to nothing in a fire, I don't really care. Just don't make a campfire and then go preaching about "No Trace".

Thanks again for the responces. I'm going to go without a stove sometime and see how it goes.”

“I like my food hot and spicey. And I like my FOOD! LOL, and when I am backpacking I get really hungry...
I never do dishes either. The only thing my stove is used for is boiling water. To put in my food. And since it weighs only ounces. It is a welcome item in my pack loaded with FOOD!
And when out for multiple days the only craving I get is for FOOD!... GEEZ, I am hungry again!”

“Have some pizza man.”

“PLEASE dont say that word walkindude!

expecialy on the trail! LOL”

“My hikes tend to be longer distance. In that situation, going without a stove is just plain stupid. A Whisperlite weighs less than nothing, and I just need my Lipton and Ramen Noodles after a hard day's hike (is that a Beatles tune?). If I'm out on the trail for a weekend, I'd consider not bringing a stove. However, if I'm out for a week, no way am I living on that hiker crap.”

“Good luck with that...:)


I always have a stove no matter what.”

“walkindude,

I totaly agree... you made the point very well... if there is a fire ring that has been used for years, it makes no difference, but I would never build a new fire ring and burn a bunch of crap in it.”

“I have never gone stoveless, and frankly never had the urge to. And I pack ALL my trash out.

Going stoveless obviously means you'll be bringing food that hasn't been dried and needs rehydrating. Where's the weight saving in that concept? Seems like you'll be starting out with more weight on your feet, and ending up with a packweight minus that of your pot and stove...a whole freakin pound...Ugh! I don't see any benefit to leaving your stove at home.”

“You seam offended by our resourcefulness?

Try it before you start adding up the ounces to prove us wrong, because there is more to it than just saving some weight.

PEACE OUT!”

“Haven't wanted to, needed to or have gone stoveless. Regardless of what others have posted, I just don't see any benefit to leaving your stove at home. Makes you excellent at preparing non-cooked meals??? Learns you to cook over a fire??? I dunno... I still don't see any other practical reason to do it.”

“For me it's about simplicity, not weight. Connecting with the caveman in all us. [grunt grunt]

Izallgood!”

“OK... ONE good reason!”

“There is a certain freedom in having very little or even better, nothing at all! Sometimes your material possessions own you more than you own them.”

“I like hot coffee, hot cocoa, AND, if you've ever gone packing with me, you know my food HAS to be HOT!!!! NOT warm, HOT!!!

And, we ALWAYS have a fire, it's one of the best parts of the outdoor experience. Staring into the fire, BS'ing around the fire, drinking around the fire. It's like the kitchen back home, it's where everyhting happens.

And yes, we do burn SOME of our trash in the fire when it's hot enough to do so. No Mountain House packages, no coffee bags, no travelers. But yes, alot of the plastic bags do burn completely and we put thenm in the fire. In the morning we sift through the ashes and pull out that which did not burn completely. Then it goes into the Mountain House Package with the rest of the trash.

And furthermore, when I take a sh!t, I roll over a rock that is about half buried and that is where I go. I am NOT going to pack out my sh!t, or my sh1t paper.

To Tarpy, you ever out west? I think it would be a blast. We could probably teach each other a few things. Good things.”

“This discussion makes me think of the scene in Black Hawk Down where the fresh coffee fanatic Ranger portrayed by Ewen McGregor has pulled his little stove out to brew some java amidst the fighting. Most of the other soldiers didn't even bring any extra water or rations since it was only an "hour-long" mission.

That's the kind of devotion assuring this issue will never be settled. We all have our own path to bliss -- absolute simplicity for some, elaborate cooking rituals for others, many in between.

Plus, I presume that those who are considering going stoveless aren't abondoning the idea of carrying firestarting materials in case of emergency.”

“Good points, Pekka. Always carry matches or a lighter. I don't think I would ever go on an overnighter without at least a small pot and matches. At a bare minimum, I want to be able to build a fire to boil water in an emergency situation. Homemade stove weight, I have found, to be really negligible. The Svea, on the other hand, weighs a friggin' pound empty. I find I'm leaving that honkin' thang, as much as I love it, at home more and more in favor of boil in a bag.”

“I have never been out west, but as Jim Morrison said.... "The west is the best" and what Jim says, goes!”

“"I presume that those who are considering going stoveless aren't abondoning the idea of carrying firestarting materials in case of emergency."

I go stoveless in the summer. The only thin I need a lighter in the summer for is lighting a cigar. 8) But, yes, I bring one.

After getting in a few debates on fires and cooking I did some screwing around and came up with this on my site.”

“I make Pizza on the trail. No big whoop.”

“Lots of good debate on this subject - Yaassss!

Hey Nigal, I'm a stogie smoker too.”

“If you intend to eat other hikers, you need to bring some firestarting equipment. Its just plain unhealthy to eat human meat raw.”

“Besides matches and lighter, I always carry one of those magnesium emergency fire starters. It's just a small block of magnesium and a sparking rod (entire kit is ~1"X2.5"). It will burn in driving rain and really works. When you mention fire-starter, I'm guessing you mean fuel of some sort. If so, there is no lack of fire-starting fuel, it just takes work to get enough to get a fire hot enough to burn wet fuel. Materials I use: bits of bark w/ sap seepage, litred pine (concentrated pitch where branch joins tree), pine cones/needles, dry rotten wood will burn too. There's always dead dry wood on a live tree. I realize in may be a bit more difficult in the East due to inherent moisture content of everything. My personal cook setup is a twig fire with the AL cup from an old SVEA 123R for pot. It's bare AL, thick and boils enough water for any beverage or meal. Just do a 3-point stone hearth. Kick and stomp it into oblivion when I'm done.
Also, I don't know if anyone has mentioned AL foil, handy if you catch a fish. I hate it when people leave this stuff in the wilderness though, it always seems to find it's way into your vision. I usually have a small amount of other peoples trash that I pack out. One thing I've noticed is the increasing amount of trash that people are willing to carry in but not out. That's a reason I don't support trail development or divulge many of my hikes on MB's.”

“willk, when I said firestarting materials, I meant just the type of item as your magnesium/sparker kit. I used to have a magnesium "match" that was a small key-sized rod with a grab tab on one end - just scrape some filings onto tinder and light. Fuel isn't the issue most places in an emergency, but getting it started is. Weatherproof matches, a butane lighter, some petroleum jelly saturated cotton balls or commercial firestarter cubes/sticks -- all are very small, extremely light, and one or more of them should be in any backcountry traveller's emergency kit.”

“I can survive on Peanut butter, beagles, Cheese, Trail mix, Granola bars, pepperoni, Tortilla shells, English muffins, Gu, Carnation Instant Breakfast, or a number of things that don't require cooking.
A stove is a convience tool and not a necessity.
I'm glad I don't have a coffee addition! I hate the stuff.

This may be the wrong thing to use as an example but;
The Famous "Chip" that lives on the AT does not use a stove at all. He lives on Peanut Butter and cookies on the trail but eats can food when in town.


I'm going to go stoveless on my next trip out and I'll see how it goes. Which will be this weekend for 3 days.


I carry a magnesium fire starter as well as a lighter and a pack of waterproof matches. Plus some kind of solid fuel like an Esbit block or some of that Army stuff.


My first BPing stove was a Peak 1 Feather 400. Then I went to an Apex 2. I caught myself on fire with the Feather 400 and swore to never use White Gas again. Next I got a Zip stove and then my Peak 1 Micro Butane (I like that one). And finally I'm using an Esbit. I like the Esbit too.”

“I hope none of you dog lovers have Beagles. If so, don't go hiking with walkindude, he might eat it.

LMAO”

“Without a stove? Ewwww!”

“Oh my gawd! He killed Snoopy! You bastards!”

“I definitely agree with Dude. I went stoveless when I was "trippin in the Whites with Dude and Pete."

Everything I brought to eat had at least as good a calorie to weight recipe as the stuff you reconstitute for cooking. I brought trail bars, hard sausage, dried fruit and nuts, cheese (for the first 48 hours)and pita bread.

I didn't miss the stove at all. Giving up warm food and drink to avoid the weight, set up and clean up time, and to stay in the sleeping bag a little longer in the morning was worth it. I'd have no problem giving up the stove for a couple weeks when the weather is warm... on longer trips I might appreciate the increased variety of food and when its cold, hot food starts looking that much better.

Its really a matter of comfort. I generally choose to carry a filter/pump. I used iodine one trip and hated having to wait until cold spring water was warm and bad tasting before drinking it. When you have to melt your water anyway, a stove starts to make sense for water treatment as well as cooking.”

“I understand the hardest part of eating a beagle is getting past the bark.”

“Well we finally got to the truth. Walkindude is concerned about setting himself on fire.”

“Actually when it's really cold and your hands are frozen, lighting a stove is the last thing you want to do... And when your water freezes it's just about impossible to boil anything, so all you end up doing is eating an energy bar and hitting the trail till you warm up....

PS - I love you guys!”

“I'm packed for the weekend (3 days) and I ain't got a stove. See yall.”

“Don't play with matches!”

“RIGHT ON DUDE!”

“I can't do stoveless in the cold though. Ever try to eat a frozen Cliff Bar? Ouch!”

“Sorry, I presented a problem and no solution. Stick said frozen Cliff Bar in your arm pit for about 15 minutes. Softens right up.”