Rick Curtis - Collins Complete Hiking and Camping Manual - The essential guide to comfortable walking, cooking and sleeping

3 While the stove is in operation periodically pump the Plunger 3 to 5 strokes as needed to keep enough pressure in the Fuel Bottle.

Turning the Stove Off

1 Close Control Valve firmly. The flame will burn for 1 to 2 minutes as excess fuel in the fuel line is exhausted. Wait for the stove to cool before disassembling.

2 To remove the burner, unlock the Catch Arm, making sure that you are away from heat, sparks, or flame, and remove the Fuel Line from the Pump.

3 Keep the Pump assembled in the Fuel Bottle or, to be sure the Control Valve does not open by mistake, remove the Pump and replace it with the Fuel Bottle Cap. The fuel bottle will be under pressure, so hold it away from you and others as you open it.

LIGHTWEIGHT/ULTRALIGHT CARTRIDGE STOVES

Cartridge stoves and fuel weigh less than typical white gas stoves. There are a number of models that are light enough to creep into the ultralight category:

MSR Pocket Rocket For those times when you want a lightweight stove for cooking for larger groups, the MSR Pocket Rocket is one of the lightest cartridge stoves available. It sets up quickly and boils a quart/liter (1000 milliliters) of water in under 3.5 minutes.

JetBoil The JetBoil is an innovative approach to a lightweight cooking system. It merges a canister stove and burner with an integrated insulated cooking mug so you leave your pots behind. Unlike other canister stoves it has its own integrated windscreen and a built-in heat exchanger that captures heat typically lost with other stoves. This makes the unit more fuel efficient per canister of fuel. It boils 2 cups (473 milliliters) of water in 2 minutes.

GOING ULTRALIGHT – STOVES

Long-distance hikers have come up with the lightest weight stoves. A number of these stoves simplify the stove to its most basic element—the burner—losing the fuel bottle, pump, and fuel line. With this simplicity comes some loss of functionality. Don’t expect these stoves to let you control the flame to a low simmer; they are pretty much on-and-off stoves, whose main purpose is to do one thing: boil water. Some stoves provide a metal shield to move over the flame to block some of the heat as the “simmer control.” Here are some of the ultralight options:

Alcohol StovesThere are a number of commercial alcohol stoves on the market. The Trangia Stove from Sweden is one example and is generally sold as a stove/pot system (www.trangia.com). One of the benefits of the stove is its simplicity. It consists of a burner cup that fits inside a windscreen. Fill the burner with alcohol, assemble the stove, and light. Pro: Lightweight. No complicated parts to break or fuel lines that clog. Alcohol is available around the world as a fuel. Con: Not easy to adjust temperature. Limited burn time.

Aluminum Can Stoves—Alcohol FuelThese lightweight stoves are designed for small cooking loads—1 to 4 cups of water. It’s a boil-water-only stove. The stove is made from two aluminum cans, a smaller 12-ounce can soldered inside a larger 14-ounce can. These stoves are designed to burn alcohol only. You don’t get any lighter than this. You can find instructions for how to build this stove at the PCTHiker Web Site (www.pcthiker.com).

Esbit Tablet StovesThe Esbit stove is a folding steel stove. When opened there is space for a small flammable stove tablet about the size of a boxes of matches. Light the pellet and place it in the stove. Like other ultralight stoves it has only two cooking levels, on and off. One tablet will bring 1 pint of water (473 milliliters) to a rolling boil in under 8 minutes. You typically get 12 to 15 minutes of usable burn time per tablet. The Esbit Wing Stove is an even simpler, more compact, and lighter weight version.

Sierra StoveThis stove burns twigs, bark, pine cones, and other wood as well as charcoal and other solid fuels. It has an adjustable speed fan that creates a forced ventilation system providing more efficient burning. It boils a quart/liter of water in about 4 minutes (www.zzstove.com).

MISCELLANEOUS GEAR

We all have our favorite little things that we bring on the trail. Here are a few gadgets you might want to consider on your next trip:

LED headlamp One of my most indispensable items on any trip. An LED headlamp is lightweight, is easier to use in camp than a flashlight, and will go for hundreds of hours on a few batteries.

Good trowel When digging catholes, a strong lightweight metal trowel is a real help. It’s also good for building a mound fire. Forget the cheap plastic ones—they snap the first time you hit a rock.

Multitool For years it was a Swiss Army knife, but that’s now been replaced with a lightweight multitool. These have the advantage of having other tools like a pair of pliers useful for fixing stoves and packs. If you are being weight-conscious, the little multitools weigh much less and offer almost as much as the big ones do.

Camp chair I admit it, it’s a bit of a luxury, but I really like pulling out my Crazy Creek chair at the end of the day and relaxing with a cup of tea and a good book. As a feeble attempt to justify the added weight, you can use the chair for a sleeping pad, and the chair itself makes a good leg splint (www.crazycreek.com).

Mosquito Netting Hat This might be necessary if hiking in northern latitudes in spring and summer. Combined with a good wide-brimmed sun/rain hat, this will keep the bugs and the DEET out of your face.

Portable Power If your trip requires you to bring electronic gear with you (satellite phone, digital camera, PDA, laptop), you need to have power. The Brunton SolarRoll is a collapsible solar power cell. It weighs 17 ounces and can produce 14 watts of power—enough to juice up your PDA, mobile phone, or digital camera. It can also charge larger items like laptop computers (www.brunton.com).

TECHNOLOGY IN THE WILDERNESS

Technology is all around us, and more and more technology is coming into outdoor pursuits. In a broad sense we all use technology outdoors—everything from high-tech clothing to LED headlamps, pocket stoves, waterproof-breathable rain gear, internal-frame backpacks, and ultralight tents.

For many people, the word technology really refers to taking electronic gadgets into the outdoors. Some view this as an intrusion on the experience of the wilderness; others feel it is perfectly appropriate. If you choose to bring a music or DVD player, that’s your personal choice. You should just be aware that the people in the next campsite may not be at all interested in hearing your device, so bring headphones.

Outside of entertainment devices there are devices designed to help you on your wilderness experience. Here are some of the things out there:

Mobile phones or satellite phones Mobile phones are now ubiquitous, so it’s no surprise that people take them along on hiking trips. A mobile phone or a satellite phone can be a big help in an emergency situation, allowing you to contact help almost immediately (if you have reception). There is a great deal of discussion in outdoor programs about the use of mobile phones, satellite phones, and radios. Some people feel that these are essential hiking safety devices, some feel that they intrude on the experience of being in the wilderness, and others feel they are mistakenly used as a crutch. They can be useful tools in an emergency situation. However, it is important to recognize that none of these communication technologies works in every location and therefore shouldn’t be relied upon completely. A lot of people assume that satellite phones work everywhere. Not true—sat phones require a clear view of the sky in order to establish a connection with a satellite. You often can’t make a connection in deep forests, canyons, deep gorges, or other locations. And any electronic device can run out of power or break, so never rely on it in place of first-aid training, knowledge of the area, and a good trip plan. If you carry a phone or a radio, don’t delude yourself that help is only a phone call away. Even with a phone, it still may take rescue personnel hours or even days to get to you, so you must be prepared to deal with the situation. At a conference on wilderness safety someone told the story of a fellow who went hiking with his mobile phone. He got lost and called the rangers to tell him where to go. They asked him what landmarks were nearby, and there weren’t any obvious ones. It turned out he had no map or compass and had absolutely no idea where he was. He assumed that because he had a mobile phone, all he had to do was call and ask for directions. But the rangers couldn’t figure out where he was or how to help him find his way back. At the same time hikers and mountaineers have been seriously injured and called for help on a mobile phone. Without the phone to speed the rescue people would have died.