Stoves for Wild Camping

In the Richardson Mountains in the Yukon Territory with a gasoline stove

Having been asked a few questions about stoves recently I’ve thought I’d post this piece. It first appeared in TGO last year and has been updated to take into account a couple of new stoves.

One point not covered in the piece is lighting a stove. Some come with Piezo igniters – in my experience these break after a while. I’d never rely on just one type of lighter anyway. I always carry at least two – a fire steel and a lighter and/or matches. Paul Kirtley recently wrote a warning tale on this on his blog.

Choosing a stove is as much about choosing the fuel as choosing a burner. The availability of fuel, how long a given amount lasts and how well it works in different conditions are all factors to take into consideration. For short trips in Britain the first and second factors may not matter but on long trips or if you're going abroad then being able to buy fuel is important (you can't fly with it or send it through the post).  On my last two long distance walks, the Pacific Northwest Trail and the Scottish Watershed, I used a meths/alcohol stove because that was the only fuel I knew I would be able to buy in small towns along the way other than petrol/gasoline, which is harder to use and requires a much heavier stove. How well fuel performs becomes important in sub-zero conditions, especially for snow melting.

The main fuels are butane/propane, white gas (Coleman Fuel and similar), and methylated spirits (meths)/alcohol. Less commonly used are petrol/gasoline, paraffin/kerosene, diesel, solid fuel and wood. Some stoves are multi-fuel, which can be a big advantage. The heat output from butane/propane, white gas, petrol and paraffin is similar but meths/alcohol is much less powerful so more fuel has to be carried.

For travel to different countries it's useful to know the local names for different fuels, especially white gas and alcohol. This is a pretty comprehensive list.

Butane/Propane Stoves

 
 

Soto Micro Regulator

Stoves that run on butane/propane cartridges are very easy to use. They're clean too, with no liquid fuel to spill, and the smallest burners are very light and compact. There are two types of gas stove (so-called because the fuel is burnt as a gas though it's liquid when under pressure in the cartridge). Upright or piggyback stoves are ones where the stove screws directly into the cartridge. These are the lightest gas stoves and fine for use in above freezing conditions. They're also best used with small pots as they're not very stable with big ones. When the temperature drops below freezing these stoves can be slow as the fuel doesn't vaporise easily. In extreme cold or with almost empty cartridges the stoves may barely work at all. Warming the cartridge with your hands and insulating it from the ground can help to increase the heat output. Using a heat exchanger pot can make a difference too as more of the heat goes into the pot rather than the air.

Jetboil MiniMo

Of the upright gas stoves I've used the MSR Micro Rocket, Soto Micro Regulator, Optimus Crux Lite, Coleman Fi Lite and Primus Express Ti all work well and are very light weight. Slightly heavier is the MSR Superfly but it's worth considering for use in some European countries, as it's one of the few stoves that will work with Campingaz CV resealable cartridges as well as standard ones. Some years ago I used a Superfly on the GR20 in Corsica where CV cartridges were the only ones easily available. Heat exchanger stoves that come as units with pots are heavier but use much less fuel. Here I'd go for the Jetboil MiniMo for three-season use or the MSR Reactor or Windboiler for winter, especially snow melting.

For larger pots and winter weather remote cartridge stoves are excellent. These have a lower profile than upright stoves and so are more stable. Because the cartridge is connected to the stove by a long hose it can be warmed more easily. More significantly as long as the stove has a preheat tube - a section of fuel pipe running through the burner - the cartridge can be inverted so that liquid fuel runs through the fuel line rather than gas which means the stove will work well in the cold. Some stoves such as the Optimus Vega come with fold-out legs to support an inverted cartridge. With other stoves the cartridge has to be lent against something or supported with tent pegs.

Inverted cartridge for cooking in freezing temperatures

 Remote cartridge stoves weigh more than upright stoves but are still quite light. My choices would be the Optimus Vega, Primus Spider, MSR Whisperlite Universal, Alpkit Koro and, with heat exchanger pots, the Primus Eta Spider Stove Set and Primus Power.

How much fuel is needed depends on how much the stove is used of course. I generally boil 2-4 litres of water a day and run a stove for 30-45 minutes. Used like this a 250 size cartridge lasts me three to four days with a standard stove and pot and six or seven days with a heat exchanger unit.

Liquid Fuel & Multi-Fuel Stoves

For long distance walks, especially in remote places, liquid fuel stoves running on white gas (purified petrol) such as Coleman Fuel, petrol or paraffin were standard a few decades ago. I used them on half a dozen multi-month walks. They were also good in sub-zero temperatures and for group cooking so I also used them when I led ski tours. Such stoves usually have pumps so pressure can be maintained as the fuel bottle empties so the heat output is constant even in the cold. Most stoves have remote fuel bottles that detach from the stove for carrying too. Good examples that I've used successfully are the Optimus Svea 123, Optimus Nova, MSR XGK EX, MSR Whisperlite Internationale and MSR Dragonfly.

These stoves will run on white gas, unleaded petrol, paraffin and diesel so even in remote places some type of fuel should be available. The latest models will also run on butane/propane cartridges and it's one of these that I'd choose now because of the versatility. I'd mostly use it with cartridges too, only using liquid fuels if that's all I could get. I used to prefer liquid fuel for snow melting in winter but now I use a gas stove with inverted cartridge and heat exchanger pots. The Primus OmniLite Ti and MSR Whisperlite Universal are both good multi-fuel models that will run on cartridges.

With liquid fuel stoves I find a litre of fuel lasts at least ten days. A big advantage of these stoves is that most are field-maintainable, unlike most gas stoves. That could be important on a long trip in a remote area.

Methylated Spirits/Alcohol Stoves

  

Unlike liquid fuels and butane/propane meths doesn't need to be pressurised for use in a stove. This means that stoves can be much simpler with no moving parts, so there's little to go wrong. Indeed, you can make your own meths burner out of old drinks cans. Meths is also a quiet fuel with none of the hiss or roar of pressurised fuels so you can hear the sounds of nature rather than the noise of the stove. However there are cons to meths as a fuel too. The main one is that it's not as efficient as pressurised fuels so more is needed. I find a litre lasts me 5-7 days which fits in with Trangia's claim that a litre of meths will boil twenty litres of water. As with all stoves some models are more fuel efficient than others.

Trail Designs Ti-Tri

Also, the flame is just about invisible in bright light so care needs to be taken when checking to see if a stove is still lit or not . Don't add more fuel until you're sure it's out! I make sure by holding my hand a few feet above the stove and slowly lowering it to see if I can feel any heat. Simmering can be difficult with many meths burners too, though some do have crude simmer controls. Because meths isn't pressurised it has no wind resistance so a windscreen is essential in even a light breeze (I recommend a windscreen with any stove for fuel efficiency anyway).

Meths is an easy fuel to find as I discovered on my last two long distance walks. Chemists and hardware stores usually stock it. It can be carried in ordinary lightweight plastic bottles too, unlike white gas and paraffin which need heavier special fuel bottles, which partly counters the extra weight of more fuel.

Meths stoves can be used in freezing weather but they're slow for snow melting and most need refilling often as they don't hold much fuel.

The classic meths stove, which has been around for over fifty years, is the Trangia. This comes in various configurations of windscreens and pots, all with a sturdy brass burner. Trangia units are tough and functional - this is a stove that will last a lifetime -but also quite heavy and bulky.

For many years there were few alternatives to the Trangia. However the last few decades has seen a whole host of them appear, mostly in the form of  burners made from drinks cans by small cottage industries. All of these are much lighter than a Trangia but only some are as functional. Of the ones I've tried my favourite by far is the Trail Designs Caldera Cone, which comes in an array of different sizes to match different pots. This combines a burner with a windscreen/pot support like the Trangia but at a much lower weight and size. I've used the Ti-Tri version, which is made from titanium, on two long distance walks and many shorter trips including the TGO Challenge.

Solid Fuel & Wood Stoves

Blocks of solid fuel such as Esbit tablets are an alternative to meths. Tiny stands are available for solid fuel such as the Trail Designs GramCracker, which can be used inside a Caldera Cone. Solid fuel is lightweight and compact and of course can't be spilled. The flame is even less powerful than meths though and simmering is just about impossible. Even so it's a viable fuel for boiling water.

Trail Designs Ti-Tri with Inferno insert for wood burning

The big advantage of wood as a fuel is that you don't need to carry it with you. The disadvantage is that finding dry wood in wet conditions can be difficult even in woods. In Britain combining wood with another fuel is wise. Many meths or solid fuel burners can be used with wood-burning stoves and some stoves are designed to use wood. The Trail Designs Ti-Tri can be used with wood, which I did frequently on the Pacific Northwest Trail but only twice on the rather wetter and much less wooded Scottish Watershed. I used the Inferno insert with the Ti-Tri, which meant the twigs burnt to a fine ash and produced much heat. Other good wood burners I've used are the BushBuddy Ultra and the Backcountry Boiler. Meths burners can be used with both of them.

Personal Choices

Currently my first choice for long distance walks is the Trail Designs Caldera Ti-Tri as it's lightweight, windproof and durable (though you do need to protect the meths burner against crushing) with no moving parts to fail. It can also be used with solid fuel, meths and wood. For shorter trips in places where a stove failure wouldn't be a disaster I use a gas stove as these are so easy and convenient. I wouldn't take one on a long remote country solo trip though as they're not field maintainable and I have had failures (the weight of upright stoves is so low that a spare could easily be carried though). For winter use I like remote cartridge gas stoves with heat exchanger pots. I'd now only use a liquid fuel stove if going somewhere extremely cold or somewhere it was the only fuel available (I once led a ski tour in Greenland where we used jet fuel as that’s all we could get).

Sunshine, Fly Agaric & Lapwings

Strathspey & the Cairngorms

August 12th, not just a sunny day but a hot day, very unusual this summer. The light shimmered in the fields and the woods were stuffy and humid, the air damp with evaporating moisture from recent rains. In the distance the mountains were brown and benign, edged sharp against the clear sky.

Along the edges of the forest the first Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria) have appeared, their thick, red-topped, white flesh already bitten into by slugs and rodents. There were none here a few days ago. There were ceps (Boletus edulis) though and we have had these fried in olive oil a few times. Delicious!

Leaving the woods for the bright sunshine of the meadows I could see a flock of dark birds amongst the grasses. Rooks I guessed. I was wrong. As I drew nearer the birds took off and wheeled back and forth across the sky, rising and falling in ever-changing patterns. They were lapwings (Vanellus vanellus), one of the most graceful plovers and a favourite of mine ever since my boyhood when I watched them in the lowland fields of west Lancashire.

Book Review: Nature's Housekeeper An Eco-Comedy by Michael Gurnow

Every so often a book comes along that really is unlike any other. That’s the case with Nature’s Housekeeper by American author Michael Gurnow. The book is the story – the ‘less-than-fictional’ autobiography in the author’s words – of one man’s discovery of nature in the forests of Missouri, and what a difficult, hilarious and accident-prone discovery it is as he progresses from reluctant novice to experienced trail worker and finds that wild places are just that. At its core though this well-written and engaging book is serious and has a deep message. 

I’m impressed with the skill with which the author pulls off the very difficult feat of marrying comedy, wilderness philosophy and practical trail work into one entertaining and informative whole. Packed with humorous incidents, stories and comments the book had me laughing out loud in several places yet at the same time the central tale of how a virulently anti-nature, city-loving college professor overcame his loathing of wild places through reading Thoreau (backed up later by Annie Dillard and Aldo Leopold) and, 1960s style, dropped out of academia to become a trail maintenance worker is moving and intellectually profound. Beyond the comedy there is great depth here and much to ponder. 

This unusual outdoor book is well worth reading. And when you do you’ll find out the truth about the Missouri Tree Snorer. Highly recommended

Reminiscences & Memories: Recording Outdoor Trips

Writing my journal at a camp on the Pacific Northwest Trail

I am currently revising and editing the material for my next book, a collection of essays going back many years, which will be published next year by Sandstone Press under the title Out There: A Voice From The Wild. Reading my words from long ago reminded me to be grateful I'd always kept journals of my trips as it is from these that my essays and books are written. Last year I wrote a piece for The Great Outdoors about this. Here it is, slightly revised. 

When I was writing my book on my Pacific Crest Trail walk – Rattlesnakes and Bald Eagles - in 2014 I was describing events that took place a long, long time ago – 1982 in fact. To write the book from memory would have been impossible. Although I can remember the overall walk and specific events, places and people I can’t remember many of the details and some periods of a week and more are blanks in my mind other than very vague thoughts such as ‘there was a lot of forest’. This would not make a very interesting book! However I did keep a journal during the walk, which fills three notebooks, and this was my main source for the book rather than my memory. Without the journal there would be no book. Reading my long ago words has brought back many forgotten memories and I enjoyed reliving my walk. (I was also surprised I could read my writing, much of it scrawled by candlelight in the tent). I rediscovered adventures I would never have known about again if I’d written them down and found that others have changed in my memory – my words are not what I thought I remembered. There are people I’d completely forgotten but there they are in my journal suddenly coming back to life. In places I wish I’d written more, my words hinting at places and people but without enough description for me to really picture them now. Of course I have photographs too but this being back in the days of slide film rather than digital images I had to ration the number of photographs I took (my notebooks frequently express the hope that the next town will have film) and I concentrated on landscape and camping shots rather than towns or people. Today I use my camera as a notebook as memory cards are ultralight and will hold hundreds of photos. Back then a 36 shot roll of film weighed 28 grams. Ten rolls, 360 photos, meant an extra 280 grams. A memory card holding twice as many images doesn’t register on my scales.

My Pacific Crest Trail notebooks

I was already keeping a journal of my walks before the Pacific Crest Trail and I’ve continued to do so. Now I have a small library of notebooks with ones for each year covering day walks and shorter backpacking trips plus separate notebooks for each long distance walk. This isn’t enough organisation to locate specific trips or specific days on long walks specific days of course. When did I first climb Liathach for example? Well, I know it must have been between 1977, when I climbed my first Munro, and 1981 when I completed my first round. That’s five notebooks, which could take a while to read through. However each one has an index for which I must thank an author whose name I never recorded and now can’t remember. Back in the early 1970s when I was starting hill walking I read an instructional book simply called Fellwalking. In this the author suggested keeping a chart of walks with date, route, hills climbed, weather, time and companions (this would be a spreadsheet today). I thought this a good idea and started doing so at the back of my notebooks, adapting it for different trips. This has proved invaluable. I just have to skim through these lists looking down the names of hills to see when I climbed them. And Liathach you ask? In less than a minute I found it. June 26^th 1979 during a five week 100 Munros walk I did from the Loch Treig hills to the Fannichs. My weather notes say ‘thick cloud, NW wind, rain’. The walk took 51/2 hours. 

Pacific Crest Trail daily record

On long distance walks with few ascents I adapted the format and often keep two lists, one with details of  days, mileage and campsites, the other with weather information. In my journal I also keep route plans, addresses of people I meet, shopping lists and any other information I want to record. It’s surprising how some mundane details can trigger memories in later years! If in doubt, write it down. With that in mind I try and write something in my journal every day on a long walk even if it’s only a brief note. When I leave it even a few days something will be forgotten. 

Without my journals many of my walks would have gone forever. On days like the Liathach one I took no photos and so would have no record at all. If you want to remember days out in years to come I really recommend keeping some form of record. I still use pen and paper (Inka Pen or Space Pen with waterproof ink, Alwych notebooks with ‘All Weather’ covers). I’ve tried tiny keyboards on phones and tablets and just find them far too awkward to use lying in the tent. I also prefer having an actual notebook that can be read at any time. If I’d been able to record my journal digitally back in 1982 would I still be able to read it now? I do however use my digital camera as a notebook, photographing everything that catches my eye. Often I go through these images in the evening and make notes on the interesting ones.

Writing notes at a rest-stop in the Cairngorms

Loch Garten & Abernethy Forest

A few weeks ago we went to Loch Garten to see the ospreys. This time we went to see the lochs and the forest. The day was cloudy with occasional brief bursts of sunshine and patches of blue sky. In the woods it was calm and quite warm but a cool wind swept over Loch Garten and Loch Mallachie, sending waves lapping on the shores. Goldeneye floated out on the water, one pair quite close by until my voice disturbed them and they skittered away, low over the loch's surface. Huge beds of water lilies spread out from the banks, green and white. The lochs were a mix of colours, green from the trees, grey from the clouds, blue from the sky.

The woods were silent. Just once a bird called and then a flock darted through the trees, probably tits and finches though they never stopped long enough for a good view. More clearly we watched a treecreeper spiraling up a pine tree. Wonderfully camouflaged against the bark we only spotted it when it moved. Deeper into the forest a large wood ants nest was crawling with activity, its surface a mass of movement. Sadly, a fence surrounded this nest and a notice asked for it to be left alone. Two other nests had been destroyed, it said. Who would come here and so such a thing?

Walking Man, the Biography of Colin Fletcher

UPDATE: November 8. Robert Wehrman's biography will be published soon. In the meantime he's revised Walking Man website with a new video and other information.
 
Over the years I've read many superb outdoor books. My favourites though are those by Colin Fletcher, especially The Thousand-Mile Summer, about a walk the length of California, which inspired my Pacific Crest Trail hike, and The Man Who Walked Through Time, about the first-ever walk the length of the Grand Canyon, which inspired my Arizona Trail trip. I've written about Colin Fletcher a few times, including in this piece, which won an award from the Outdoor Writers and Photographers Guild.

Whilst the books convey Fletcher's love of walking and wilderness there's not actually much about the man himself, who died in 2007, outside of the walks. Who was he? How did he come to do these walks? What else did he do? Someone, I thought, should write a biography. And now someone has.

Well over a year ago I was contacted by Robert Wehrman from the USA who was doing research for a biography of Colin Fletcher and looking for those who Fletcher had influenced. It's not hard on the internet to discover that I'm one. I supplied Robert with some quotes for the book and put aside the excitement I felt. The book wasn't yet written but I wanted to read it.

Now the book is written and Robert Wehrman is seeking to raise funds via Kickstarter to publish and market it. This is a very worthwhile venture and I hope the money can be raised. I really want to read this book! In fact I want to do so even more now that I've been priviliged to read a few extracts.

Anyone who's interested in wilderness walking and backpacking should find this book fascinating. Colin Fletcher had a huge influence and is an important figure in the history of hiking. More than that he's one of the best outdoor writers and an inspiration to many of us.

Here's the link to the Kickstarter page, which contains a short video that is well worth watching.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1065102948/colin-fletcher-the-walking-mans-biography

A Sunny Day!

Strathspey, August 3

Finally, a sunny day! July was cold, wet, windy and dark. Sunshine was rare. Only the richness of the flowers and grasses showed that it was summer. August began much the same but on the 3rd the skies turned blue, the clouds white and the sun shone. A strong gusty wind kept the temperature down but there was still some warmth. It felt like a summer's day. Away to the south there more clouds over the high mountains but even their slopes shone bright at times.

View to the Cairngorms, August 3

Wandering the fields and woods I relished the warm air on my skin, the brightness shining in my eyes. The colours of the world were more intense and alive. Flowers glowed, leaves sparkled, tree bark shone. It felt like summer.

The forecast for the coming days is mixed - much cloud, some rain, some sun, high winds. We'll see.

Looking to the Hills of Cromdale, August 3