Date: 2010-01-02
To: No Contest!
Miles today: 0.0

I finally got around to testing the stoves I might take with me on the trail this year. I've been waiting for a really cold and windy weekend day, so that I'd have time to test them under "make or break" time conditions. Sort of like my first day into the Smokey's last year. I arrived at Spence Field Shelter late in a 16 mile day up from Fontana Dam. It was well below freezing, with a really penetrating wind. I got a space in the shelter, laid out my gear, and then had a go at cooking dinner. Due to the bear problem (and the removal of the fences they used to have covering the front of the shelters), you absolutely cannot cook or eat inside the shelters. So I'm outside, trying to boil water for dinner on a narrow ledge that ran along one side of the shelter. I had my Caldera alcohol stove going, and it was taking frigging forever to get the water to boil. If I recall, it was over 15 minutes, and then the water wasn't really boiling but it was hot enough and I wasn't prepared to wait any longer! So, anyway, that's kind of what I want to avoid this time out.I've owned Jet Boils (the individual pot and the larger group pot size), and they are about the fastest boils around -- at least during warm weather. What I wanted to test today was how the jet boil does with a cold fuel canister, and how the Caldera stove does if I use two of their stoves under the wind screen instead of just the one. The Caldera is the most efficient alcohol stove around, but doesn't burn very hot. At Trail Days, the Vender had suggested putting a second stove in when it's cold, so I thought I'd give that a try. Well, the tests are over and the "Caldera X 2" won hands down. We had high teens on the thermometer, and a wind chill factor in the single digits, but I had water hot enough for tea in 5 1/2 minutes, and a rolling boil in just 7 minutes. The Jet Boil canister was full, but because of the temperature, the pressue was really low. It took 12 minutes to get hot enough for tea, and I gave up after 14 minutes of trying to get a rolling boil. I suspect you must have to sleep with the canister in your sleeping bag if you want coffee in the morning, but I'm not sure how you warm it up to get the pressure you need in the evening. I have friends who swear by them, and have used them on through-hikes, so maybe this wasn't an absolutely fair trial. But I was sort of torn, anyway, and this just pushes me over in favor of the alcohol stove. As an additional benefit, I won't have to worry about finding fuel canisters. I understand they are relatively easy to come upon at outfitters and the like in a lot of town stops, but I'd rather not have to worrry about making it to an outfitter before they close. Alcohol you an always get, almost anywhere. One more decision down, only a couple more to go. I'm about to go check out cameras and see if I can come up with a suitable replacement for the Olympus Stylus I used on my '05 hike. Meanwhile, a new milestone: ten weeks from TODAY, I will fly to Atlanta and head for Springer Mountain. The anticipation is building. And building. The Siren Call of the trail is wailing its butt off. Can you hear it? It's a wonderous, and dangerous thing. More thoughts on that in tomorrow's post.