Good food and hot coffee is a must have on the trail, at least for me. Here are the options:
Don’t carry a stove, eat everything cold. No way, cold coffee? Are you a barbarian?
Cook over a fire (or wood stove). This option does not work well when it is raining or there are fire bans or there is no wood.
White gas (AKA Coleman fuel) stoves: the go to option for guides and expeditions
Esbit solid tablets, light but they stink A LOT!
Alcohol stove: go to option for long distance hikers (for now). Leann loves her Whitebox Stove.
Canister stoves: becoming more popular with long distance hikers and my choice for now but I bounce back and forth between alcohol and canister stoves.
White gas stove (AKA Coleman fuel) is the stove of choice for group adventures into the middle of nowhere. One of these has been on every one of our Alaska backpacking trips. High BTU’s, reliable and easy to repair if it does have an issue. The best option when you are cooking for a group.This is Leann’s white box alcohol stove that has cooked a lot of meals (boiled water) for her. Put yellow heat inside, light it and then put your pot on top. There is nothing to fail on an alcohol stove unless you step on it. I speak from experience since I squashed a stove I made myself. These simple stoves have a cult following, google alcohol stoves and you will see 36,800,000 results, not kidding. Some areas are starting to ban these since a tipped stoved can cause a fire.The white box stove is pressurized. As the alcohol heats it starts to vaporize and the flames go out the side of the stove. You have to wait for it to “Bloom” before you put on the pot, too soon and the flame goes out and you have to start over.This is another version of alcohol stove and the one I carry when I am not using a canister stove. This is called a chimney stove, put in the fuel, light it and the flame goes straight up. Use the wire pot stand to hold your pot, sit back and wait for the water to boil.
MSR Pocket Rocket 2, wonder how it got the name?
Leann laughs at me since I keep changing the stove I carry. I probably change the stove every other trip but guarantee if we are going for a week in the wilderness (outside of Alaska) I am carrying a canister stove.
