“Anybody ever go without a stove?
I'm considering it and see how I like it. Washing pots is such a pain in real cold weather. Besides, Where is it written that you MUST carry a stove?

What do yall think?”

“I used to do that. Now I boil water and rehydrate my food in freezer/microvable ziploc bags. It's really nice to have hot food and I don't have to wash anything. Unless I want to wash out the ziploc bags and re-use them which I usually do.”

“One of my greatest joys in backpacking is a cup of hot coffee in the morning. Being able to reach into my pack and create a delicious hot meal is high on the list too. Being self sufficient in the middle of nowhere with all the comforts of home is one of the attractions backpacking provides me.

I have gone stoveless before, I posted a weekend menu for Ice Tea that did not require any cooking.”

“I wouldn't ever go stoveless since I go out mostly in cold weather and enjoy hot drinks and food. If you have a problem washing your utensils just buy a teflon pot put some boiling water in it after cooking and wipe it with a paper towel. It couldn't be much easier.”

“I went stoveless once, and I was the talk of the town for days!”

“And go without hot something in the morning...I Think Not! A hot cuppa sumptin' is as soothing as a warm fire.

I have both a 1C and 2C pot that I can fit a small alcohol burner, 60ml fuel bottle, potstand, windscreen and potgrabber inside, and those babies are so small that even if I wanted to go without hot meals, I'd still bring one of them simply for hot liquids in the morning.”

“Tried that, didn't like it. I ended up bumming off of Jer for hot food. It sounded like a good idea, but was a bummer.”

“no campfire, no problem.
no hot meal, problem.
no hot drink, BIG problem.

personally, i would not go without a stove.”

“For me, using a stove is part of the backpacking experience. Besides, I would be DEAD without my coffee.

But Dude, it doesn't have to be part of YOUR experience. Like you said, they're ain't no rule. Shoot, if you don't mind cold food and don't crave coffee, leave it all home. What will your pack weight then, about 7lbs? ;o)”

“On page 47, paragraph 2, subsection 3.”

“I have done it and was very surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I mostly do it in summer months. I’ll take one of those Boboli bread pizza crusts, a block of good hard cheese and jerky (smoked fish now), GORP, Cliff Bars, hard candy. There are many things you can make simply by soaking them in water. Raman comes around after about 30 minutes in a ziplock with cold water and isn’t too bad. Check with Sergeant Rock for his recipe for doing this. If you like couse-couse it can be soaked in a bag with cold water. My absolute favorite thing though is Ultralight Joe’s Moose Goo. It is one of the few things I could eat all weekend and not get tired of. I solve the coffee cravings with tea. Lipton makes a great cold brew tea bag that works like gangbusters. They make bags for making quarts at a time and throw two in a quart bottle and it’s nice and strong. I used to put a few tea bags in my bottle before bed and by morning it would be a nice strong brew.

The greatest thing about going stove less is how simple it is. No mess, no waiting. While it is simple I find there to be little to no weight savings over taking a stove, but find it worth it. If you feel ya just have to have the hot drink in the morning you could take an empty soup can or something and warm water over a tiny cook fire. Doesn’t take long at all.”

“it is very easy and quick to build a cooking fire to boil some water or heat food. All you need are a few twigs. You don't need a fire ring or big sticks. I have done this often and it leaves no trace when you are done.”

“I don't care for hot food in the summer months, so I usually go stoveless.

Hot food is great in the cold months and so is hot chocolate.

I think I could live on homemade jerky and granola bars if I had to. They are my favorite hiking foods.”

“I like hot food and coffee and won't go stoveless.

Also I bring food in plastic pouches that you dump hot water in and eat, so no messy pots to clean. Just throw your food baggie in the fire.

Remember going stoveless is the first sign of Rayjardinia dementia.”

“I do it all the time... it is much easier and you don't waste your trip cooking and cleaning, unless that's why you backpack? For many people that's a big part of it, but you have to ask yourself why?

In the winter it is a whole different story.

When I go solo I take Clif Bars, trial mix, a sleeping bag, Bivy Sack, and a water purifier. You don't need much else for a one nighter.

Ultralight backpacking is a great challange.”

“My stove is one of the only essentials that I couldn't imagine not bringing.”

“steve hiker, as any wilderness conscious person should know, you pack plastic out and don't burn it in your campfire. It releases toxic fumes and doesn't burn completly, leaving a nasty mess for the next person.”

“"Just throw your food baggie in the fire."

Yeah! This is the first sign of dumba@@ dementia.”

“I almost afraid to ask, but what exactly is "Moose Goo".”

“Say what you want, I'll always throw my used plastic food bag in the fire.”

“Shreded car tires make nice kindling too!!!

L

”

“Ok, thanks Nigal.”

“If the dishes are your beef then maybe the just-add-water dinners could work with a decent sized metal mug as your only dish.

I really like coffee in the am, that takes the place of a hot breakfast.

For me - the dinner ceremony helps make camp more interesting from sundown to sleep time.

If you're into miles and stopping and dropping I guess cooking can be a drag.”

“I sometimes burn stuff in the fire but I only do it when I know it will burn completely. Like when the fire is at full burn.

Most people do it... don't let the hypocrites get you down.

There are many people on this site who think backpacking should have all these rules tied to it... yet we all go backpacking to get away from just that. If you bother to go into the woods, you obviously have an appreciation for it, and don't want to destroy it! It's good to have knowledge of leave no trace, but lets get real, it's the wilderness, just don't go cutting down trees, or burning everything down... but don't tell me I can't smoke some pot, post hole, or burn trash in a fire pit, I will do whatever the hell I want, that's why I'm there!

Just my opinion!”

“Hey steve hiker, I'll bet you crap right on the trail too, don't ya?”

“Tarp Rat, that is just the attitude that is destroying our wilderness areas."I will do whatever the hell I want, that's why I'm there!" That is not the kind of statement I would have expected from a backpacker. I firmly believe in leave no trace. I want to leave the campsite exactly as I found it and often in better shape than I found it. One thing I cannot stand is to find cigarrette butts and unburnt globs of plastic in the fire ring. It's a real shame that there are people out there destroying our wilderness and making statements like you.”

“"I will do whatever the hell I want, that's why I'm there!"

LOL! This is a great quote! Kinda some Tarp Rat up nice and neat. I have burned scraps in the fire, hell I save some paper trash for fire starter but I'm smart enough to know that plastic doesn't burn away. There is always some left for the next person. It's not about rules, it's about respect for the wilderness and for the others who go there. By doing crap like this you are saying, "Fuk the rest of you. I'm more important."”

“Yeah right... you guys just need to get a life outside of Backpacking and Trail Talk!

PEACE!”

“In addition, the things I do have no effect on you, anymore than the animals in the woods do. You just need to let go of the Pristine Wilderness dream, get in touch with reality, and face the fact that others do exist!”

“NIGAL IS A TRICK ASS #&%!$!

;-o”

“I do face the fact that others exist. That is why my campsites do not show that I was there after I have left. I always think about the person who may be staying in the site after me. This is just good wilderness stewardship and common decency.”

“It's Bull#&%!$, shut the #&%!$ up!”

“LOL! Why thank you sssir.

"the things I do have no effect on you, anymore than the animals in the woods do."

Gee, I never saw a deer burning plastic in fire ring before.

"let go of the Pristine Wilderness dream, get in touch with reality, and face the fact that others do exist!"

There is no pristine wilderness because a@@holes before us didn't care for the outdoors. I DO realize others exist, that's why I am responsable and don't do stupid sh!t like burn plastic in firerings.

Man, Gen Xers suck.”

“does your mommy know you are using the internet? I thought you weren't allowed to be on it without her supervision.

Jeeze. Take it easy man”

“LMAO!! you guys obviously know Tarpie really well...not! ;-)

i think "kinda some Tarp Rat up nice and neat" would be to say that he's hella fun to go hiking with! you guys would love it.”

“and another thing! he is one funny mother#&%!$er! :-)”

“Keep it up folks and you'll be like CA, NO fires in Nat'l forests”

“Looks ain't everything my dear.”

“I got in a fight with some dumb ass on here years ago about post holing... and how I was such an ass for not using snow shoes... This is the same BS! people have been burning stuff in fire pits forever... you not burning anything in them isn't going to make any difference! Infact... it's better than it sitting in a landfill for 100 years!

It all comes down to this... I WILL do whatever I want, Where I want, and WHEN I WANT! Because none of you can do anything about it. So go ahead and expend your energy! Maybe use soe of it to look in the mirror at your Gtex Jacket... ever seen the pollution a Gtex plant puts off...? huh? have you? what about the fuel your stove burns?”

“Yer still as fun as ever Tarpy! the selfish Zen Master Buddhist strikes again. Just keep on carin' for the Mother Earth and your fellow man like you are and I'm sure you'll back as a dung beattle stuck in a trash infested fire ring!

Just cause I don't wanna expend any more ENERGY than I have to could someone please go dig up some of Tarpy's rambling posts quoting St.James Morrison..."what have they done to our fair sister?" Keep on stabbing her in the side of the dawn ya hypocrit.”

“I agree with Tarp Rat. If I can find a big fire, I'll through my flammable #&%!$ in there. Its no problem. You stupid middle class white #&%!$ers think that as long as you can keep the forest pristine (god forbid the remnants of a burnt ramen wrapper survive), the world is saved! That's because your local congressman won't let the city build a landfill next to your house. So they put all that #&%!$ next to the trailer park or ghetto, where the disenfranchised live.”

“Right on!”

“I can melt down a 40oz Hurricane in one of my fires!

Nothing survives!”

“I’m starting to see a pattern here…it’s the dope that makes you guys too damn lazy to carry stuff out, isn’t it?”

“No one has ever complained about my treatment of nature. I spent 2 months on an attempted thru-hike of the AT and never a word from the other hikers. And thru-hikers can be some of the most anal nature freaks you've ever seen.”

“Ha... Possibly!”

“Fight, fight, fight!!!!”

“I think most thruhikers see a more utilitarian purpose to trails such as the AT, unlike the weekend warriors who want it to be perfect when they get there.”

“In fact, when return to the AT this summer, I'm going to bring my trash saved from this last year so that I can burn it all in a great big fire. Or maybe I'll just bag it up and leave it all on nigal's doorstep. Cool with that nigal?”