Wild Places

In the Sept-Oct 2009 issue of AT Journeys I read an article featuring an upcoming documentary film by National Geographic about the Appalachian Trail.  This documentary is apparently one in a series produced by Brian Armstrong about America’s Wild Spaces.  In that article Mr Armstrong was quoted as describing the mind of a thru-hiker as very much a wild space.

Clearly, for anyone to desire to go into the wilderness for an extended amount of time forgoing the basic conveniences of toilet, shower, clean clothes, and fresh food, they must have something going on in their heads that is unlike most of mainstream America.  Having spent some time in long-distance hiking, Gene and I must fit into the non-mainstream category.  However, Gene takes this bizarre thinking to all new heights as demonstrated by his project on this cold, rainy day.

The quest of every long-distance hiker is to travel light.  In days of old, it was not uncommon for a backpacker to haul 60 lbs of gear on his back.  That would certainly make your back hurt.  With the introduction of lighter weight materials for clothing, sleeping bags, and even packs, weights came down to a more manageable 35 or 40 lbs.  That’s an improvement, but as one who typically carries 30 lbs, let me tell you that that is still a back breaker.  The ultralight hikers strives for less than 20 lbs to include food and water.  Now we’re talking lightweight.

The great mystery in long-distance hiking is how to be comfortable in camp without carrying so much “stuff” as to make the hiking miserable.  To solve this dilemma, backpackers have taken the scissors to every unnecessary part of their gear.  They have cut off straps and buckles and zippers.  They’ve shortened their sleeping pads and done away with the “shoulders” and hoods of their sleeping bags.  They’ve taken to wearing “tennis” like shoes instead of heavy boots and many don’t wear underwear.  Every item that goes into the pack is analyzed for it’s usefulness and, if it is included, is carefully inspected for anything that can be cut off to save weight.  One of the more weighty items in the pack is the cook set.  This was the focus of Gene’s project for today.

I’ve heard of hikers in the early days carrying cast iron into the wilderness.  Holy cow; I just can’t image.  Today, the lightweight backpackers carries titanium if they can afford it, or aluminum.  But the cook pot is not what is heavy these days--it is the stove and fuel canister.  There are many commercially made stoves that are very lightweight.  We have an MSR windpro which weighs about 7 oz.  Of course, it requires a canister of isobutane which weighs another 7 oz with only 4 oz of that total weight being fuel.  Over the years, hikers have experimented with burning alcohol which can be carried in a plastic coke bottle.  Basically, you pour the alcohol into any container and light it.  Gene’s project--the perfect alcohol stove.

Cleaning the can

From the local Wal-mart he gathered up a number of cans--bean dip (aluminum half ounce), tuna (steel, 3/4 ounce), cat food (aluminum, one-third ounce), and potted meat.  It turned out that the potted meat can was exactly the same size as the Fancy Feast can and interestingly enough it cost 10 cents less.  He also purchased a hole puncher.  The goal was to discover which was the most efficient can to boil a pint of water without using a pot support but which was also stable enough not to easily tip over.  The stove we often use on long-distance trips is the pepsi can stove, but it requires a pot support.  This stove weighs less than an ounce, but the pot support weighs an additional 2 ounces.

The work station

Fancy Feast can hardly weighs anything

punching the holes

He is spending this rainy day making a variety of stoves.  Cans have to be cleaned, labels and glue removed, and holes punched for air circulation.  That will be all he gets done today.  Testing the stoves will need to wait for a non-rainy and less windy day.

Even Peanut lost interest in this project

The goal is to get below the 3 oz of this pepsi can stove and pot support

He is in his utopia--there is nothing he’d rather be doing.  Brian Armstrong told us the mind of a long-distance hiker was a “wild space”.