Here's a short video showing me lighting up one of my home-made aluminum alcohol stoves during a three-day backpacking and canoeing trip near Fontana Dam in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The stove is ultralight and reliable, boiling two cups of water in about 5-6 minutes. Please leave any comments below.
8 comments:
Brian,
What was up with the color of the Alcohol? Do you put food coloring in it or something?
Robin
BackpackBaseCamp .com
Is that alcohol or Nyquil? :-) Really, how'd you do that?
Robin, Philip, I find that it's incredibly hard to see the level of alcohol I am pouring/using outside in daylight, so I add one or two drops of food coloring to the the denatured alcohol so that I can see it more easily. I was a little heavy handed this time and that's why it looks super-green :) I'd also like to point out that the yellowness of the flame ring is cause by oxidation with the galvanized mesh pot stand, something I'm not too pleased about but I'm sure a soak in a fresh can of Coke will eat all the galvanization away and make the flame burn clean again - I hate having to clean black soot of the bottom of my pots!
I think that food coloring idea is a good one. Probably a lot safer that way too. I used to carry alcohol in a 1L platypus bladder, and someone once picked it up and asked if they could use it thinking it was water - despite the cross bones drawn on it and other danger indicators. Food coloring would have made them think twice. I bet it makes seeing how much fuel is left in the stove easier too.
How did you enjoy my neck of the woods? Fontana and the Great Smokies are in my backyard (and are subsequently my stomping grounds).
Keep up the good work.
Ryan, first let me say thank you for letting my camp out in your stomping grounds! :) The Fontana Dam area was beautiful and fantastic for a multi-day canoe/hike trip. We paddled in a fair way until we found a small island and camped out on there for the weekend.
I have a funny story about getting pushed around in my hammock at 3am in the morning by something VERY big and strong, but I'll save that for later. A park ranger said it was probably a bear (yikes!) - who knows?
I definitely plan on going back and exploring some more, it was about a four-hour drive for us to get there which isn't bad at all for a multi-day trip.
Next time we're planning to head out that way we could give you a heads up if you're game for it?
Definitely, let me know. I'm always looking for someone who shares my love of backpacking. (I usually just take my twin 12 year olds with me.) It is sort of our daddy-daughter thing.
It seems you also have a love for technology like me, so we have stuff to chat about! (I'm Director of IT at our local College)
Funny about the bear. I have never even come close to one, but they are very active this time of year.
Post a Comment