Back to the Stove - My History with Cook Systems

hey guys it's Starr warning yep I'm going back to the stove if you've been following along on my channel for at least the past two years you know a bit typically on the trail I'm a cold soaker yep typically I prefer cold mushy couscous over a hot meal basically at a pure laziness well my friends the day has finally come when I'm ready to throw my old stolen tjr to the curb and pick up the trusty old stove again now to be fair over the past three years I only really go stove us about 90% of the time I used a stove on my 2018 thru-hike of the pin holy trail I used two stove again later that year on my bike tour of the Blue Ridge Parkway and recently I took a stove and a full cook system over to Scotland for my tea Gio challenge so I guess I never really went a hundred percent stove less recently I decided to start carrying a cook system on all of my hikes in the foreseeable future and some of the bike packing trips that I had coming up why am I gonna start carrying a stove again why did I ditch the cold soaking why not I think it's good to switch things up every once in a while and you can only eat so much cold soaked couscous not just couscous cold soaked couscous cuz I'll I'll still eat it hot but you can only eat so much cold soaked food before you just kind of get burnt out and I like to switch it up every once in a while so I decided to go back to a cooked system and making the decision to go back to a stove got me thinking I've never really done a full video on different types of cook systems I've done little reviews on the BRS and certain cook pots but I've never just talked about stoves so there's a bunch of different stoves and cook systems on the market from white gas to canister stoves to alcohol to wood-burning stoves and I've dabbled in just about all of them but today I wanted to talk about the three main cook systems that I've used the most over my backpacking career so number one is the type of stove that I was first introduced to when I was a kid and getting into the outdoors and camping and that's a white gas stove now the first stove I ever used in the outdoors was my mom's classic two burner Coleman pump stove you guys know the one it looks like a suitcase it's green got a pump the little thing we basically use that every single weekend that we went car camping but the first backpacking stove that I ever used on the trail when I was in scouts was the MSR whisper light now this guy is a classic and this is actually my original one that I've had for quite some time just like the Coleman it uses white gas which is basically like a petroleum-based liquid kind of like gasoline so you put the white gas in one of these little pump bottles you hook up the hose you pump it a handful of times the fuel goes through the line vaporizes and turns into fire presto you have a stove now obviously as you can tell it's a pretty bulky heavy system but it's a classic it's been around for a really long time but it's definitely got some weight to it and typically with the size of the burner you would use something like one of these big MSR kettles yeah you know you can cook for yourself and like five other people because it's such a massive system now with all the ultralight backpacking stoves out on the market why would I still have this and why would somebody use this well white gas can still burn at sub-zero temperatures which means it is excellent and super efficient if you're doing high-altitude snow camping which is why it's so popular with a bunch of climbers and Mountaineers and yms are still makes this guy so I keep my old whisper light around just in case I get a wild hair at my ass one day and I want to get into mountaineering which probably won't happen because let's be honest I hate hiking in snow but still this was my first backpacking stove the second type of cook system that I used in my backpacking career is one that most people use for the first time on the trail and that is the Jetboil system now over the years I've had a couple different models and the Jetboil is actually what I started my hike of the 80 with in 2015 a lot of people use them because number one they are super efficient on fuel they boil water really fast and it's a system which means that the burner and the cup and the little fuel can and everything fits right down and Nestle's inside of this mug and there's a couple of different cooked systems like this like the MSR reactor but I think the Jetboil is definitely the most popular like I said I think the reason why people use these and why I started using is because they are super efficient on fuel so if you're a higher elevation it takes longer to boil water and these get the job done a little bit quicker which again is why they're so popular for climbers and people that are into mountaineering so what is the reason that I still hold onto my jet boil and the reason I still have this guy well it's mainly because of coffee so you can actually use a coffee press with it and I keep it around so I can make a fresh cup of coffee in my van when I'm out traveling and that's basically it it's been a long time since I've used a jet boil on the trail just because like I said I think it's a little bit of overkill for typically what I do so I was on the 80 and the Jetboil just seemed like too much and that's when I made my switch to my third and final cook system which is the pocket canister stove now there are a ton of different little pocket stoves on the market with the MSR pocket rocket probably being the most famous but the first stove that I switched to was the Snow Peak light max now for anybody out there that is new to stoves and don't really know how these work really simple just like the Jetboil they use an ISO fuel cam so it's isobutane in here and you can get little cans you can get big cans it simply just screws right onto the bottom you put your cup on top you turn the valve you light it and boom you got a cook system so super compact super easy and it's nice because you know you can use different sized pots with it you can put a little frying pan on it and like they're called it is a pocket stove it fits very small inside your pocket or your pack and really efficient to have on the trail and the cook pot that I switched to when I went to this over the Jetboil was the Snow Peak 700 titanium mug now I have had this guy for a long time I think I picked this up in 2014 before I even did the 80 and then had this sent to me as you can see it's kind of charred I've set it on fire I've used it on this type of stove I've actually used it on a jet boil this guy has been around the block and for me 700 milliliters is more than enough for anything that I cook on the trail from nor sides to mash Beto's - even hot couscous this is my go-to mug and the one that I've used more than any other cook system or any other pot that I own so the Snow Peak light max was and still as a great stove but these days I typically use the BRS ultra light I picked this guy up back in 2017 on a whim off of Amazon super cheap did a review and I loved it it's typically the stove that I reach for and the one that I probably hike with the most even on the PCT last year when I was going stove us I carried this guy through the Sierra just in case I needed a hot meal and for the foreseeable future and all of my hikes that I have coming up soon I'll be using the BRS and my trusty ol 700 titanium a perfect cook system super lightweight and really easy to use now aside from those main cook systems I get a ton of questions about alcohol stoves and wood-burning stoves and I have used those in the past but to be fair I don't really have enough information and enough time using those in the field so I don't want to really give my opinion about those plus I tend to hike in a lot of really dry areas that have fire burns and I don't trust alcohol or wood-burning stoves just because I don't have a little valve that I can turn off what cook system are you currently using on the trail do you have a trusty ol piece of gear that you can't get on the trail without leave me something down below and let us know your thoughts if you found any value in this video go ahead and hit that like button subscribe to my channel if you haven't already and as always guys thanks for watching [Music] you

Channel: Darwin onthetrail

Views: 208,049

Rating: 4.9412217 out of 5

Keywords: UL Hiking, UL Backpacking, UL Hiking Gear, Thru Hike Gear, Appalachian Trail, AT Thru Hike, Pacific Crest Trail, PCT Thru Hike, Bikepacking, Backpacking, Hiking, BRS Stove, Cold Soaking, Adventure, Hiker Trash, Long Distance Hiking

Id: hkLba0aJ13k

Length: 8min 32sec (512 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 03 2019