PHOTOS

Lightweight and Ultralightweight Backpacking

The View from Here

Panoramic view from a mountain top in Glacier National Park, Montana

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What I use

I have had people ask me in forums, what do I use?

For cooking, I have usually had a "twiggy fire" on mineral soil, of course, for fire safety.

If you have a small cooking fire on mineral soil or in a small wood stove designed for backpacking, you will need to use small twigs no bigger around than your fingers, and smaller.

This is my backpacking folding wood stove.

Zelph Stoves
Woodgaz stove

folding Woodgaz stove with Tyvek carry bag

This is a 3.5 x 3.5 x 5 inches.

Made of stainless steel, it has a tyvek cover for keeping soot off your gear.
The reason I use this particular backpacking wood stove design is that it lifts the fire off the ground so air can get in under the fire, it provides the windscreen where it does the most good for the fire, and, it supports the cooking pot at the optimum height above this particular size fire. Because woodgaz fire principles are incorporated into the design, combustion is complete resulting in minimum ash left over.
I also have the Companion Stove, specifically designed for the Woodgaz Folding Stove for melting snow for water.
The total weight of the stove is 4.3 oz.

Zelph Stoves
Woodgaz Stove
and Companion Stove

Unless I am melting snow, I use the Zelph Stoves "Super Stove" with alcohol fuel shown on the following webpage because it makes a double-blue flame, when it is used with the folding Woodgaz stove. I like that, because it is the less hot yellow flames that make more soot. I prefer blue flames.

I prefer Zelph Stoves because his stove and stove accessories actually work very well for backpacking purposes.

This is my backpacking stove, if wood is readily available or if wood is scarce.

This is the most efficient kitchen I have found for lightweight backpacking.

The 10-liter Sea To Summit Folding Bucket is for carrying water to the campsite, which should be at least 100-feet from the water source. I also have it full of untreated water, standing by, if I have a wood fire.

The "disks" are towels for washing up, and, for prefiltering water. I only carry one, because they expand so much as you can see. The light green towel is one.

If I am boiling water, I do not actually filter water, except to prefilter from the source, let it settle and use a prefilter again. I have the Sawyer Water Bottle I can also use with Platypus Big Zip SL and food-grade tubing, to fit, as a gravity filter and I do have Katadyn MP 1 - water purification tablets, if really necessary, but those items are my "water purification" items.

The small white plastic razor is called a ZipIt. I use it to open plastic packaging. The stuff sack from my GSI Halulite Kettle is also useful for washing up, as the bottom portion of it may serve as a basin. The plastic cutter razor is for opening food packaging. The SPARK-LITE FIRESTARTER is for starting the fire.

Everything I will use goes inside the Vargo Titanium 750 Sierra inside the GSI Halulite Ketalist stuff sack.

I have used this Vargo Titanium 750 Sierra for boiling, steam-baking, dry-baking, and for frying.

The only other knife is the edge of the Guyot Designs spatula you see here. I carry the spatula if there is any chance I will do some frying. Maybe a pansize trout?

I have the Snow Peak Short Spork because it fits so nicely in this camp kitchen.

I also carry my cooking pot in it's own net bag outside my pack, until I can thoroughly clean off the soot at home. If I am in "bear country" I put it inside an odorproof Opsak.

If the pot becomes covered with soot, I brush off the excess. Back at home, the soot can be removed by soaking the bottom of the pot in chafing oil sold at a restaurant supply.

The windscreen for the cooking pot on a twiggy fire is different: the windscreen needs to be adjustable to entirely block out a strong breeze from the cooking pot, or, open up.

Nevertheless, air will need to enter at or near the bottom of the fire.

The "pot" is a 6" lid diameter Vargo Titanium 750 Sierra that tapers to a 4" base.

The total weight of this kitchen kit is 4.5 oz.

Next:
more "cottage industry" stoves
for backpacking