Re[3]: [at-l] Wood stoves: a threat to the trail?

[Bob Cummings <ellen@clinic.net> (Bob C.)]

"...- so get real and consider the actual situation - and the actual human
behavior rather than an idealized theoretical scenario." argues Jim

 So let's get real. Jim claims Zip Stove use damages the trail. I argue that if
 twice the current number of attempted thru hikers all actually used Zip stoves
 the impact would be negligible. FWIW I'm right. But that really doesn't matter.

 Realistically, probably less than 20 thru hikers per year use Zip Stoves now.,
Certainly less than 100, either now or in the future are likely to thru hike
with a Zip. That number, about 2 percent of thru hikers, can find adequate fuel
within 20 feet of most shelters.

 My practice, especially after a spell of dry weather, is to pick up all the
 likely looking sticks I see on the trail that have been broken by hiker boots,
 or left by an ax yielding maintainer. I do this starting from the moment each
 morning that I leave a campsite.

 Early on I stuff in the pockets of my cotton shorts only those prime burning
 twigs. As I approach the shelters (and since I carry maps I always know when
 that is about to happen) I become less discriminating.

 I can't think of any way (nor has Jim suggested a way) that this fuel
 collection effort in any way damages anything.

 If every thru hiker did what I do, the damage to the trail would still be
 insignificant. But since Jim is into reality, let's get real. Only a tiny
 minority of thru hikers will use Zip Stoves. Zip Stove users are those who like
 natural things, or who, for philosophical reasons, don't use packaged
 convenient foods, or don't like same, or are on such a tight budget that cheap
 fuel and food are needed to make a thru hike possible.

 As long as we are a consumer oriented society, Zip Stoves will never be
 popular, for the same reason that free wooden hiking poles will never replace
 more than a tiny percent of the $100 Leki market, for the same reason wool and
 cotton are forsaken in favor of 10 times more expensive and ten times less
 effective artificial products.

 We all tend to follow that yellow brick marketing road.

 All I have ever suggested is that there is an alternative road, if per chance,
 someone wants to hike the trail, without having easily available all the
 dollars that most require.

 If anyone has evidence that I'm wrong about this, I urge folks to post
 corrections. But I also urge hikers who are struggling to garner the funds they
 need to think about the Zip and the recipes and food ideas I posted a week or
 so ago. These ideas are not for everyone. But a few may find that their use can
 reduce the burdens of a low budget thru hike.

 When I started on the trail in 1993, I knew that physical frailities could stop
 me or other hikers most any time. And often they did so. This was always sad.
 But the saddest moments to me came when some simply ran out of funds and were
 forced to quit, some as early as Damascus, many by Harpers Ferry, even more as
 we moved to points north.

 All I'm suggesting is that there are ways of cutting costs for those who are
 willing to put up with the soot and fuel collection required by a Zip Stove,
 and are willing to make do with the inconvenience of cooking on the trail, as
 opposed to boiling water to dump into a cozy protected convenient food.

 Weary