[CDT-L] [cdt-] stoves

I've heard that Zzips will burn wet wood in pouring rain. I'll admit that my 
imagination doesn't stretch far enough to be able to see how anything would 
have burned in the weather we were in -- We had to hold our plastic bags with 
crackers in them up to our mouths and gulp the crackers before they 
disintegrated from the rain!!! Even under old growth trees! I know that you 
can keep dry tinder on hand, and I know how and where to look for dryish wood 
in tree stumps and under logs, and I know kinds of wood that burn well when 
wet. AND I'm good at starting fires.  I just think that in those 
circumstances, having to mess with a "fire" would have been the straw that 
broke this backpacker's back! I've seen Zzips used in fair weather. I can 
easily see how they work well in the desert -- there's tons of combustible 
stuff around because nothing ever rots. (In dry alpine country, I made a cook 
fire out of cow dung once in a bad-stove-day situation) But I wish that 
during that wet stretch, I would have been hiking with people using Zzips so 
I could see it firsthand. 

I guess the bottom line is, you do what you're comfortable with, and if you 
have the skills, you make it work -- or not, in which case, you eat cold 
food. Not the end of the world.
Karen
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