Lets say you are going on a day hike from 8AM to around 3PM. What type of stove would you carry and why?

-Alcohol
-Canister
-Wood

or would you carry pre-made food?

I don't think I would carry a stove. What's wrong with a sandwich? If I really wanted something warm to drink or eat, I would take a little thermos flask or pot. On the other hand, since you would not be carrying either shelter or sleep system, weight is hardly an issue. So you can really take whatever you have lying around, even if it is a "heavy" multifuel stove.

The only time I cook on a day hike is when I'm picnicing, in which case I might bring anything from an alcohol stove to heat up some water for couscous+summer sausage, or I might bring a variable heat canister stove to fry an egg or pancakes or whatever else I might bring from the pantry. Otherwise, there's really no point. I'll just take pre-made food so I can spend the extra hours hiking another couple miles.

Edited by artsandt on 09/21/2009 01:20:48 MDT.

I've used a Vargo Triad XE base and ESBIT tablets on winter day hikes for hot soup. It beats cold sandwiches.

I can easily see taking the smallest canister and my Vargo Jet-Ti burner also. I use the folding plastic tri-leg under canister support when using those small canisters.

Eric

titanium cup with a gram weenie type stove.

Snow Peak GST100 with a Trangia kettle.
Morning tea (coffee) somewhere with a view around 10 am.
So it takes half an hour - so what? It's not a race.

Cheers

I guess I would take either the Ti-Tri + Inferno or my BushBuddy Ultra, weight is hardly an issue for a day trip and I value a nice hot cup of tea or coffee on the trail. A thermos would work too, though its probably double the weight of the above two.

Canister. Unless I wanted to show off my can cutting skills. In that case, home made alky!

It depends on where and when for what I carry. Often my main kit is a GSI Soloist and a Primus canister stove - quick and easy. But again, if am doing big meals for a group then I carry differently.

I like a hot meal midday so I rarely bring just cold pre made food. I hike to have fun, not suffer over a semi-warm Subway loaf. ;-)

And lunchtime forces the fast people to chill out as well!

+1 on questioning the need for a stove for a day-hike. Heck, for a day-hike you can take fruit, cold cuts, pepperoni, cheese, or other stuff that would just spoil on a longer hike (and that you always find yourself craving at the end of that longer hike).

But if, like others above, having a warm meal is an aesthetic thing for you, heck, take anything. Your pack will still be light without the shelter and sleep system. If you are fanatical, the titanium mug and esbit thing sounds handy.

I never take a stove on a day hike. I usually take snacks, drinks and some kind of sandwich.

I like a fresh brew at lunch on a cold day so I carry one of my beercan Kelly Kettles. It works in the wind, and is light.

.

Day hikes can be a good way test out new stoves.
For hot tea I would agree with Roger, snowpeak GST100 and small canister.
In cold winter weather, I would be tempted to bring my SVEA 123, if I can find it.

The only time I take a stove on a day hike is if I want to do some field testing. Otherwise, I just bring a sandwich or some other food that's ready to eat.

I'll admit I probably carry a lot more cooking gear than most of you - since I happen to love trail cooking!

http://blog.trailcooking.com/2009/09/15/what-is-in-your-dayhiking-food-bag/

I made Mini Trail Sliders for Rooinater and me on our Friday day hike - which was a whopping shy 4 miles rt of bushwhacking. He went fishing at lunch and I cooked. The lakes we went to were so pretty it just deserved a long break and a hot lunch ;-)

In most cases I do use my day trips as a testing zone as well. You hike with me, you often get used as a tester. Heck, on Wed's hike I was carrying a 2L pot and 3 meals :-D

Rog, that looks sweet! Do you have a Guide somewhere for the MYOG folks? This would be a nice project for a free Sunday.

Hendrick, they are pretty tricky to make. I have been trying to perfect a soldering technique, but the material is so thin, the failure rate is high. It takes a bit of time to get the pieces to the soldering stage too, so it's not an economically viable process at the moment. I will write it up and post it once I have the problems solved though. I have given up on the idea of becoming the patented manufacturer. ;-)

Over the past few years, as the base weight of my pack has gone under 8 lbs, I've begun to just carry my full set of backpacking gear for 75% of day hikes. Sometimes I will just carry a day pack, but it's older and heavy and ends up weighing about the same anyway, so it makes more sense to me to just carry my overnight gear. For one thing, you never know when a quick day hike will end up being an overnight.

Thus, on all my hikes I tend to carry my tea light stove and Heiny pot.

best,
vip

I've taken my alcohol stove on a night hike to Half Dome to have coffee in the morning. I take a stove when I want to test it, too. Nothing wrong with wanting a hot drink. A GSI stainless cup and a tiny alcohol stove, with foil for a lid, will get the job done. I tend to filter water and then get it "just hot enough" rather than fuss with boiling.

>I've begun to just carry my full set of backpacking gear for 75% of day hikes.

Just read this and realized I do that too, particularly for the really long day hikes where I think I won't get back to my car until after dark. Though usually I bring ready-to-eat foods on these kinds of hikes, a couple ounces of alcohol, a redbull can stove and a 500mL pot are light as can be.