Alcohol stoves on a thru hike

[stilllife]

Who has used an alcohol stove on your thru and did you ever have any trouble finding heet? Did you wish you had taken a canister
stove?

[Cheyou]

It’s no problem finding it

thom

[hipbone]

Easier to find alcohol in my opinion. Walmart, dollar general, convenient stores, gas stations, outfitters... everybody sells denatured alcohol or HEET in the yellow bottle. I carried 8 oz of HEET and HEET comes in 12 bottles so I left 4 oz of HEET at almost every town I stopped in also... lots of it in hiker boxes

[KDogg]

I had a canister stove but alcohol seemed to be more readily available. Most all of the hostels have it for sale by the ounce.

[Puddlefish]

Found alcohol everywhere in the trail towns/hostels, even at an ArmyNavy store.

Less easy to find actual yellow HEET, as a lot of southern gas stations that I walked past sold some generic version of fuel additive. If you've ever tested your stove with red bottle HEET, it's a smoky mess, so you want to avoid burning questionable fuel in your stove.

[Slo-go'en]

The only reliable source of Yellow HEET (other then Walmart) is NAPA stores. Nearly every town has one, but you might have to ask around to find it.

[Starchild]

The only reliable source of Yellow HEET (other then Walmart) is NAPA stores. Nearly every town has one, but you might have to ask around to find it.

Bold mine. That seems to be part of it. You can get it usually, but you have to sometimes look for it, as extra step, a extra trail town stop. Canisters normally last far longer so less worry about getting them, and easier to find at trail town stops. Also common in hiker boxes.

[handlebar]

Never had any problem finding either denatured alcohol (smallest packaging seems to be quarts) or Yellow Heet. Only carry a cannister stove if there's a fire ban; although this is normally only a problem in the West.

[Glogg]

A thru-hiker friend of mine mentioned being in a gas station convenience store on the AT, in regular clothes, when two AT hikers came in to buy yellow Heet. As they were leaving, one of the clerks asked if they were using it for meth. At which point my buddy straightened them out and explained it was for their cooking stoves.

It’s actually labeled as a gas line antifreeze, for which there isn’t much demand in the South; but there are enough hikers buying it that they keep it in stock.

cheers,
Glogg

[Slo-go'en]

A thru-hiker friend of mine mentioned being in a gas station convenience store on the AT, in regular clothes, when two AT hikers came in to buy yellow Heet. As they were leaving, one of the clerks asked if they were using it for meth. At which point my buddy straightened them out and explained it was for their cooking stoves.
Glogg

The meth connection was the explanation I got as to why HEET isn't commonly found in convenience stores in the south. You don't hear much about meth being a problem anymore, I guess they all switched to pain killers and heron.

[Cheyou]

Heet yellow is methanol.

thom

[Greenlight]

Would that be the gray heron or the great blue heron? I've always been partial to blue.

The meth connection was the explanation I got as to why HEET isn't commonly found in convenience stores in the south. You don't hear much about meth being a problem anymore, I guess they all switched to pain killers and heron.

[nate.2346]

Just throw a jug in the pack
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