After a long purchasing hiatus it’s time to get back into the swing of things. Here’s what I’ve picked up this month:
Pepto Bismol Liquicaps
Digestive issues can cut outings short, and I’ve been rescued more than once by carrying a couple Pepto Bismol chewable tablets. However, they tend to leave a pink powdery residue all over my pill container and other pills. On a recent trip to the grocery store I noticed that they were now available in gel cap form. They are slightly more expensive at around $0.30 each vs $0.23 for the chewables.
($0.30 and 1.5g per gel cap)
Stansport Solid Fuel Tablets
Continuing on our solid fuel journey, Person B picked these up for me on a recent shopping trip in the big city. Using an Evernew Ti Mug Pot 500 and Trail Designs Caldera Cone I was able to bring 2 cups of water to a simmer in 6:00 and a rolling boil in 6:30 with a total burn time of 17:30. Swapping to a wider-bottomed Evernew Ti Ultra Light Pot 900mL and Trail Designs Sidewinder Cone combo yielded a 6:45 simmer time and 7:00 rolling boil for the same amount of water. Immediately after the second boil I extinguished the flame on the table and found that 14g of the 25g tablet had burned, leaving 11g remaining. Re-igniting the tablet yielded another 13:30 of burn time produced a weak simmer 7 minutes but was unable to actually get to a full boil.
A fluid ounce of denatured alcohol weighs 24g but seems to contain less energy: I typically boil 2 cups of water and then use whatever’s left to warm up a cup of water for a beverage. These tablets, however, can easily boil two cups of water and then simmer another two, and my guess would be that if I’d left the tablet burning and just swapped in a fresh two cups of water I’d have boiled four cups total. This makes sense given that the energy density of hexamine (the substance that solid fuel tablets are made of) is 30.0 MJ/kg whereas ethanol (denatured alcohol) is only 26.8 MJ/kg. For completeness, the densities of the two substances are 1.33g/cm3 and 0.789g/cm3, respectively, so the same volume of hexamine has almost twice the energy of that of ethanol. It’s also worth noting that many denatured alcohols also include methanol which has an even lower energy density.
Additional points to hexamine for being solid aka non-spillable and significantly less toxic (it’s a minor irritant whereas methanol will kill you). Aside from the fishy smell and slightly higher cost, hexamine seems like an across-the-board upgrade.
($5.00 for an 8-pack or $0.63 each, 25g per tablet)
Kuvik Titanium Solid Fuel Stove
I’m currently using a Caldera Cone as my pot support, which to my knowledge is the most efficient cooking setup. I believe this is due to two factors: first, the way the cone channels all the heat to both the bottom and sides of the pot, and second, the cone acts as a windscreen for the pot itself, reducing heat loss from the sides. The downside, however, is the large size of the cone as well as the sharp edges involved whenever you have to unroll and reroll it (I’ve cut myself several times). My solution so far has been to keep it unrolled and cover the edges with flue tape, but this means having a giant cone hanging off of your pack 24/7.
However, I recently stumbled across this offering from Kuvik, which as far as I can tell serves as both a pot support and windscreen with an elevated platform for keeping fuel off the ground (necessary during winter to keep the snow from draining all the heat). Although it may not offer the side coverage of the Caldera I’m hoping that compactness and ease of use (and perhaps even a lower weight) will make up for the loss of efficiency.
($13.99, will add the weight upon arrival)
Scarpa Spin Ultra
Now that I’m interested in trail running I wanted to get a pair of actual trail running shoes. Enter the Scarpa Spin Ultra, the most-cushioned shoe in Scarpa’s Spin line. Although I doubt I’ll be participating in any ultra marathons (the shoe’s namesake) anytime soon, I figured my joints and feet would appreciate the extra padding as I ease into something resembling a training routine. Outdoor Gear Lab indicated that it was an incredibly comfortable mountain running shoe with a wider fit, which was what initially drew my interest.
Years ago during a visit to Sacramento I stopped by Fleet Feet to get my feet properly sized by a professional and picked up a pair of Brooks Launch 3 road running shoes in size 10 US/44 EU. However, for hiking and backpacking I’ve always used either a 10.5 or 11, which, while initially roomy, inevitably leads to feet sliding ever so slightly and results in what I’ve come to call impact blisters. And so, for the Spins, I decided to stick to my running shoe size and get a 10/43.5 (Scarpa uses a somewhat different size translation than other brands, thus the 43.5 rather than a 44, although it’s beyond me how you can have different systems of unit conversion). After putting several miles on the Spins I am unhappy to report that the toebox, rather than being anything remotely resembling wide (perhaps in comparison to other Scarpas, although I can’t personally vouch for this), straddles the border between tight and cramped. I think it’s improving so I’m hoping to break them in further rather than eat the cost of a replacement (which might be a pair of Hoka Speedgoat 4s, my runner-up choice, which have even more padding). Mostly I just keep telling myself that shoes are supposed to be snug and that this is just normal, but time will tell.
Also, the laces are way too short.
On the plus side they perform excellently in wet sand, mud, gravel, etc. and I have yet to experience any discomfort on the bottoms of my feet, but I’m also not putting any serious miles (running or otherwise) on them during a session.
Oh, and each shoe is 62g lighter than my previous “lightweight” shoes, so there’s that.
($150, 329g per shoe in size 43.5)
Brannock Device
A Brannock device allows you to measure the size of your feet using a pair of sliders. Although I remember them from shoe shopping in stores as a kid, my hope these days is that I’ll be able to make better decisions while shopping online rather than ordering 2-3 different pairs of neighboring sizes and then having to send most of them back. Interestingly, your foot/shoe size is determined not just by the length from heel to toe but also by the length from heel to the “knob” on the outside of your big toe. The result: my left foot is just shy of size 10 but my right foot is a bit larger than 10 (this kind of difference is not unheard of) and my width is the standard C. So all those size 11 wide hiking shoes I’ve been wearing all these years may have been comfortable but they definitely didn’t “fit” in the usual sense.
Of course, as I write this, I realize that I should have ordered the Spins in size 10.5 to accommodate my slightly-larger right foot. I also realize that, while I ordered the device which shows both US men’s and women’s sizes in a nod to Person B, I should have ordered the European version so as to take advantage of the more granular measurements and because many outdoor shoe brands are European.
($75.25)