Welcome to episode 73 of the first 40 miles.

If you're new to backpacking, or if you're hopelessly in love with someone who wants you to love

backpacking, then this podcast is for you. We'll talk about the essentials, how to lighten your load,

and how to make the most of your time on the trail. I'm your host Heather Legler.

And I'm Josh Legler. And this is the first 40 miles. Today on the first 40 miles,

whether you love cats or not, by the time we're done today you'll be adding cat food to your grocery shopping

list. And you might as well add some denatured alcohol to the list too. For today's top five

list, we'll be sharing the benefits of DIY alcohol stoves and a couple of the important

risk factors as well. Then on the summit gear review, baking while backpacking turns out to be a lot easier than you might think.

And today's backpack hack of the week is no surprise.

It's the title of today's episode.

All this, and that's about it. Today on the first 40 miles.

Well, the number one backpacking hack of all time is probably the DIY alcohol stove.

And not only is it a really easy hack, but it boils two cups of room temperature water

in about five to seven minutes.

As we've talked about on previous episodes, there are lots of stoves out there that are

faster, hotter, more adjustable, but the fact is that this simple stove that we're going to be talking about today

gets the job done. And it's super cheap. And in a way, making this stove is like a right of passage for all backpackers.

Oh yeah, and this ain't no moonshine stove. It's not DIY alcohol.

It's the DIY stove and then you add alcohol to it.

So Josh, do you want to kind of explain what kind of alcohol is best for this stove?

I guess you could do your own alcohol too.

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