best 2 person stove system for CDT?

[M F]

Could someone point me to a thread about this? I am having trouble deciding on a cook system for the CDT! I used a caldera cone sidewinder with .9liter pot solo on the PCT and think it may be good enough… A lot of nights I didn't even end up cooking! my partner was stoveless on the PCT… we don't plan to cook EVERY night but would like to have a large enough setup so we can cook together when we do. Any suggestions?

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

My wife and I use a similar setup (sidewinder cone) but with a 1.3L pot. In my opinion, this pot size is really the minimum for two person cooking. The next size up (1.9L) would be a lot nicer to use, but also bulkier and heavier.

[Brian Lewis]

Really depends on your cooking 'style' and expectations, and FWIW I don't see that this is particular to the CDT in any way.

When my wife and I backpack together, I just carry the same 850 ml pot/mug that I cook in when I'm solo (and using a stove at all). It's big enough to heat two cups of water at a time, and we don't eat enough generally to need more. The couple of times we have, I just heated water twice.

On a thru-hike, however, indeed your calorie intake goes up and a larger pot might be more efficient, but … seems to me that if you're thru-hiking (?) the CDT you would already have enough experience to just figure out or wing this!
I personally would only start a long distance trip self-contained in every way, not sharing stove or tent or whatever.

Maybe in this case a big enough light titanium pot to heat the water you both want would be more efficient, if the odds look good that you'll stick together for a good while. But stuff happens. My starting CDT hiking partner hurt himself and had to leave the trail before we got out of Montana, and I hiked Wyoming and Colorado solo until I partnered up with another guy in northern NM.

[Scott S]

This may not be helpful, but the lightest stove system will probably be 1 pot that you use to cook twice. On the CDT, my wife and I carried a 1.3 L pot and a SuperCat stove. We took turns cooking–one person would set up the tent while the other cooked for themselves, and then we'd switch. We also carried a cool whip container to eat out of so one person could be eating while the other starting cooking.

It wasn't the most efficient way to get stuff done in the evening, but it meant not having to buy or carry an extra pot/stove.

[Derek M.]

If you want to actually cook anything and not just boil water, my suggestion would be a 1.9 liter (2 quart) pot. When I cook a full meal in my 2 quart open country pot for my wife and I, there is just enough room for everything to fit and still give a buffer so that the contents don't boil over.

An example of a "full meal" for us would be:

1 full package of Zataran's dirty rice with half of a sauteed onion and 4oz of sauteed summer sausage added.
or
1 family size mac and cheese with a small head of steamed broccoli and a 4oz pouch of chicken meat added.

We oftentimes have leftovers that we will put in a sealed container and eat the next morning or afternoon. It works out quite nicely and helps to break up the monotony of daytime non-cooked food for us.

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