White Box SOLO Alcohol Stove

Yesterday, a new alcohol stove arrived from Bill Ballowe, designer and maker of the White Box StoveTM. (Click here to visit Bill's website.) He's been making these backpacking stoves from aluminum drink bottles since 2006 and has sold 7000+ stoves worldwide. Bill now sells two models—the Original which holds 3 ounces of fuel, and the SOLO which holds 1.25 ounces of fuel.

According to the White Box website, the SOLO was "designed for the backpacker who goes it alone." The website info adds that the stove "will hold approximately 1.25 ounces of fuel and boil up to 3 cups of cold water. It has a total burn time of about 14 minutes. This stove was designed with a smaller diameter fire ring and is suitable for pots like the MSR Titan Kettle, Snow Peak Trek 900, Vargo .9L Kettle, Firelite 900, Optimus Terra Kettle, GSI Pinnacle, etc." Part of my interest in the SOLO stems from the fact that I do carry the MSR Titan Kettle as my backpacking pot.

The SOLO, coming in at a mere 1 ounce, should be good for short day hikes where I only want to boil enough water for a hot drink and/or a dehydrated meal. However, with a little extra fuel in tow, the stove should also be useful for backpacking trips lasting two-to-three days or more.

Click pictures to enlarge.


White Box stoves are named for the white box in which they ship. Inside each box is a backpacking stove, an instruction sheet (click here to see enlarged instructions), an aluminum wind screen, an aluminum heat shield, and a four-ounce fuel bottle with a pop-up spout.

My SOLO model, pictured above, measures 1 11/16" tall (4.3 cm) and 2 5/16" wide (5.9 cm diameter). Fifteen equally spaced jet holes circle the outside of the cylinder, and the internal portion consists of a funnel-like reservoir made from the inverted bottle neck. The stove features the more recent "Cope RollTM" edge along the top. Older models used a three-rivet design to marry the internal portion to the outer cylinder. However, the newer method, according to the website, creates an incredibly strong rim capable of supporting 400 pounds. To the eye, the SOLO certainly appears minimalist and strong.



Early trials revealed the need to take care and allow the stove to "prime" such that the side jets blossom with flame before placing a pot on the stove. On average, priming time with stove and heat shield took about a minute. However, while I was researching the SOLO, I happened across an internet commentary that recommended a priming pan for the stove, and I did go ahead and order a pan at the same time I ordered the stove. The accessory I bought is the is the "Prime-Lite Primer Pan" made by Trail Designs—available at the Trail Designs website. The pan is simple to use and does make a considerable difference in priming time, easily reducing it by a half-minute or more.

In terms of usage, the SOLO is a study in efficient functionality. My kettle maxes out at roughly three cups of water. With the SOLO filled with fuel, a lid on the kettle, and the wind break in place, the stove can get three cups of water boiling in the neighborhood of seven to eight minutes. By nine to ten minutes, the water is at a rolling boil, and burn time on the stove continues till about the fifteen-minute mark. At the end of the burn, the flames do diminish gradually as the pressure inside the stove begins to dissipate.

Update (July 28, 2010):

Here is a demonstration I taped way back on January 30, soon after receiving the stove and after a snowfall in the area. Intending eventually to create a more polished HD video, I held off on posting the version below. However, given that months have gone by and I still haven't recorded anything, I finally decided just to upload the extant video to YouTube and embed it here as part of my update.

I have owned the White Box SOLO for six months now and have used it repeatedly on trips afield. Most recently, I took it on a solo backpacking trip to test out some other gear, and as always, the SOLO was a reliable and minimalist addition to my kit.



The stove, along with a mini Bic lighter, nests inside my 300 mL double-walled Snowpeak Ti mug, which in turn nests inside my MSR Titan Kettle. The kettle also has room for a Trail Designs priming pan as well as other odds and ends like coffee/creamer packets and a handkerchief. Outside the kettle, in a ziplock, I carry my pot lifter, the wind screen, and my fuel bottle. Sometimes, I upgrade to an eight-ounce fuel bottle, depending on how much cooking I'm going to do.

I have quite a few other backpacking stoves, including a homemade SuperCat alcohol stove, a Trangia alcohol stove, an MSR SimmerLite white-gas stove, an MSR Pocket Rocket canister-fuel stove, and Bill's Original White Box stove. However, it's the White Box SOLO I turn to the most when I set foot outdoors these days.

Radnor Lake Trail

I promised Mr. C a hike today, so as soon as I got home from floating a swollen Harpeth River, the whole family loaded up and headed over to the west entrance to Radnor State Park. We wound up hiking the short Lake Trail (1.4 miles) and then made a loop around the lake by returning via Otter Creek Road. All in all, we walked about 2.75 miles with a short break right in the middle of the hike. Below is the track captured by my GPS handheld.

Radnor Lake Trail


Click pictures to enlarge.




It turns out that C isn't the only one who likes hot chocolate in the great outdoors. I spoon-fed E a little of the drink, and she kept watching me and opening her mouth for more. She seemed to enjoy the hike, staying awake for about three-quarters of the way, but by the time we hit the parking lot, she'd fallen into a deep slumber.




At the Visitor's Center, we found a good park brochure offered by Friends of Radnor Lake. The included map is similar to those posted near each park entrance and offers both trail-length information as well as difficulty assessments for the various trails. Below is a scan I made from the map portion.

Click map to enlarge.

Raging Harpeth

Well, maybe not quite raging. But definitely full. "All swoll up" if you prefer a more rural parlance. Despite the high waters, Jimmy and I decided to head to the Harpeth today and float from the Highway 70 bridge down to the Narrows take-out—a trip of just over ten miles. This route took us right through the center of Mound Bottom, a prehistoric Native-American site with ceremonial and burial mounds that are visible from the river.

Harpeth - Hwy 70 to Narrows


At first we thought put-in was going to be a muddy bank affair, but it turned out the water was so high that it formed a perfect, still pocket next to the bridge pylon. Normally, that rocky area is well above the river level. Also out of the ordinary was the small creek that empties into the Harpeth just next to the put-in. The river was backed up so far into the channel that we were able to paddle up the creek a hundred yards or so and explore beyond the Cedar Hill Road bridge.

Click pictures to enlarge.



A few miles into the trip, we were treated to a bald eagle perched riverside in a tall hardwood. It flew down the river in front of us a couple of times before finally letting us pass by. With my little point-and-shoot on full zoom, I managed to snap several pictures of the majestic creature, which was obviously a mature bird with its bright white head and tail feathers. Several years ago, I visited Reelfoot Lake in northwestern Tennessee and saw both adult bald eagles as well as the more mottled juveniles. Other than those resident birds, I've only seen three other bald eagles in the wild, including today's sighting.




In addition to the eagle, we spotted numerous herons fishing the banks of the river, several turkey vultures/buzzards circling over one area (never a good sign), and two hawks soaring further and further into the sky on an updraft. In a couple of spots, large swirls near Jimmy's boat marked where fish, most likely carp or gar, were startled by the sudden presence of a bright orange kayak.





The trip was a quick one since the river was up and moving fast. We covered 10.2 miles in just over two hours, averaging 5 mph. According to Jimmy's GPS track, we hit speeds well over 10 mph in some spots—probably stretches where we were shooting a narrower neck of the river.

The average speed would have been even faster, but our time afloat included stops for two side excursions. In addition to exploring the creek next to the put-in, we also paddled up to the waterfall at the Harpeth Narrows tunnel. Water was gushing out of the rocky opening, and we spent some time paddling up into the frothy current and then surfing out.

I captured a quick video of Jimmy battling the rush of water. With the sound turned up, you get a pretty good sense of the roar created by the spillway.

Snowy Day Hike

After the area received a dusting of snow today, C and I decided to head back to Long Hunter State Park and hike the approximately 2-mile Couchville Lake Loop. A paved trail encircles much of the lake, crossing over the north end via a 300-foot wooden bridge.

The lake unexpectedly formed when the Corps of Engineers dammed the Stones River to create nearby Percy Priest Lake. Water seeped underground to fill the depression where Couchville Lake now sits, and it has been a part of Long Hunter Park ever since.

The lake level was down considerably since it mimics that of Percy Priest, which is currently at winter pool. Because of recent cold weather, the large majority of the lake was frozen over with a thin sheet of ice, and we had some fun skipping rocks across the slick surface and breaking it up with bigger rocks.

Click pictures to enlarge.



Below, on the red Everytrail track, you can click on the thumbtacks to see additional waypointed pictures from the hike.

Couchville Lake


Driving into the park, we saw four does browsing next to the road, and at the outset of our hike, a great blue heron sat hunkered down by the chilly lakeside. A flock of geese squawked overhead at one point, and near the end of our hike, a small deer bounded across the trail. We also saw where plenty of inhabitants had used the trail before us. Gray squirrels and sparrows had left their tracks in the snow, as had the flock of turkeys that resides near Couchville Lake. We easily saw hundreds of turkey tracks over the course of the hike.




Just past the one-mile mark, C and I stopped at a small shelter and used my Super Cat stove to heat up some water for hot chocolate. Made from cat-food cans, the Super Cat is an economical choice for a backpacking stove. It burns denatured alcohol and will bring water to boil in about five minutes. Total burn time for my stove, when filled to capacity, is around ten minutes. While today's windy conditions convinced me that it would benefit from an aluminum wind break, the stove still performed admirably, and we were able to warm up with our hot chocolate treat and continue our hike after a short break.

⇒ Click here for an excellent article on the Super Cat stove.
⇒ Click here for the mecca of homemade backpacking stoves.