February 14, 2001


How can I get my Camping Gaz fuel to Katmai National Park?

Knower of all things! How can I get my Camping Gaz fuel to Katmai National Park in Alaska? Getting myself there consists of a commercial air flight to King Salmon and then a bush plane to Brooks Camp. Camping Gaz is not available in King Salmon or Brooks Camp, though white gas is. I thought of sending the fuel USPS surface, but all mail seems to be flown into both places. Am I doomed to use a stinky white gas stove, and how do I get a used fuel bottle back on the commercial airliners?

— Carl Vesper St. Louis, Missouri

I think you've answered your own question: you're doomed. You can't carry compressed-gas cartridges on a commercial airliner. So, if Gaz cartridges are not available in King Salmon or Brooks, there' really not much you can do. Now, if you can somehow get them to where I assume a bush pilot will take over, then you're OK, as those aircraft don't fly high enough to risk a can rupture.

Assuming you don't know anybody planning a road trip to King Salmon that's interested in filling their trunk with CampingGaz cannisters, you'll need to go with a white gas stove. But that's not a great hardship, in my view. Really, they only smell when you spill fuel or are priming them. Once burning, they're no smellier than anything else. Plus, that's the only way you'll have an assurance that you can find fuel in an emergency (i.e., by cadging it from someone else). There's even a new stove on the market that significantly improves on older designs: the new Optimus Nova ($140). It's an easy-lighting, hot-burning (simmers, too), easy-to-clean stove. Expensive as hell, I admit, but ruggedly made. It's the stove I'll be using this year.

As for the fuel bottle, well, you probably can simply make sure it's drained and aired-out sufficiently. Show it to the clerk at baggage check-in, though be prepared for them to confiscate it. But that's not the end of the world. As for the stove, make sure it too is thoroughly drained. Otherwise you shouldn't get any grief for it. Also, it wouldn't hurt to call the airline first to see what they suggest in the way of stove preparation. Losing a fuel bottle is no big deal, but I'd be steamed if somebody made me surrender my $140 stove.