Hitches Unlimited

This is what camping geeks look for on the Internet: vintage stoves! Call it a sickness, call it a midlife crisis, but when I saw this early 60’s Coleman® 425C for sale I just couldn’t pass it up. The “C” model of the 425 series was made in 1961, 1963 and 1964. I do not think there is any way to tell exactly when this particular one was originally sold, but it’s fun to have a forty-something year-old camping stove.

Coleman 425 Camp Stove History

Model 425: 1948 to 1953
Model 425B: 1954 to 1960 & 1962
Model 425C: 1961 & 1963 to 1964
Model 425D: 1965 to 1966
Model 425E: 1967 & 1970 to present
Model 425G: 1968 to 1969

I’m looking forward to getting my “new” stove out and putting it through its paces. Will this replace my propane stove? I think it will, owing to the nostalgia factor and the fact that it should make for a nice campground conversation piece.

One of the reasons these liquid fuel stoves are not as popular as their propane brethren is that transporting the fuel can be a pain. It leaks, it smells and it’s just a big hassle compared to the disposable propane canisters. I plan to carry the fuel in a MSR® bottle, which will be a lot less prone to leaks than the 1-gallon can that the Coleman fuel comes in. The fuel tank on the Coleman stove is 40-ounces and the largest MSR bottle is 30-ounces, so two of the bottles should be sufficient for even weeklong camping trips.

See also…

• Coleman Liquid Fuel Camping Stoves
• 10 Outside-the-Box Camping Stoves
• Now You’re Cooking With(out) Gas

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This is what camping geeks look for on the Internet: vintage stoves! Call it a sickness, call it a midlife crisis, but when I saw this early 60’s Coleman® 425C for sale I just couldn’t pass it up. The “C” model of the 425 series was made in 1961, 1963 and 1964. I do not think there is any way to tell exactly when this particular one was originally sold, but it’s fun to have a forty-something year-old camping stove.

Coleman 425 Camp Stove History

Model 425: 1948 to 1953
Model 425B: 1954 to 1960 & 1962
Model 425C: 1961 & 1963 to 1964
Model 425D: 1965 to 1966
Model 425E: 1967 & 1970 to present
Model 425G: 1968 to 1969

I’m looking forward to getting my “new” stove out and putting it through its paces. Will this replace my propane stove? I think it will, owing to the nostalgia factor and the fact that it should make for a nice campground conversation piece.

One of the reasons these liquid fuel stoves are not as popular as their propane brethren is that transporting the fuel can be a pain. It leaks, it smells and it’s just a big hassle compared to the disposable propane canisters. I plan to carry the fuel in a MSR® bottle, which will be a lot less prone to leaks than the 1-gallon can that the Coleman fuel comes in. The fuel tank on the Coleman stove is 40-ounces and the largest MSR bottle is 30-ounces, so two of the bottles should be sufficient for even weeklong camping trips.

See also…

• Coleman Liquid Fuel Camping Stoves
• 10 Outside-the-Box Camping Stoves
• Now You’re Cooking With(out) Gas

Have you subscribed to my newsletter? I publish it once a month with articles that are unique to the newsletter and not found in the RSS or email feeds.

Next week marks the traditional launch of the spring camping season for many across the country, but Nancy Heltman, with Virginia State Parks, is reporting that several of their parks are still snowed-in or flooded from recent rains.

Douthat State Park (photo by pcopros on Flickr)

While the park staff have done what they can to plow the roads in White Oak Campground, the turning radius will not accommodate large RVs. Top that off with the fact that the sites are snow covered, and there is just no way to accommodate campers.

The state is tentatively targeting an April 1 opening for Douthat State Park, dependant on how well the park drains as the snow melts. At First Landing State Park, only one of the campground loops will open on March 1, with the opening of other loops dependant on how quickly the floodwaters subside and how much repair the campsites on those loops will require.

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Roy and Ed at Oktoberfest in Mount Angel, OR

Okay, I’ve been putting this off for way too long. There’s a popular meme floating around the blogosphere called Honest Scrap – or, as my friend Ed in Portland, OR says;  “Honest Crap”, where bloggers share ten interesting things about themselves that their readers probably don’t know.

It’s actually kind of fun learning other people’s deep, dark, secrets! I mean, who would have thought that Bethe Almeras at The Grass Stain Guru had a crush on George Michael and Ricky Martin? Or that Jess at Wild Earth Integration has been struck by lightning? I’m not sure I can top being hit by lightning, but I have been in a few “scraps” over the years, so let’s see!

In 1972, I looked exactly like my son does today. And yes, I still know Vallerie – although I haven’t been back to Magic Mountain since that photo was taken.

I’m not much of a surfer, but in 1991 at Cape Hatteras I surfed Hurricane Bob.

My favorite music is…uh…everything. Literally. My MP3 player (which is my Blackberry – I hate carrying multiple gadgets) has everything from Bob Marley to Linkin Park, with Metalica and Loretta Lynn in there, too.

Camping next to a river in Honduras, I woke up one morning and started making some coffee. After a few minutes of feeling something tickling me on the back of my neck, a friend came over and swatted a large scorpion off the back of my head.

My high school was so small that we played 8-man football and there were only 13 of us in our graduating class. Oddly enough, my little hometown has its own Wikipedia page.

Lisa and I aren’t huge fans of California, although I’ve been an Oakland Raiders fan all my life. Oh, and we picked these oranges and tangerines in our backyard, last weekend, in the middle of February! We also have pears, plums, peaches, apples, lemons, figs and persimmons.

I once had a parachute malfunction in Petawawa, Ontario and escaped by the skin of my teeth. A week later, I jumped into northern Quebec and spent three days living out of a snow cave in the Arctic Circle because the parachute on our akio sled failed to open and all of our gear was destroyed.

Can you tell that one of these kids is adopted? Neither can we.

The only time I can remember ever being scared in the woods was when I happened onto some wild boars, in Panama. I’m pretty sure we both took off in opposite directions at a fairly high rate of speed.

I DJ’d for Oregon State University’s radio station and would probably go back into that if I won the lottery.

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