When I lived in east Tennessee, I backpacked year-round. In the summers I headed west to the high country, the but the rest of the year was fair game for the local trails. With Cherokee Forest, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Cumberland Gap all close by and the Nantahala and Pisgah Forests not much farther, there were literally thousands of miles of trails to choose from.

Since the majority of trail use in the Smokies is either on the Appalachian Trail (AT) or the trails leading to and from the AT, by staying away from the 60 miles of AT and working the 600 miles of non-AT trails in the park, it is possible to enjoy relative seclusion even in one of the most heavily visited parks in the east.

Further, since the majority of back country trail usage occurs during the summer, by going any other time of year, and staying away from the AT you can pretty much have the trails to yourself. But it gets better. The trail system extends north and south of the park into the adjacent national forests and they get even less usage. Now that I live in Texas and can only take off a week or two per year to walk in the woods, I concentrate on the Rockies - but a few years back there was a drought out west (similar to the one in the east now) and the Viveash fire in the Pecos Wilderness forced me to redirect my annual pilgrimage. We went to the Tellico Wilderness in Cherokee Forest and spent a week walking on the Tennessee - North Carolina boundary.

There were crowds in the Citico Creek Campground for the weekends, but the only person we saw on the trail was a day hiker on our last day on the trail as we headed out. It was summertime and we were on the Appalachian Trail and we didn't see anybody for a week. The story would have been different 25 miles further north inside the park boundary, but in the forest we had the place to ourselves.

Camping at Cherry Log Gap and the Old Crowder Place again after all these years was a nice change of pace. Blackberries were ripe all along the trail and this severely impeded our pace since I felt an obligation to help clear the trail of all ripe berries. Ultimately I was not up to the task, but I gave it best efforts. The quantity of berries available may have been affected by the lack of other trail users. The rewards of planning for seclusion are tremendous.  

I have posted a review of the JetBoil System. My first backpacking stove was a Sterno Stove before there were backpacking stoves. Yes I am ancient, but I was born at the perfect time to experience the full evolution of backpacking. For example:

• My first hiking boots were not made for hiking and to get them waterproof we used neatsfoot oil. I became a big fan of snowseal when it came along.
• My first backpack had an aluminum frame and canvas bag with no hipbelt, and the shoulder straps were not padded. (My first enhancement was to add pads on the shoulder straps. Then I got a pack with a padded hip belt and I thought I could carry twice as much.)
• My first tent was a single wall unbreathable nylon tent from Camel. I always had condensation inside the tent.
  
• I was a charter subscriber to Backpacker Magazine and was so happy that they were getting the word out about trails, the latest equipment, and trail etiquette.
  

OK, this is supposed to be about stoves. My first gas stove was an Optimus 80 in 1972 when everybody seemed to have the Svea 123. Later I bought the original MSR model GK and when that was stolen I replaced it with an MSR Whisperjet. I still have the Optimus and the later MSR, and they still work fine, but none of those gasoline stoves had the flame control that is available with the propane and butane models. Starting the gasoline stoves involves getting some gas in the "spill cup" to burn and heat the fuel line enough to vaporize it as it comes out to the burner. And they have to be pressurized to keep the flow going or they gradually go out.

I also have an attitude about using gasoline (or Coleman fuel) with caution. I have seen what happens when gasoline fumes make their way long distances along the cold earth from an open cannister to an open flame that quickly rushes back into the cannister which becomes a flamethrower. I had to tackle a kid who ran when flaming gasoline was spewed on his clothes from quite a distance. Fortunately I had a wet shirt hanging nearby and Jonathan Beckers was quick thinking enough to toss me the wet shirt as I tackled fireboy. The wet shirt minimized my own burns in extinquishing those clothes. Be careful with gasoline. That is part of what I liked about the MSR GK - it could run on diesel just fine - just don't mind the soot on the bottom of the pots.

Read my review of the JetBoil System.