About Us
Blue Ridge Ultra-Lite Stove Works began as a necessity to
solve a problem. It all began one Fall
day when my two sons and myself sat down to plan our annual week long deer
hunting trip. We decided upon several
locations to scout within the northwestern mountains of Virginia. We came to a conclusion that the “Priest
Mountain Wilderness Area” and surrounding National Forest offered the best
opportunity to harvest a nice Virginia Whitetail while enjoying each others companionship. With this the planning began and a problem
soon arose.
The “Meadows” portion of the area is heavily hunted and one
of our goals was to not hunt in heavily hunted, high pressure areas due to both
safety issues and the success of the hunt.
After we came to this realization we decided to hike the Appalachian
Trail out of the “Meadows” to an area approximately two miles into the National
Forest, knowing that few hunters are willing to walk more than a few hundred
yards from their vehicles to hunt. Our
goal was to set up a tent base camp and hunt the surrounding valleys and ridges
undisturbed.
In making a list of materials that would be
required at base camp, I realized I was not carrying the large two burner
propane cook stove two miles up the Appalachian Trail to base camp. To minimize what each of us had to backpack
in for our eight day hunting adventure I began a search for a small lightweight
fuel efficient means of preparing a hot meal for the three of us, at least
twice daily, for eight days. I searched
every available establishment in the area and searched the web. I realized the problem was fuel and the
quantity required. To make a long story
short, I decided the ultra-lite backpacking world had solved this problem and
decided to build my own cook stove. From
that, I with the help of others, created a line of cook stoves and equipment
that makes hunting and fishing trips much more enjoyable due to the hot meals
and drink while afield.