Campfires can you do without?

profdant139 wrote:
Or was it just laying there?? I can never remember which one is right.

lying

I know I posted that we like campfires but after two years of bans it seems our routine has changed. We were able to have one last trip but we didn't burn it for hours like we use to. Honey got cold and went to watch a DVD after maybe a hour. I stayed out there another hour before putting it out.

Since we have bans a lot here and because it's usually too windy anyways, I think we will get a propane campfire. That way we can use it during a ban and have the fire but just be able to turn it off when we want to go in.

I have also realized that other peoples fires make me nervous. When we put out our fire due to wind and you see the next guy tossing another log on to a bon fire, it make me sleep with one eye open.
The weirdest thing we saw was a camper build a big fire using large logs and then go into the MH. It would die down and he would come out to stoke it up , toss a few more logs on it, stand there a few minutes and then go back in. Seems like a waste of time, effort and wood to me, not to mention the risk but to each their own I guess.

Just because some people do stupid things with firearms, most use them responsibly. Same with camp fires.

The Rim Fire around Yosemite has burned 246,350 acres and is only 80% contained. The larger Cedar Fire in California burned 273,246 acres in 2003 in San Diego County, killing 14 people and destroying 2,820 structures. Both fires were started by hunters who just had to have a campfire. I am sure that the relatives of the 14 people who died in San Diego and the 2820 families that lost their homes understand why having a campfire is so important.

I have learned to avoid areas where hunters will be present having come across too many Rambo want to be guys and having seen a tent in the eastern sierras that was shot full of holes by two hunters who told us that they had seen a bear. Fortunately the couple was not in their tent when the hunters opened fire.

Or was it just laying there?? I can never remember which one is right.

"Campfires can you do without? "

Yours.


Bwahahahaha sorry it was just lying there, I couldnt resist.

pnichols wrote:
Dave,

I'm curious ... were you up high on a mountainside or down low in a valley in order to find a campsite like that with snow and trees in Death Valley?

The campsite is Thorndike, somewhere around 7600'. Technically I should have said Death Valley NP as there are few trees in the valley itself.

Dave

Dave,

I'm curious ... were you up high on a mountainside or down low in a valley in order to find a campsite like that with snow and trees in Death Valley?

We have just come back from a 2 month trip to Europe where 55 days straight were spent in campsites that did not allow open, wood fires.
That was the only part of the trip that I could not get used to after years of semi or wilderness camping where a wood fire was part of the daily routine.

I can understand in crowded urban campsites which are similar to European ones having a ban on open burning of wood, but in the areas I have camped whether in the states or Canada, a wood fire is a nice addition to the camping experience especially when evening temps dip down to the frosty levels.

It is not convenient for some of us to carry tanks of propane for evening fires when on wilderness canoe, backpack or even with the TC trips.

I'll stay with wood. It'll be around a lot longer than dinasaur farts.



The next generation sitting around having fun with the old farts after a days fishing and hunting. Queen Charlotte Islands, BC



Nice to have a fire going after a days hike as temps drop below freezing. Death Valley, California.

Dave

Lots of Stuff wrote:
Wild Fire season looks to be a long one this year.
So can you camp without a campfire?

I can and do most of the time.
Alas the wife loves a fire so to please her we oxidize a little wood on occasion.
Must be something to do with human evolution that so many must have a fire or they are not camping.

Yet I think campfires and fire rings in remote places are unsightly, smelly, and just generally disagreeable.

No. It's not camping without a camp fire.

I am glad we're not camping in Washington as there is a total ban.


we're going to the Oregon coast and will be burning a camp fire :)