Where to buy wood

Usually on the roads close to the campgrounds there are locals selling firewood fairly cheap

Be careful using pallets, especially if you don't know what they where used to carry.

On the way to the campground, keep you eyes open for the firewood stands on the side of the road. As long as they are near the campground, you are fine burning that wood. Also, it is usually less per bundle, and much larger bundles, than at the campground store. Depending on what kind of camper you are driving, you may want to get setup at the campground and then go back for the firewood.

Easiest thing to do, if you are only going to have an evening fire, is to buy the $5 bundles from the camp store. Of course, it usually takes at least two bundles for a few hours fire.

My experience has been that campground hosts, rangers, and the folks in the office can all tell you where to buy wood nearby. Moving wood from one campground to another is highly discouraged if not outright illegal due to various non-native insect species such as emerald ash borers, woliaed aphids, gypsy moths, etc. Wherever you go, do NOT stock up. Buy only what you plan to burn where you are, and leave any leftovers for the next camper. Yes, it’s more expensive, but the locals appreciate your not infecting their woods with new pests.

mobeewan wrote:
Even here there can be restrictions transporting firewood from state to state or even county to county.

Check the local papers for people in the area you are heading to selling firewood. Do an internet search for firewood and the area where your destination is located. You may get a hit or two.

If you are towing with a truck, shipping pallets are a good source for wood that can cross state lines. They can be broken down or placed whole in your truck bed under your gear. The wood is bug free and has been kiln dried. Square shipping pallets are usually held for reuse, but sometimes given away. See if there are any windshield replacement shops or commercial glass repair shops near your home or destination before leaving and call ahead to see if they have any pallets they are giving away. They usually have odd sized pallets and pallets with side framing that aren't usually reused. We have a local windshield replacement shop that stacks them outside for free give away instead of paying for disposal of them.

In the past, I've saved pallets with the oak used for any cooking and the pine for the camp fire after dinner.

Scrap lumber is also a good source for transportable kiln dried and bug free lumber. Construction sites may let you rummage through their trash bin or even let you have a few pallets.

In Oregon State Parks....you do not bring pallets in to burn.

I don't know about the Pacific NW but here in PA almost every sawmill sells firewood either slabs or split logs. I pay 3.5 cents per pound for split hardwood. A stacked 8' pickup bed stacked as high as I can get it runs less than $60. That's what most do with small timber that can not be run through the mill to be sawn for dimensional lumber.

Personally we worry little about government imposed feel good measures regarding bans and quarantines, which are designed to look like they are addressing invasive insect issues that the imposers had a large hand in the start of the issue to begin with. While your buying bundles of overpriced USDA certified crapwood which takes napalm to light, chances are a logging truck rolls by that just hauled a load of logs 100 miles from the woods on the way to the mill, crossing a few county lines in the process. The commercial sellers like forest product processors, sawmills/logging operations, and the Craigslist firewood sellers, pay no attention to bans and quarantines.

in the Pacific NW, you can buy firewood at a lot of places.
grocery stores, convenience stores, big box hardware stores, the campgrounds and other places.

Even here there can be restrictions transporting firewood from state to state or even county to county.

Check the local papers for people in the area you are heading to selling firewood. Do an internet search for firewood and the area where your destination is located. You may get a hit or two.

If you are towing with a truck, shipping pallets are a good source for wood that can cross state lines. They can be broken down or placed whole in your truck bed under your gear. The wood is bug free and has been kiln dried. Square shipping pallets are usually held for reuse, but sometimes given away. See if there are any windshield replacement shops or commercial glass repair shops near your home or destination before leaving and call ahead to see if they have any pallets they are giving away. They usually have odd sized pallets and pallets with side framing that aren't usually reused. We have a local windshield replacement shop that stacks them outside for free give away instead of paying for disposal of them.

In the past, I've saved pallets with the oak used for any cooking and the pine for the camp fire after dinner.

Scrap lumber is also a good source for transportable kiln dried and bug free lumber. Construction sites may let you rummage through their trash bin or even let you have a few pallets.

They usually have local folks selling bundles of firewood in the camp grounds, or in State Parks, they usually sell bundles of firewood from the camp host, or near the ranger station.. It's usually about $4 a bundle, which is about 5-6 pieces of wood...

If you just have to have that real camp fire experience, that's about the easiest way to do it, but it ain't cheap..

While I enjoy a good ol' real camp fire, I'm finding I use my portable propane fire pit more often... I can burn it even during burn bans, so it's just a nice option to have.

Good luck!

Mitch

Mitch