rebeccad
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Writing like a maniac
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Post by rebeccad on Jan 15, 2021 16:54:39 GMT -8
I have been places where there aren't even little kindling sticks for 50 yards+ near the campsites let alone breakable firewood. See, in my book, that means there are too many people building fires, and the area can't support it, thus fires are not appropriate there.
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Post by johntpenca on Jan 15, 2021 17:23:01 GMT -8
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Post by High Sierra Fan on Jan 15, 2021 17:33:16 GMT -8
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Post by Magnus B. on Jan 16, 2021 5:24:57 GMT -8
I did not know I was starting an anti campfire thread. To me, there is nothing in the world that feels more natural, or at one with the world than being next to a campfire, in the company of a close friend(s). That said, absolutly there are spots where campfires are not appropriate. Those spots are less atractive to me, and my crew. I was hoping to go to the enchantments (a beautiful no fire area) this year, but my permit for May was revoked because the government thought I was going to catch the 'Rona if I left the house.... I used to have a little 7"ish Gerber folding saw. I found it to be worthless.
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Post by cweston on Jan 16, 2021 5:45:21 GMT -8
Oh, I assure you, this is not anti-campfire thread, Magnus B.. Those do ignite here sometimes, and trust me, they get a lot more heated than this. (I better not stir the coals any more than this, lest I spark a real flame war.)
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rebeccad
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Post by rebeccad on Jan 16, 2021 9:17:06 GMT -8
I admit to enjoying an occasional campfire, though it has been years since that was legal or reasonable much of anywhere I hiked in the West. Those of us out here are a bit jumpy on the subject of fires, for reasons you can probably figure out . But I also was taught from a young age to burn only “dead and down” stuff, and to keep the fire small—which to me argues little need for a saw.
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Post by cweston on Jan 16, 2021 9:36:55 GMT -8
Right--I think it boils down to an unsolvable problem, unless we simply ban all fires. Short of that, we're relying on individuals to make good decisions about where, and under what circumstances, a fire is prudent. And the percentage of back country campers capable of making those good decisions is probably quite high, but will never be 100%. I'm definitely more likely to have a fire when I'm with a partner: as Magnus B. says, there's nothing quite like being next to a campfire, in the company of someone whose company you enjoy. But also, I'm very deliberately cautious about safety decisions when I'm solo, because there's no one else there to talk through these decision with. When I'm with my son, for example, we talk through decisions like whether or not a fire would be prudent, whether or not we're heading toward getting cliffed out on this route, whether that snowfield is too hard/steep to cross safely, etc.
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tomas
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Post by tomas on Jan 16, 2021 12:54:33 GMT -8
Here in the mid-Atlantic the possibility of a fire at night is much higher than say out west due to more frequent rainfall. But there have been years when we have had a drought and they become forbidden.
Personally I enjoy a small fire in the evenings while I sip my wine or whiskey. It's always small and rarely has pieces thicker than say my forefinger.
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Post by Magnus B. on Jan 16, 2021 15:00:53 GMT -8
I am not sure were other folks are, but here in western WA it rains all, but 3 months of the year. When we camp on the other side of the mountains campfire season is typically over by the end of May. When we have a fire out on the peninsula, we call it a smudge...
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rebeccad
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Post by rebeccad on Jan 16, 2021 18:17:14 GMT -8
I am not sure were other folks are, but here in wester WA it rains all, but 3 months of the year. When we camp on the other side of the mountains campfire season is typically over by the end of May. When we have a fire out on the peninsula, we call it a smudge... After last summer, I’m not sure you should be so sanguine about this.
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Post by Magnus B. on Jan 18, 2021 9:02:48 GMT -8
Some folks really love to dwell on the negative. Sure, 2020 was a bad year for fires in WA. No need to attack me. I followed the rules, and I did not start any of the fires. It takes a special group of people to create 3 pages of negativity about camp fires. SMH... Way to suck the joy out of this forum.
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driftwoody
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Post by driftwoody on Jan 18, 2021 10:40:45 GMT -8
It takes a special group of people to create 3 pages of negativity about camp fires. SMH... Way to suck the joy out of this forum. Apparently your joy was affected, but we really do have a special group of people here -- and I mean that favorably. Campfires in the backcountry is a worthy topic for discussion, and it is directly relatable to the need to carry saws capable of cutting large diameter wood. In any discussion you'll find both pros & cons, and perhaps some moralizing. Overall, IMO the comments in this thread are mostly well reasoned and non-inflammatory. For the most part we agree that campfires are conditional depending on region, weather, and compliance with leave no trace practices (don't create a new fire ring in a natural setting). If someone posted something taken as a personal attack, the best course is to politely point it out; chances are no personal attack was intended. I do not intend this post as such, but I will point out I took some umbrage at your broad-brush characterization of the members of this forum who participated in the campfire discussion. YMMV
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ErnieW
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Post by ErnieW on Jan 18, 2021 11:05:01 GMT -8
Some folks really love to dwell on the negative. Sure, 2020 was a bad year for fires in WA. No need to attack me. I followed the rules, and I did not start any of the fires. It takes a special group of people to create 3 pages of negativity about camp fires. SMH... Way to suck the joy out of this forum. I don't mean this as an attack. Please let me know if it does come across as one. I went back and reviewed the thread. It was 3 pages but a mix of positive (with caveats), negative (a lot of from me) and neutral with focus on the OP which was about a saw. So it seems a little like maybe you have also fallen prey to being a little negative. As others have mentioned there is good reason to discuss the role of campfires in the modern camping environment. For me it would be great if I could go into the wild and do mostly what I please but with the numbers going into woods these days the wild cannot afford the impact generally. Packing out your poop although not desirable may be necessary just as curtailing campfires might be. This is a loss and is sad.
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FamilySherpa
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Post by FamilySherpa on Jan 19, 2021 6:38:10 GMT -8
I kinda have to agree with Magnus. Seemed like a pretty harmless review of a saw, in the gear forum.
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Post by cweston on Jan 19, 2021 7:44:25 GMT -8
I kinda have to agree with Magnus. Seemed like a pretty harmless review of a saw, in the gear forum. Generally speaking, I view thread drift as a feature, not a bug. Most threads would be extremely boring and short if thread drift never occurred. I can see the point here, though: very few would ever need a saw if they never burned fires, so the fact that some people do carry saws for that purpose is assumed in the OP, you could argue. OTOH, I can't quite imagine anyone being a member of this forum for any length of time and not knowing that campfires are a topic on which opinions are mixed and some passions run hot. Overall, I think the conversation has been pretty darn polite, so the charge of "folks really love to dwell on the negative," and "way to suck the joy out of this forum" seem a little overstated to me. For a lot of people, maybe talking about issues without assuming there is a black/white solution is part of the joy of participating here?
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