Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 19, 2016 10:27:34 GMT -8
So if you have a cook set, burner, and fuel the only real reason for a fire is possibly warmth? Maybe something to do? Someone posted they don't do a fire because they don't want their gear and clothes to smell like camp fire. Curious on who does and doesn't do fires while backpacking.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 19, 2016 10:43:44 GMT -8
I do not do fires whiles backpacking.
I may do fires whiles car camping.
I do a fire each Memorial day, car camping, to practice my fire making skills with megnesium and a fire bow.
A number of years ago, talking to a ranger at the Crystal Lake campground near LA. I learned, how the rangers had closed the camp ground cause the detruis had been harvested by campers, in their (campers) quest for fire leaving the ground bare. It was the conversation I had with the ranger that began to change my mind about lighting camp fires whiles backpacking.
Now, by the time 'hiker midnight' comes around, often, I am in the tent and ready to settle down. I like to rise early, 0500, and hit thr trail before 0600. No, time to gather the wood, light the fire, tend to the fire, and make sure its out.
Frankly, if 'you' got the time for a fire how about hiking more miles instead?
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Post by johntpenca on Sept 19, 2016 11:53:26 GMT -8
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Post by tipiwalter on Sept 19, 2016 12:30:41 GMT -8
I rarely build fires on my backpacking trips, for several reasons.
First off, when it's -10F and I'm out for 2 weeks, the warmest place with my backpacking gear is always atop my sleeping pad and inside or partially under my -15F WM sleeping bag and inside my tent. No place warmer. And not sitting outside with a wind chill of -30F with my face and chest warmish but my back and feet frozen solid.
Second, I don't want to be responsible in any way with an open fire or hot coals or sudden wind gusts or whatever else. And a good wood campfire should always be doused with water but I often don't have extra water for this job. When I strike camp in the morning I do not want to worry a micro-second whether I left a hot ember in camp.
Fires are over-rated. To me a campfire is a sign of newb outdoorsmen.
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BigLoad
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Post by BigLoad on Sept 19, 2016 17:13:49 GMT -8
I almost never have fires. I do a lot of spring and fall hiking in dry country. Due to the short daylight hours, I push pretty hard to accomplish everything possible in the daylight hours. I'm tired at the end of the day, and scrounging for fuel (especially in over-picked areas) and dealing with a fire aren't activities I find worth the time and effort. Perhaps more importantly, much of the country I hike in is both itching to burn and quite lacking in water to put a fire out. The water I have at my campsite usually comes from half to one-and-a-half days away, carried on my back. I'm unwilling to spend even an ounce of such water dousing embers, assuming I somehow got through an hour or so of worrying about what an airborne spark might do to my surroundings.
I prefer to drape myself over a convenient rock or log and enjoy the natural end of the day and the emergence of night and its own set of creatures. Eventually I retire to my tent and read for a bit by headlamp until I lack the will to keep my eyes open.
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Post by swimswithtrout on Sept 19, 2016 21:37:04 GMT -8
I'm racking my brain, trying to remember the last time I've built a campfire backpacking, I'm guessing it was 1990-91.
Reasons I don't.
#1 There are no trees/wood within 1-2 days travel where I backpack in the Alpine tundra of the Rocky Mountains.
#2 They're banned in all the NP's I occasionally visit, but more importantly, they're banned on 90% of the other places I hike/backpack in, whether Forest Service/BLM/State Park,etc.
#3 In the time it takes to gather the tiniest bit of firewood to get kindling, I can already have cooked supper on my stove, eaten, cleaned up, and be out enjoying the prime evening time fishing, taking photo's etc.,etc..
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almostthere
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putting on my hiking shoes....
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Post by almostthere on Sept 20, 2016 6:21:04 GMT -8
I carry a collapsible bucket, not because I have fires but because I continually find unattended fires still burning. Given the thousands of wildfires started this year by such idiocy it's likely I have saved millions upon millions of taxpayer dollars by putting them out.
Fires are a luxury when car camping but backpacking is for other reasons- there's other things on my mind out there.
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tomas
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Post by tomas on Sept 20, 2016 14:33:38 GMT -8
My habit is a pile of sticks on one side of me and a little stick fire on the other side Pretty much the same for me. I enjoy having a small campfire as I enjoy a cup of wine or bourbon. But it's also small, wood is plentiful, I make sure it is out before I retire, and I mostly hike in places where forest fires are rarely and issue. Come morning I cover everything back up so there was no evidence and move on.
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Post by paula53 on Sept 21, 2016 11:06:09 GMT -8
No fire while backpacking. I don't like my clothes smelling of smoke, and getting the smell in my hair. To me, it is not worth it.
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ErnieW
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Post by ErnieW on Sept 21, 2016 18:07:27 GMT -8
No fires for me.
Besides the gear smelling and all the work issues, it was pointed out to me that fires send biomass up into the air and out of the local ecosystem. So if you want to minimize impact no fire is the way to go.
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amaruq
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Post by amaruq on Sept 22, 2016 9:53:45 GMT -8
Solo, not often. In group, almost always. Except when/where it's prohibited, where there is no existing fire ring, or when/where it's just a bad idea.
Alas, we are not as enlightened as our neighbours considering fires are enjoyed by all stripes of Canadian outdoorspeople, newb and lifelong alike.
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markskor
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Post by markskor on Sept 22, 2016 17:35:37 GMT -8
Often, when out on a typical 2-week fishing adventure Sierra, (and below 9,600 feet elevation and thus fires legal), we save canister gas and cook our fish, (foil-wrapped), over hot coals...so yes, have a fire. After dinner, we let it die...much prefer moon/ star light over fire light.
Interesting that in the Sawtooths of Idaho, in order legally to build a wilderness fire, you must carry a fire-proof pan - (big Aluminum turkey-roasting pan carried/ used), and can only build the fire inside the pan...no fire rings seen.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 23, 2016 4:34:17 GMT -8
In the Idaho Sawtooths, or a fire blanket.
Once in a while I will find a fire ring in the Sawtooths, many with trees growing out of them. New fire rings in the Sawtooths do not last long, the roaming forest service people tend to find them and take em apart. And if the ranger finds 'you' with a fire, in the Sawtooths, without a fire pan or fire cloth, the fine is up to 5K.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 23, 2016 4:58:47 GMT -8
Not sure whether you like a campfire or not immediately makes you a "noob". Sounds a bit judgemental to me.
Anyway, sometimes I do, sometimes i don't. Depends on the situation, timing, place, company, etc etc.
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Post by lostwalker on Sept 23, 2016 9:19:13 GMT -8
Truly depends on who I am with, Time of year, and where I'm at. I enjoy a fire, but do not need one.
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