11 Tips For CAMPFIRES Every Backpacker Should Know
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- Опубликовано: 8 июн 2024
- 00:00 Hey Y'all
00:26 Be Aware Of The Fire Rules For Your Area
00:55 Mind Your Surroundings
02:30 Dual-Purpose and Natural Fire Starters
03:38 Have All Your Tinder, Kindling and Fuel Wood All Together BEFORE Starting The Fire
04:28 Only Use Downed Wood
04:42 Don't Graduate To Big Pieces Of Wood Too Soon
05:21 Bellows
06:17 Don't Build A Fire If It's Windy
06:40 Have A Way To Put Out A Fire Before Starting One
07:10 Put Fire Out Completely
07:40 Cause Minimal Impact and Don't Burn Trash
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Bonus tip: If you've never started a fire yourself, you should make a fire at home before going out to the woods. A firepit or even grill will suffice, using materials found locally (sticks/leaves/pine needles/etc). I've seen several people make their first fire (or at least attempt to) when camping. They tend to be more careless than those who've tended one before. Fire has the power to kill and should be respected as such. Most wouldn't go hunting if they'd never shot a gun before.
Thanks for another excellent video.
I saw an abandoned, smoking campfire the last time my wife and I went car camping. I snuffed it out.
I'll offer two more tips.
First, never burn anything that has been saturated in seawater and then dried enough to burn. Burning sea salt releases a gas that can kill you.
Second, it is much easier to use a Trail Designs Sidewinder combination twig stove/Isbit stove/alcohol stove, or one of its other other gasifying wood stoves instead of making and feeding a campfire. It's all so much more ecological.
You won't have to put much effort into gathering fuel.
It burns cleanly, so it won't throw as much smoke in your face as the wind shifts.
It throws a lot of heat for a little stove.
Your fuel lasts much, much, much, much longer. Much. Much, much, lol.
I was stuck outside for an entire day with three other people under a tarp during a monsoon event while car camping. We used that stove the entire day while we played Yahtzee and card games. It was 50° out with 100% humidity, and it really felt great to have that thing burning. A campfire would have been out of the question.
Once you get it going, it's very easy to burn wet wood in that stove.
I find that bark from paper birch (aka white birch) trees and dried white pine needle branches are the best accelerants. I've never bothered to forge for fat wood, but I hear great things about it and I should keep my eyes peeled for it.
Please be mindful to never pull a strip of bark from 360° around a birch tree - it kills the tree.
Happy trails.
Dixie, just taking this opportunity to thank you. Been watching your videos for years- long before I had time to hike and backpack. Now I am retired and getting a chance to put your lessons into use. Huge props, and best wishes to you and your growing family!!!
Good video. As an Eagle Scout and firm practitioner of Leave No Trace I avoid campfires all together in the wild. Use a stove, or eat dry meals or . . . ugh . . . cold soak.
I have said this before but I really like your videos. YOU are the best of what hiking and camping is all about. Thank you for putting together a nice video to remind old timers and instruct new comers how to make a fire or the things you should consider when making a fire. Thank you.
People have been burning sea driftwood for millions of years, if it's ever killed anybody... we've still got plenty.
Good advice. Everyone should learn about responsible fire building.
…and my handy Doritos made into a second video 😉🤣
I agree wholeheartedly.
As a lifelong arsonist, I take fire very seriously.
Speaking as someone who has been building fires for the past 60 years, may I say you nailed it! Thanks for .all of your posts.
Hey Dixie, i heard you were going to do the WHW. If you can make sure to camp near Devils staircase. If you go up beinn bheag there is a camping spot on the top. Just make sure the weather is good.
"Fire delights in escaping the hands of its maker"
And don’t leave beer cans and trash in the fire. I see this all the time.
Pringles also make good fire-starters. They actually spray flaming oil as they burn. In the spirit of leaving a place cleaner than you found it, you can use two small sticks like chopsticks to pick remnants out of the fire ring. Last bit: I got one of those pocket bellows and it really works, the process is tons easier.
In the book Commerce of the Prairie by Josiah Gregg, late 1800’s, he talks of building a “hat full” of fire for nightly cooking. A fire that is about the same size as the inside of a hat. That size served him very well. Just like you said, you don’t need a bonfire to cook.
That is so maddening to come across a still smoldering fire at a campsite! Thank you for extinguishing that.
Even more maddening is coming across a still smoldering fire full of garbage and aluminum cans! I don't know how many fire rings I have picked aluminum cans out of and packed them out 😡 they don't burn! And the smoke can cause lung damage!
I usually have a little ziplock bag with some cottonballs, matches and vaseline in my bag 🤗 Works well and doesn’t weigh a lot and vaseline is useful for many other things too.
A pocket bellows combined with a Flextail inflation device is a great combination to get a fire burning well
Homemade Wanderlust, You're fantastic! Let's be friends and have fun!
Thanks, Dixie! Very timely advice.
Tip: be careful not to build a fire too close to a rock wall or especially under an overhang. Rock wont burn, right? The heat can easily fracture rock and cause a collapse.
I will admit to occasionally overdoing fires when winter camping in New England. Not near anything but we did get a “why so high?” at least once 😂
Similar caution/awareness is needed regarding smoking (cigarette, cigar, pipe). I've come across a small area of smoldering ground off trail that had burned thru the top 6 inches of the ground and wasn't going to stop without a good rain, or someone like me finding it, in this case by smell.
In the PNW there's "squaw wood" (apologize for the term, needs a new name). It's the dead branches of conifers still on the tree (especially fir). It's very thin (1/32"), and dry even in the rain, protected by the canopy above. An excellent fire starter.
One thing I always do, whether using an established fire ring, or making one myself...is to dig a fire pit. I will dig out a hole, somewhat larger in diameter than the fire will be and about 4 to 5 inches deep. I save that dirt, rather than scatter it. The excavated dirt serves two purposes : to use as a damper for putting out the fire or keeping it from spreading...and to cover up the fire/fill in the fire pit, so to camouflage the fact that I made a fire in the first place.
Even with the dirt, I still use water to put out any coals and cool down the ashes, before using the dirt to bury the remains. The fire pit actually helps this process, by containing the water used.
Preach on Jessica.. great tips :)
Fire advice. That’s something I can use!
Kayak-camping with an inflatable kayak, it's kind of important not to have your fire put a hole in the boat on some island. Fortunately I haven't had to learn that lesson the hard way!
Great video & tips to help ensure a good experience with the campfire. If you don't have a bellows, you can use a sit pad to fan the embers & stoke up the flames again - careful not to get too vigorous with the fanning & spread hot embers around the immediate area. Enjoy!
My first pocket bellows was a broken piece of TV antenna (y’all remember those, right!?). My current one looks exactly like it, only shorter segments so it packs down smaller…
Cotton balls covered with Vaseline can be helpful for starting fires as well as fire starter tablets and candles.
The Fire Goddess recommends that you gather your fire fuel BEFORE IT GETS DARK.
Nothin' wrong with "preaching to the choir" it reminds US to spread the Gospel of Leave No Trace and Fire Safety
Thanks
Amen. well done
I was here before the title misspelling got fixed!
And don't forget dual versus duel.
@@rickgpz1209
Don't forget "doo-ill" aka "norovirus".
Good tips. I’d add dead standing and feather sticks as key fire knowledge in the woods.
Tip #12 - If you leave a fire burning in a developed campground, expect something in the mail. Possibly even something inviting you to meet the Judge.
Tip #13 - Check surrounding area of fire for root fire .
@@dennisbrooks8566 Yep, root fires are entirely possible and may not show signs of life for days.
Another tip: Don't create a backlash against proper fire handling. I remember a time I was on the PCT and it was a pretty chilly morning so we started a fire to enjoy since it was cold and it was our last day on the trail. We are enjoying things, having coffee and cooking breakfast when a guy comes by on the trail and he says "Be sure to put your fire out.". I politely said something like "Yes indeed". Up to this point all was well. But he kept saying "You are going to put it out right?". At this point I was like wondering what the heck his problem was. I had just clearly said I would, and since it is a no duh thing to do I was wondering why he would continue with this verbal assault. He went from friendly reminder to downright in your face very quickly and I was just about to tell him to mosey along, when he finally took off. I was absolutely flabbergasted that someone would act this way and realized that while he probably thought he was doing the right thing, his methodology resembled an attempt to win the anal aperture of the year award. It's important we treat other hikers with respect in all situations and the consequences of some actions can bring about the opposite of what you are trying to achieve. I've thought about this often, trying to figure out why someone would act this way, especially since it was a very wet area and fire conditions were quite safe.
Maybe like me he accidentally started a brush fire that required me to call for fire suppression equipment, or has witnessed a controlled burn become uncontrolled. Should have had a better manner but here in the woods of the sandhills of NC, we remain guarded
One thing to add when putting the fire out with water is to dig in the ash. I can't say how many times I thought I had the fire out and... Whoops found some more hot spots! There have been a few times where I swore I had the fire out in an established campsite with a fire ring, went to bed, woke up, and could still feel the heat coming off the coals buried deep in the ash. A few times I was able to bring the fire back from those, but that is not the goal!
Hey Jess, I don't consider it "preachy", sometimes you have to tell people how to do certain things. They watch these videos about hiking and camping and then go right out with no experiance, their actions kind of ruin it for the rest of us that know how to do it right. Hopefully they will see these vids and learn.
When I first started camping in the Sierras in California in the 70’s, it was common courtesy to leave a good amount of firewood and a ready to start firepit. Just add tinder and strike a match. Nowadays it is illegal in most places around here to have a wood fire outside of a drive in campground, or any use of alcohol, gel, or solid fuel fire, and they recently banned the sale of gas fuel canisters. I have resorted to cold soaking and using MRE heater packs to warm it up. It removes one of the best parts of camping. I need to leave this state.
Wind and a campfire were what started the ham lake fire in the boundary waters in 2007. Incredibly tragic results.
Good video. Survivalist luv them some fatwood (comes from pine trees). I'd say Vaseline soaked cotton balls are my favorite fire starter but luv to make friction fire for fun. Do you think a twig burning stove is viable for s through hike? Something tells me a canister stove is more suitable
Great advice Dixie but curious about the backpack woodfire cookstoves? Many who backpack minimalist don't carry fuel and jet stoves. I have not seen or heard much about them on through hikes and using them in areas where regular campfires are not permitted.
Generally speaking, most fire bans include any uncontrollable flame, i.e. it can/t be extinguished rapidly and completely. Wood stoves for backpacking are fine, as long as there isn't a total fire ban in place. Some folks who've throughed the AT have used wood stoves, but were forced to change up when they reached an area with a fire ban in place.
I use an extendable blow tube.
Yeah you do 😂
If you carry a decent size knife, you can baton down any dry wood (hard to describe - look it up) and it will catch MUCH easier, significantly reducing the amount of kindling you need to get things started.
Green wood makes lots of smoke.
Captain obvious? Water is wet too
@@forester057 It would not be necessary to point that out if people did not make smoky fires out of green wood.
Might be a good idea if possible to have bushcrafters come on the channel and show how to build a tinder ball etc.
Be careful when pouring water on hot rocks due to some rocks can explode.
Don't make a fire on Turf / veen ground, I didn't remember the English translation , because it can burn for weeks under the ground!
I know a guy who started a big forest fire when he was a kid. He had started a campfire and had thought it was out but he built in an area what had multiple feed of pine needles and the fire had gone down into those and slowly burned sideways until it started a tree, then the forest, about a week later. They finally figured out it was started in that spot and looked into who was there and found him. He barely escaped going to juvi hall when he was like 10 years old. You have to make sure you build on solid ground, in well contained space.
Turf(Dutch) =PEAT, VEEN =BOG
MOSTLY IN Swamp or former swamps
We Dutch used to heat houses in ancient times in the north
With lightweight stoves I would suggest that there is little reason to have a fire other than in cases to warm up when cold and wet and to dry equipment. In the pacific northwest, virtually all wood is damp and campfires are smoky. Smoke and its smell gets on your clothes and equipment and, in valleys, hangs in the air. If you cook on a fire soot gets on your pot and is transferred to everything in your pack that it comes in contact with. Fires make it difficult to see 5he stars and wildlife.
Here in Utah a campfire during the summer is a big no no.
Only in a established camping 🏕 area.
But what if we don’t know what a Bakcpacker is?
I put a plastic straw in my backpack and use it as a bellows for my campfire. It’s surprising how well it works. #frugalupcycle
Maybe a silly question, but does it not melt at all?
No because you don’t have to get very close. The concentration of your breath through the straw allows you to stay farther back than if you’re just blowing on it.
@@susanburris53 🙂
Well...Well...Well... What a topic we've got in this episode. FINALLY tha hike meets tha bushcraft...
🧐...Let's see :
1. I would suggest to carry with y'all a second or even third option to start a fire, like tha good old Ferro rod striker... Just to save matches and the gas in the lighter.
3. I would deep all tha matches that you carry in candle wax to keep them dry.
And last but not least "CAMP FIRE" :
1. To prevent a massive forest fire that it's provoked with the straight ambers, you must NOT USE TREE BARK... coz if you make the effort to peel it ALL off from the branches and logs and only use the "meat" of tha wood... or the inner part of tha logs you'll see that no straight ambers pops out.
2. However, tha real McCoy in camp fire it's tha WOOD GAS STOVES fire concept. Coz that system colaborates with tha "live no trace" concept, and mainly it prevents all fires. For being that they are smokeless and mainly straight amberLESS (check out how it works and you'll see). Actually it's so safe to prevent forest fires, that I would encourage all the governments to instal one or a few in every camp area or trail shelters spots, and so don't leting people to make fire in any other places but in those stoves.
I personally, never start a fire in the back country. I, beleive most people do not know how to build Nd control safely. With all the forest wildfires nowadays, I wish they would ban back country fires!!!😢😢😢
Western states person here and while I love a good campfire, unless it’s an emergency or you are in a developed campground, just don’t make a fire in the wilderness. It violates leave no trace principles and is just too dangerous.
You don't need a pocket bellow. Put your thumb and index finger together of both hands. Now touch the left and right thumb together.
You should see a diamond shaped opening. Bring it to your lips and blow. Now point it at the fire you silly! 😁
downed wood is often wet wood. The lower branches of pines, especially Ponderosas, often get "shaded out' and die. It's perfectly harmless to cut such limbs off of the live trees.
Well, technically I think the proper approach is dead wood, whether down or not. If the tree is dead it doesn't matter in most cases.
Okay, I like a good campfire but on a long distance backpacking trip who has the energy to build and maintain a fire? :)
👍🐿👍
If you want the ambiance of a fire without a fire put a headlamp on a Nalgene or other water bottle. Good alternative.
when you are hiking, a fire is not about ambiance. its about warmth, smell, and the comfort and cheer that it brings! a water bottle and a headlamp is not a reasonable substitute for a campfire at all. lol.
And then set it on fire? Is that really better?
@orion7 I agree it’s no replacement. It’s for those times when a fire is prohibited or unwise.
@@paisleyfamily5972
Using a mini air pad pump to blow tall shredded, orange paper strips will make it look like a real campfire, if you really want to improve the ambience. That, and psychedelics, of course.
Stay out of jail, do not Pee on a fire as rangers may say "Ah-ha"! We have their DNA. Good video, just needed the warning about super dedicated rangers prowling around out there.
Most people will only pee on a fire once. After that they remember the odor and never want to do that again.
Most fires are started by human activities. Here on the West Coast campfires may soon be prohibited everywhere.
Don't use river rocks to build your fire ring!!!
Tip #1: don't take safety advice from Beavis & Butthead
Start selling your used underwear 🤧🤑🍀
I love your channel but lately you're just farming content from your Facebook posts, it's basically a listicle. 😢
Similar types of videos have been a part of this channel for over 6 years. The three videos before this were hiking videos from a trail
If you’ve followed, she has had some health issues in the past few months and hasn’t been able to hike!