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#19
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#19
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PostFri Mar 29, 2002 5:27 pm 
Dslayer, I've enjoyed many fires. Used to do a lot of winter camping in NE WA and N Idaho and we'd have BIG (safe) fires. I get the ambiance thing. But if its cool or warm out, its quite nice to pull up a rock, a couple fingers of your favorite spirits, maybe a cigar, your good friends and swap the same lies in the quiet coolness of the evening without the smoke and noise of a fire. There is room for both syles of camps in my world, but the fire in not mandatory for me to have a good time. smile.gif

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salish
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PostFri Mar 29, 2002 5:57 pm 
I love campfires and enjoy hiking in areas where they are allowed, in fire rings and where there is enough wood. I love the smell of my clothes and packs when I come home from those trips, but I think my wife does not. I agree with the idea of the challenge of firemaking. I learned how to make a wet wood fire in the scouts in the 60's and feel comfortable with survival skills on my own in the woods, without having a lot of technology. I also love to cook over a bed of coals. It's primitive and it's good to know. I sometimes even use a zip stove. But more than anything else I can't think of anything more fun than to sit in front of a small fire at night and bs, drink hot cocoa, think about life. and study the stars. Brian - that 1972 TB video says it all - we grew up packing in 6-packs and t-bones and cooked over open fires all the time. It still seems weird to me to see cookpots and coffeepots without soot all over them. By the same token, I don't go through withdrawals when I'm hiking in areas where fires aren't allowed. I understand the wisdom of not having fires in certain areas, not to mention the threat of a careless match to the woods. I think it's a very good idea that fires are banned above 4000' and in other areas. Go with the flow...ying & yang, and Far Out....

My short-term memory is not as sharp as it used to be. Also, my short-term memory's not as sharp as it used to be.
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catwoman
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PostFri Mar 29, 2002 6:09 pm 
Why, exactly, are they not allowed above 4000'? Or in the Olympics I think it's 3500'. I've always wondered why. Does it have something to do with the greater difficulty of access if a forest fire gets started? confused.gif

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Backpacker Joe
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PostFri Mar 29, 2002 6:12 pm 
It's usually because there just isnt much burnable stuff above 4000'. If everyone is trying to make fires then there wont be ANY burnable anything left. Keeps people from tearing down "live" wood to burn too. TB

"If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time or die by suicide." — Abraham Lincoln
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salish
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PostFri Mar 29, 2002 6:26 pm 
Exactly what BPJ said, and the higher you go the more fragile the ecosystem is. Most alpine country could be destroyed in just a few short years. Or at least that's how I've always seen it.

My short-term memory is not as sharp as it used to be. Also, my short-term memory's not as sharp as it used to be.
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Brian Curtis
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PostFri Mar 29, 2002 6:38 pm 
For boiling water I carry a loaf pan, for cooking fish I carry a cake pan. Both are thoroughly blackened and charred. I figure the black helps to soak up the heat and save fuel on days I don't have a fire.

that elitist from silverdale wanted to tell me that all carnes are bad--Studebaker Hoch
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IBEX
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PostFri Mar 29, 2002 6:41 pm 
Why restrict fires up high? Dslayer sezz: “So what's the deal?” Catwoman purzz: “I've always wondered why.” IBEX bazz: “Cuz high altitude dead wood can be pretty" biggrin.gif

"....what is above knows what is below, but what is below does not know what is above. One climbs, one sees. One descends, one sees no longer, but one has seen...." -Rene Daumel
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salish
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PostFri Mar 29, 2002 8:39 pm 
That's beautiful, Ibex.

My short-term memory is not as sharp as it used to be. Also, my short-term memory's not as sharp as it used to be.
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3fngrs
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PostFri Mar 29, 2002 11:49 pm 
Have to agree with Salish on this!!! smile.gif

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Backpacker Joe
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PostSat Mar 30, 2002 7:50 am 
More dead wood!

"If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time or die by suicide." — Abraham Lincoln
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Water Man
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PostSat Mar 30, 2002 10:39 am 
Depends on the country and the situation as well as the weather I think. Sometimes having one is very grand especially if its been raining and you need to dry out...14 days in the wild Jordan/Falls Lake Epic 1970. However, disperse the scene when you are through. I have climbed with a few back country rangers who use to take along shovels for this, and since, I always kick away the fire pits I find and many times I pack out others junk/trash out. If one is going to have a fire, you need not pack an axe to chop wood with, just search under the granite for small dry wood; that's where the duff is - not from the bark of trees. You'll be surprised at how easy it is to start one for drying out from duff under the granite, even if its been raining for a week. And if there is a pit or ring that has been already used for that, don't create a new one.

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Newt
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PostSat Mar 30, 2002 12:13 pm 
hmmm... If you don't have ashes in the pancakes you just ain't campin', in my book anyways, tho most of mine is limited to car campin' also. NN smile.gif

It's pretty safe to say that if we take all of man kinds accumulated knowledge, we still don't know everything. So, I hope you understand why I don't believe you know everything. But then again, maybe you do.
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Surgeon General
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PostSat Mar 30, 2002 12:37 pm 
Dead wood happens if you smoke shakehead.gif

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Tak S. Peyer and Cleo Sha
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PostSat Mar 30, 2002 2:02 pm 
Well we didn't think our tax dollars hard at work would ever show up on this site, but here is the surgeon putting in his two bits. lol.gif

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Scrooge
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PostSun Mar 31, 2002 1:18 am 
Joe. I don't think those trees are dead. Just looks like larch in late autumn to me. dizzy.gif

Something lost behind the ranges. Lost and waiting for you....... Go and find it. Go!
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