How To Build A Campfire

How To Build A Campfire

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A campfire is part of the outdoor experience when youre camping, backpacking, or hunting and plan on spending the night in the wilderness. Having a campfire is one of those experiences that make an overnight stay in the woods memorable. Its disappointing if youre at a campground that has signs in the fire pit that says No Campfires. That means its too dry to have a fire. Please dont ignore these warnings for your own convenience. Forest fires are terrible events that are usually avoidable, since many are man-made.

Although most campgrounds have fire pits, you may find a place to camp while youre backpacking that does not. If its been dry youll need to be extremely careful where you build your campfire.

The first thing to do is pick your spot for the campfire. Make sure its away from anything that burns easily like dry grass and tree limbs from nearby trees. Clear an area twice the size as your fire ring will be. An errant spark from a breeze could cause a fire in a nearby field of dry grass or trees.

The next thing to do is to collect rocks for your fire ring and build it approximately a foot high and 3 feet in diameter. If youre near a stream, creek, or river youll be sure to find good rocks to build your fire ring. If rocks arent available, pass on having a fire. The fire ring will prevent the ashes from spreading and keep the fire concentrated in a safe place.

If you have not brought any fire wood or are not in a campground that sells it, youll need to search the forest floor for dead tree branches and pine cones. If youre in a forested area youll be sure to find plenty for your needs. An axe, hatchet or folding saw are tools youll need in this endeavor. Youll want to cut the branches and limbs you find to fit the parameters or your fire ring.

Start small when you first build your fire! To start the fire youll need tender; small sticks, dry leaves twisted newspaper, pine needles or anything that will easily catch fire. Bring a couple of different methods to start a fire camp lighters, cigarette lighters, water proof matches, or fire starters that emit sparks by rubbing flint against steel are ideas to think about. When you have a small flickering fire, then it's time to gradually add larger sticks of wood. As the fire gets larger and hotter you can add even larger chunks of wood. You can lay the wood on the fire any way you like as long as there is enough air flow from the bottom of the coals to the top of the fire, to keep the logs burning.

Building a fire is mainly common sense. If you have a small fire, add enough wood, any way you like, to make it into a larger fire.

Try not to build your fire too big. Raging fires are not cool. There's too much of a chance that a spark will get away and set fire to someone's tent or the nearby fields and forests. Keep the fire at a reasonable level and have a safe, happy stay in Gods great outdoors!


About the Author:
I've been tent camping for over 35 years and as a retired Airborne Ranger, have experience in wilderness survival. For more information on camping tents and camping hiking gear, please visit us at http://mycampingtentsandmore.com. We carry a nice selection of camping gear from tents to flashlights at reasonable prices. Check us out!



Article Originally Published On: http://www.articlesnatch.com


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