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View Full Version : Zip Stoves legal in the DAKs High Peaks region?



sirbingo
09-25-2006, 12:42
Hey fellow White Blazers!

I hike a lot in the High Peaks region of the Adirondaks. In this are wood fires are band...does this include fires from something like a Zip Stove?

thanks!

hikerjohnd
09-25-2006, 13:58
I'd imagine that a contained fire would be allowed - especially on such a small scale - but I am interestind in hearing a more informed answer to the question.

Kevin A. Boyce
09-25-2006, 14:07
You may want to check out and post this question to the 'Views From the Top' website... There are local Dacks folks there that can answer this for you. Also look into the 'ADKHighPeaks Forums' website as well.

Vi+
09-25-2006, 15:17
Sirbingo,

You advise (Post #1), “In this are(a) wood fires are ban(ne)d ...” You ask, “... does this include fires from something like a Zip Stove?”

I suppose each park reserves the right to set and interpret its own rules.

Someone, claiming to be a Park Ranger at the Shenandoah National Park, once advised the Zip Stove is permitted to be used in the SNP even when fires are prohibited there. I presume the logic is along the lines articulated by hikerjohnd (Post #2), “I'd imagine that a contained fire would be allowed - especially on such a small scale ...”

This may give the authorities where you intend to hike something to consider. I would want to obtain permission. I would also want to note, in writing, the name of the person who gave you permission, as well as the date and time permission was granted.

I asked the ranger at an SNP Entry Gate about this. She had never considered the question and didn’t have an answer. Front-country rangers and back-country rangers have different concerns. The back-country ranger will be the one huffing and puffing up the mountain seeking the source of your smoke; he/she is “THE DECIDER” du jour.

jaywalke
09-25-2006, 16:03
I have used a Zip in areas with fire bans before. In each case I wrote the ranger office in advance, and got the okay from them in writing (a SASE helps). Never did get challenged, but I had the note from the hall monitor just in case.

Vi+
09-25-2006, 16:24
I left out an important word in Post #4. I should have posted the following:

Someone, claiming to be a Park Ranger at the Shenandoah National Park, once advised the Zip Stove is permitted to be used in the SNP even when :banana OPEN :banana fires are prohibited there.

The distinction is, there are also times when ALL fires are prohibited.

Outlaw
09-25-2006, 16:30
What is the purpose of banning open fires? To prevent forest fires, of course. So, if the concern is to prevent forest fires, shouldn't all sources of flame be banned, e.g. canister stoves, alcohol stoves, WG stoves?

My point is that a Zip stove is as much a "contained" flame as any other form of cooking stove. A tipped over alcohol stove or canister stove can just as easily begin a forest fire as a Zip stove. In other words, I wouldn't be concerned with violating the open fire ban by using a Zip stove.

jlb2012
09-25-2006, 16:37
my opinion is that the ban on open fires in SNP is the park's attempt to reduce the trace left by back country campers - no fire rings and associated litter

Outlaw
09-25-2006, 20:07
my opinion is that the ban on open fires in SNP is the park's attempt to reduce the trace left by back country campers - no fire rings and associated litter

That may be true for the SNP, but the high peaks region of the Adirondacks has plenty of lean-tos and each has a fireplace or fire pit. Accordingly, an open flame ban must be due to a higher than normal risk forest fires.

Toolshed
09-26-2006, 07:20
There are other reasons for the fire banning in ADKs. One is that the lack of available firewood around many of the LT sites has left people pulling branches off trees and cutting down smaller live trees to make fires (we are speaking of neophytes here). It has also started to push folks tofind new areas to camp and making fires in areas where there is downed wood, leaving mor messes behind. Lastly it tends to help discourage large groups from coming into an overused area, and encourages them to go somewhere else (Groups that traditionally want to camp around a big fire.)

I wouldnt be as worried about carrying a zipstove as to making sure you have your bear canister with you if you enter the Eastern High Peaks area. I also don't beleive a Zip falls unter the heading of an open fire.