can you have fires on the northern half of the AT during summer?

[beanburg]

:sunHi there, we are walking the top half starting in August and being from Australia we are used to lots of fire bans in summer. just wondering if there is spots to have fires along the AT or can you have a fire wherever you are camped. is there any fire bans during summer, like in the hundred mile wilderness. thanking you for your help!!

[weary]

:sunHi there, we are walking the top half starting in August and being from Australia we are used to lots of fire bans in summer. just wondering if there is spots to have fires along the AT or can you have a fire wherever you are camped. is there any fire bans during summer, like in the hundred mile wilderness. thanking you for your help!!
In Maine fires are legal only at designated campsites, which are mostly associated with shelters, though there are a few without shelters. All do have associated privies, I believe. State fire wardens can also issue open burning permits but I've never found one that would issue a permit for a fire along the trail. No permit is required at the designated camping areas.

I don't know the rules in other states, but most campsites I've seen over the years have had established fire rings with signs of recent fires. During severe drought conditions, occasionally all open fires are banned. But that doesn't happen very often in Maine. Maine has a lot of precipitation and it tends to be evenly distributed through the 12 months.

[birchy]

In Pennsylvania, open fires in an improved fire ring are generally permitted. On State Forest land in southern PA fires are permitted except when the fire danger rating is "High" or "Extreme", but there is no way for a hiker to know the danger rating unless they call DCNR. It has been my experience that as long as the fire is reasonable, no one is going to say anything. As for Maryland there are generally fire bans posted and New Jersey I believe has an outright ban along the AT.... hope that helps some

[hikerboy57]

Youd be well advised to bring a stove. CT no fires, NY only at established sites, and there are many restrictions in NH ME and VT. Also difficult to fing wood, as by August, most deadwood has been foraged away.

[beanburg]

Many thanks all, that sure does help some :)

[mweinstone]

fire bans pop up in areas you can walk thru in a day or more and fire bans pop up rare enough as to not impact fun. in pa we either have a dry or a normal or a wet year. just depends. around our resiviors, we post bans first. but their is no place where it impacts fun very much cause you really want to be able to do what you need without a fire for a state or a week or a day. if downed wood is scarce, use my rule. go more than a few minutes walking back up or down the trail back to the areas where no one ever takes wood cause their lazy or its too far for them to carry. use the trail. as you walk back into firewood areas, toss peices out onto the trail. then turn and reteun to camp collecting it up and pof! you have great wood cause you spent your time and energys walking to a wood dense area rather than pekking the pickings about a plucked shelter area over and over for the dregs of wood. a few trips beyond the denutered zone allows that to heal and gets better wood with more fun poking around.

[mweinstone]

i only ever gather wood where i have my choice of type and size. even in the worst picked clean shelter areas, a few moments walk returns one to wood gatherers paridise. remember, crap woods may be heavy, burn slow, make smoke or stink or poison, require more loads and make trouble. learn to identify the hardwoods and enjoy the benifits of less gathering, quick starts, long burning with less smoke and fume and all while restoreing the denuted area with your efforts. the work the forrest floor must do to ready a well cured peice of dry hardwood for reentry into the top soil is far less than the work it has done to get that same log to a wet rotten nearly dirt stage. at this stage, the wood is a poor choice for burnning and removes more life energy from the chain than is worth.

[mweinstone]

the dry good wood is the simple cheap abundant "hey" the floor of the forrest spins to "gold", witch is the top soil after years of breaking down the branches. use the good wood luke.

[peakbagger]

No fires in sections of the White Mountain National Forest mostly due to over usage. The nickname of the white mountain national forest to some forest services folks is the "asbestos national forest" as its exteremely rare that a fire will sustain itself for very long and usually its lightning strikes lighting up the patch of stunted growth near treeline.

North of the whites, the woods tend to be green but if you insist on a fire, it has to be a designated campground.

If there is a frie ban, it is usually well posted at trailhead and you will probably know it from the condition of the woods and water sources.