No Stove Building Fires only

[58starter]

The last 3 times I have been out on the AT I never got my fuel and stove out. Each time I built a small fire at night and in the morning just large enough to boil about 4 cups of water. How many sections of the AT are you not allowed to build a small contained cook fire?

Has anyone done a complete thru hike with fires only for cooking?

[Tinker]

All of Connecticut.

[GoldenBear]

No fires of any kind are permitted anywhere along the AT in Connecticut and New Jersey; and permitted only within designated fire rings at shelters in New York.

[GoldenBear]

Depending on weather conditions, fires -- and particularly open fires -- can be completely prohibited within national parks, national forests, state parks, and state forests. Each units makes an independent decision, so what's legal can change by walking just a few meters. If doing a hike during a drought season, pay attention to this.

[Amanita]

People have done the whole AT with no cooking, so one could simply eat "stoveles food" for the sections where fires are not allowed.

[JAK]

I love burning wood, and I think it can be a sustainable choice in many situations, and useful in emergency situations, but for when it is not appropriate or permitted, or when I'm in a different mood, I carry 4oz of 99% ethanol which doubles as first aid, and 4oz of vegetable oil which is also food. Haven't perfected my multi-fuel stove system yet, but working on it.

[Pedaling Fool]

You should always use your stove so you can support the fossil fuel industry and all the jobs they create.

[JAK]

Pretty much all of my food doesn't require cooking, and I will sometimes scarf some of it down that way, but hike solo and I would probably go snakey if I didn't play with fire at least twice a day. lol

[JAK]

You should always use your stove so you can support the fossil fuel industry and all the jobs they create.

Plus there will alot more jobs once all the fossil fuel is gone. They'll just take longer and won't pay as well. ;-)

[YohonPetro]

Some places lack fuel, around an over-used shelter in a laurel grove it was hard to find enough sticks to use a Sierra Stove.

[RevLee]

During the Virginia Spring wildfire season (2/15 - 4/30) you can only have fires from 4PM to midnight.

[peakbagger]

Several of the high use shelters and tent sites in the whites ban fires. I am not sure about Kinsman Pond ( I suspect so) , but Liberty, Guyot, Nauman tent site,Valley Way tent site and the , RMC camps are all no fire sites.

Generally in Maine, fires are limited to designated campsites and shelters although I am not sure of the extent of the enforcement.

[Papa D]

Campfires create impact - burning things the forest uses to rejuvenate itself, scorching patches of ground in unsightly ways, etc. I build campfires sometimes for warmth and they are fun but I would discourage this for everyday cooking -- you can cook on a fire and get pretty good at it but by and large they are not efficient. How about a small wood burning camp stove? - you can make one home-made out a couple of coffee cans and some wire or purchase one -- a nice compromise I'd say.

[JAK]

It is best not to depend on finding sticks where you camp or sit down to cook. I usually start gather about 10-30 minutes before I stop. I'm selective. Sustainable choices depend on the habitat, Here the traffic is low, and spruce and birch are plentiful. I use most the dead spruce branchlets near the ground, still on the tree but dead. Deadfall might also work. If you can snap it off easily in handful lengths it should be dry enough. Birch bark I gather off the ground, and only off the tree if there is a large crinkled chunk can scrunch off without it peeling. I avoid large flags flapping off the tree because they look nice. If it is hard to gather I don't because it means it isn't plentiful enough, and that would imply an impact. A knife might be handy in some habitats to make better use of deadfall, especially if there is no spruce with dead branches, or birch with lots of shedding bark, or other such things. Save charcoals from one fire to the next.

But another good reason for alcohol and oil backup, for when sustainable fuel isn't readily available. Just because small woodstoves are sustainable low impact choices in many areas, doesn't mean its suitable all along the trail, so think ahead, and experiment with what appears to be most plentiful. Avoid what is locally scarce, even if its a good choice where its plentiful. Have a backup.

[doritotex]

What perturbs me is that people build huge roaring fires during warm weather just so they can "sing around the campfire". I was on a week long section hike in October and an unexpected storm blew in with sleet and freezing temps. When I got to a shelter, I wanted a small fire to dry my socks and warm up a bit. Every twig and stick in sight had been burned up. I made a small fire with toilet paper and leaves, but it didn't last long. I wish people would save the wood for when it is really needed, it might be a matter of life and death when someone has hypothermia!

[JAK]

Lately I've been enjoying experimenting with my veggie oil jute twine wick burner so much that I've been starting to make more excuses for why I can't use local spruce and birch. Probably just getting lazy. lol. It's good to think sustainably though, and in some places rather than LNT, think more like a gardener. Use what is plentiful in an area to encourage more diversity. Always dead stuff, but its good and fun to be selctive about what dead stuff to use, and where to gather it from, to promote a certain look and regrowth and biodiversity.

[JAK]

Excellent point about reserving firewood for when it is most needed, especially in the cold seasons. Near shelters its good carry a strong enough knife to make small sticks from cordwood. You can also pick charred wood from the firepit as it often makes the best fuel. A charcoal also can be a good wick for vegetable oil, if dry.

[peakbagger]

Long ago, common custom was to leave firewood under cover at a shelter for the next group so if it was raining they had dry wood. Unfortunately common courtesy is a rare commodity these days.

[Pedaling Fool]

No, now you find half-empty canisters. So common courtesy is still alive

Look at all the jobs you support by using fossil feuls in lieu of wood. Not only the people that frack it out of the ground, but all the periphery jobs, like the merchants, truck drivers, manufactuerers of tools, steel companies and so much more.....life is good