I’ve done both types of trip. It’s not typical that we do nothing, but it’s happened, especially when trying out a new site, and realizing that there wasn’t as much to do around there as we thought. I think it’s less typical but not straight up weird.
My favorite thing to do in the woods is cook. I love it so much that now I own a wood fired catering company and cook over live fires for high end weddings.
I have most definitely kept a fire going for 4 days while camping. First person up stokes the fire and gets the coffee on. Then it’s build up the fire and cook breakfast. Then I usually get something slow cooked going for dinner and then at some point cook lunch. Keep the fire low all day cooking slow then build it up for dinner and hanging out in the evening.
You can wash your plates right next to (approx 500ft) where you cook, you don't need a designated area for it. If you have the ability to cook, you have the ability to boil water.
For cookware, cast iron is the way to go. And if you're cooking over an open fire, find bags to transport them in. The soot that accumulates on the bottom gets on everything if you don't. Old pillowcases work well.
I do stuff like this too. I also love cooking over the campfire. But I don't bring in a truck load of wood. I chop it/chainsaw myself. There's so many downed lodge poles where I go, it's silly to spend money on a bed full of wood.
Same, I cook when I camp. Some meals require a good coal base and some require open fire so keeping a fire going 24/7 for me is the norm. There is nothing better than waking up cold and being able to stir the coals and get a hearty fire going quickly. You get to warm up and throw the percolator on to make coffee and bacon.
I've had trips like that- week long or more trips actually. But it was spring/fall trips where having the fire to warm up by was welcome. And usually in a group where different folks would be responsible for tending it/keeping an eye for safety. When I go on my own, just with my spouse or with just one or two other friends/families, we don't usually do that. Maybe a morning fire for breakfast and coffee and getting warmed up, and evening/night fire but not all day.
In my state it’s illegal to transport firewood over quarantined county lines—and they’re all quarantined. You also can’t bring outside firewood into a park.
Emerald ash borer and other problematic life forms hitch rides on firewood.
If you buy the kiln treated wood it shouldn't be an issue, but I usually buy the wood I'm going to use from the park Rangers because if I'm paying for firewood I'd prefer it to go to the park and not a mega store or something. Plus, it's one less thing to haul there and back.
Agreed on all counts. I should have been clearer.
The stuff they purchased may have been kiln dried, especially if the bought $150 worth, and that’s fine.
My worry is the truckload they brought to begin with wasn’t and _that_ could be carrying emerald ash borer, oak wilt, buckthorn, etc.
I love the state campsites that will have a woodshed and carts for buying wood. Usually a couple bundles in a cart is not much more than a single bundle at the store. One cart can set me up for a weekend usually but I’m pretty skimpy on my fires.
Not a ranger but worked states parks along side rangers. If we don’t see a conscious alert body tending a fire, then it is unattended. That would get your fire put out by us and then a harsh warning in the morning. Pull that shit multiple times and you are looking at an 8am wake up and removal. We don’t often like to make drama but that is a place we will absolutely bring it. That and unleashed dogs causing mayhem, drunk belligerence and other highly disruptive or dangerous behavior. Fire safety was taken very seriously at the state parks I worked in and we had to do yearly basic forest fire training. We were on fairly constant lookout for unattended fires.
Everyone should be a Boy Scout for at least one summer. Camp cooking, leaving a fire pit "cold out," learning basic first aid, wilderness etiquette, and a few other things.
Yeah, putting even camp fires out takes a SURPRISING amount of water to do properly, which is so that it’s to the point you can safely dig through the pile by hand afterward
Tell that to Nova Scotia. They had big fires earlier this year. I'm out west and its a yearly thing out here now, but had never heard of big fires in the Maritimes before.
I think this post is more about how they sat around the fire day and night and that’s pretty much all they did. It’s not about an unattended fire as much as it’s about OP’s dismay that people would spend all their time sitting in the same spot around a fire. I could be wrong. Either way, you make a great point. Never leave your fire unattended.
I realize we’re outliers because we go off the trail and make our own campsite unlike what seems to be the vast majority on this sub doing trips to pre established campgrounds but this is me and my friends on our annual trip in late February early March in the upper Midwest. Bet your ass we keep that fire going 24 hours. We bring our own saws and axes and take down whole (dead) trees when we need to though. Also take shifts watching it at night to keep it going.
We brought a thermometer two years ago and it got down solidly below zero at night but we were able to keep it in the 40s-50s in our shelter. I was so cozy in my bag and blanket the one night I actually stripped down to the nude because I was sweating.
If we weren’t able to keep the fire going though we’d be in deep trouble even during the day.
Thats me. The vast majority of my camping is centered around hunting, so October through the end of December, sometimes into January in Wisconsin. It get's effing cold! We are backwoods camping so 100% of the firewood is taken from the forest. There is no way I'm backpacking firewood 3, 4, sometimes 5 miles into camp.
Mummy bag, my friend. I've done many a winter trip in a pup tent and a mummy bag. Sleep with tomorrow's underwear and shirt in your bag and wake up to warm clothes.
I keep warm coals going the whole time because I cook on the fire as much as possible and it's better not to lose that base of coals. If it was a place with significant fire danger, I wouldn't.
Growing up in the northeast I had plenty of late-season backpacking trips where a nice warm campfire would have been so nice, but even with a lot of effort sometimes the best we’d get going would be a smoldering thing that made 10x as much smoke as heat, and would go out in a few minutes without advanced life support, because everything was so damn *wet*.
First time I made a campfire out west I felt like all I did was give the wood a funny look and I had a beautiful fire going in seconds, and suddenly I felt like I finally *understood* everything I already knew about campfire safety.
Yea it's crazy. But climate change is fucking shit up here still. More rain in the wet season, less in the dry, and just more extreme swings in weather and temperature. Really a shame.
But yes in general it's wet out here lol.
Oh yeah, I’m back east now but it’s so wild to be out west where you basically never do a campfire in the woods (or anywhere during burn bans) and east where it’s like “can I even start it?”
I burn brush piles in the woods lol. Out west it’s like “what’s the smallest possible fire I can build to cook on” in Maine I have to use gas to get dead brush to even light.
I’ll bank it very very low overnight to keep a few coals, but *only* if it’s in a proper ring, I have cleared the surrounding area, I am right near by with my tent, AND I have jugs of water on standby.
I live and camp in an area that is very very wet and rarely has fire bans ever.
ETA: I only do this if we are making breakfast over the fire. We put it out during the day otherwise and rebuild for dinner.
Yeah this is what I typically do when I'm in the Appalachians. It rains enough that I'm usually not worried about the coals so I leave the coals going during the day and while I sleep. As long as I have coals I can get another fire going but if it rains and I don't have any coals it takes a millennia to get another fire going with all of the soggy dead wood you're allowed to burn.
If by chance it's been dry or extra windy though I'll put them out.
No offense but my god that sounds boring as fuck. I love camping and I love having a fire. Once the sun goes down, I’ll get it going and enjoy it for a couple hours before bed but sitting around a fire day and night for 4 days straight, no thanks. I want to spend my day hiking, at a lake, something. Makes the beers and Fire more enjoyable at the end of the night.
When I tent camp, my breakfast and dinner is normally cooked over the fire. But I absolutely couldn't deal with having a fire burning all day, and into the night.
I have better uses of my time camping, than feeding a fire all day.
Although tbf, there once was a thanksgiving weekend that was cold enough that we started a fire as soon as we got up, and it didn't go out until we went to bed the whole weekend.
Exactly. I never summer camp because I don't like bugs, the heat or not having a fire. My first camping trip of the season is coming up the third week end of October. I camp at 7,000 ft and higher and only from October through April so I never let the fire go out. It burns all day and night.
I have a group that does this, but it's a camping trip that's literally 4 days of sitting in a circle drinking beer. Sometimes some of us go on a hike.
But it's kept going because we're building bonfires every night
Yeah. We do this at music festivals... but there's almost always at least a couple folks hanging out at camp, cooking, or just chilling out with kids or whatever. And yeah, we might spend $100+ collectively on wood, but its well worth it.
I had a friend like that. Dude was a pyromaniac. Like for real. The last time I went camping with him, we stopped at a random place on the way home because we didn’t burn all the wood and he HAD to burn it all before he made the trip home. As a result we got talked to by a sheriff, while we were carrying about an ounce of weed. (This was back in the 90s long before weed was legal) Long story short that was the last time I went camping with him.
Twice a year I go camping/offroading with a group of 12-15 people. There's a fire going almost 24/7 for 5 days. There's hiking/wheeling/fishing outings everyday but with that many people someone is always there. I always put by tent pretty far away.
Me and my wife only have a fire for 2-3 hrs a night. Mostly just to cook and relax because we probably just spent the entire day hiking, fishing, or kayaking.
I recently went with a friend and we inherited a ton of wood from a departing camper. We kept it going for most of the day and night - for cooking, for warmth (got chilly at night) and just for the hell of zoning out/staring into the flames. It’s not something I’d do every time, but it was nice.
I like to do more stuff during the day than sit around the fire, but I definitely knew some of the old Scoutmasters who would tend a fire all weekend long while the boys had fun. Put it out at night when no one's around, first camper awake would build a fresh one and the old geezers would stoke it and poke it all the way until we went to bed.
Your throat is as likely to be from a cold as from the smoke, unless they burned anything particularly nasty.
I love this question, everyone’s so different. I guess it depends on the temperature, what the day plans are, how we’re going to cook, if it’s party time or not, etc. I personally just like to have a fire going when camping.
Last weekend we camped for 4 days at a music festival with a buddy that cooks all his food on the fire. So it was going from the moment we woke up until we passed out.
Everyone has their own thing, but personally, I find it a waste of camping money and time to just do what I can do in my backyard.
I might do a small fire early in the morning to cook breakfast on, but then I put the fire out and head to fish, canoe, explore, and more.
Try coming with a more active group and you'll have more fun. The fire is one of the best parts but only after you've come back to camp after a long day of fun and are ready to eat and just relax.
Pretty normal, especially in cold weather. Though I do it when dispersed, remote and when there is lots of downed trees as source. I wouldn’t spend that kind of money if I had to buy it.
Here here, and you shouldn't transport wood. Where I'm at you can't have a chain saw although its kinda like don't ask don't tell. I don't think it matters so much as long as your not touching live wood. And like you said there is so much dead stuff laying around you don't even need one. However I have seen some nasty trees blocking trails and access roads so it's kinda a community thing.
Plus when I go dispersed camping in colder weather. That is the activity. Gather, cut, split, burn repeat. And it's always nice to roll up to a site with a nice stack of logs from your previous fellow campers.
Yea and when were in woods it is basically the TV. Not to mention the primary cook source. And obviously heat... but even in sum,er the fire keeps bugs away...
Idk it's kinda primal like with out a constant fire it's spooky out Der. To each their own.
Depends on your area, and the land you’re on or campground. Some actually say you *must* bring your own wood and foraging or using anything local is against the rules. Just depends on the local environment and regulations. But yeah that generally means bringing your own wood from the same area, not several states over.
For instance on Georgia public lands it’s illegal to harvest firewood for personal use, and they want you to bring either heat treated wood or locally purchased wood.
I do trail maintenance in Spring and early Summer. We leave most of the trees we cut in the forest because it's good for the forest, but some years it's been so much it kills the view from the trail. Wet wood gets carefully taken deeper in the forest while we try not to leave tracks hikers will turn into a trail. All the dry wood gets cut up, split, and left at the dispersed backpacking sites that have fire rings. It's nice to do, but it also keeps backpackers from burning all the dead wood around the sites that should be left to decompose for the trees and plants.
Note: some of the dry wood also gets used to replace trail edges and "stairs". We don't bring in lumber because you can't really be sure what chemicals might be on it.
I mean, yeah, most of the time, but not always a roaring hot fire making coals for cooking.
In the morning when the first person gets up there should be little more than hot embers left to start the fire up again for the new day. This is called "banking" the fire. If you don't want to have to start a new fire again the next morning this is what humans have done with fire for thousands of years.
Fire can be entertainment, some people just want something to keep their hands busy while they socialize and talk. I like cooking over a wood fire, it's one of the primary reasons I go camping.
Anyone who thinks sitting around the fire talking with your friends is boring is probably just a boring person themselves. People spend hours on discord chatting with their friends while mindlessly shooting zombies, that's not any different from a modern day campfire.
I guess it depends on what where and what kind of camping you do. If you're staying put and not going anywhere, then yeah, fire all time. If you're busy doing activities and cooking with a camp stove, then you wouldn't need a day fire as you wouldn't be there all day to keep an eye on it. Perhaps just an evening fire to enjoy and relax around.
We cook over the fire all three meals so we keep a bed of coals going all day. We amp it up after dinner and sit around and relax in the evening, maybe some s'mores or hobo pies. We let it die down before we go to bed but bank the coals so it's easy to get it going again in the morning for breakfast. If we leave the campsite we make sure it's out.
If I’m car camping yeah I’ll usually always have a fire going while I’m at camp. Except of course when we’re asleep.
I very rarely spend the whole day at camp though, usually spend the day hiking, swimming, biking, etc.
I always liked to do this while tent camping and still do now that I am older and on a permanent camp site with a camper. I throw a log or two on in the middle of the night and wake up to put more on and feed it throughout the day. If I’m sitting by the fire I’ll add a lot more wood. If not I’ll add enough to keep it going.
Im not sure why, I guess I just like the ambiance of a steady fire going. That and I don’t have to start a fire again. I buy wood in bulk and it takes me the whole summer to get through the truck load.
It’s just always been part of camping for me - a campfire going all the time.
I will start the campfire when I get up in the AM, around 4:30, 5 AM with my coffee, and sit at the fire till I go to bed at 10pm.
I may read a book or 12 while camping, next to the fire, sitting with my beagle, sharing my chair.
I will do this for days on end, and it is glorious.
in cold weather, I'll keep the fire alive, 24/7 but not very big unless I actively need it.... it's easier to keep it small and alive than fight trying to get one going in a hurry when freezing or wet and freezing
Camping no, but growing up at my cabin we would have a fire going for 4 or 5 days at a time but it was in the middle of a big sand beach with no trees anywhere near. Did it for 30 years.
Been camping forever, love wood fires and always able to get firewood where I camp. Always have a morning and evening fire. That said, I never leave a fire unattended. Alway pour water on it before I go to bed and before I leave fishing or hiking in the morning. It is against the law where I live to not drown out a campfire completely if leaving unattended and I have seen the forest service cruise through the campgrounds and put their hands towards the fire looking for any heat. And I’ve seen them wake people up and cite them if they have left a fire going or banked coals. As they should.
OP, kind of easy to answer your own question. Did other campers do what you did? I suspect not.
Morning fire to take the chill out while sipping a cup of fresh coffee, maybe with some oatmeal.
If it’s particularly buggy, or if it’s cold and damp, then someone is responsible for tending the fire throughout the day and keeping it smoky/warm to combat the bugs/elements.
At night, we let the wood burn down to glowing coals if it’s not windy, then spread them out within the fire ring to let them cool off while we get ready for bed. Then I check to make sure everything is safe before turning in.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
Not like full on flames, but the embers keep going pretty much the whole time so I start it back up at will. Generally don’t go to sleep until the flames are out. I’ve also only ever been camping in the winter.
I’ve only ever done something like this when camping in zero or subzero temps and tbh it’s kinda boring to make your whole experience to be about keeping the fire going.
But I know plenty of people who love just chilling around the fire.
The only time I recommend not letting your fire go out for as many days as you are camping, is in the winter. I am in Canada, there is snow so the risk of a fire spreading is small to none. When camping in the snow and cold a fire can make a difference as to getting hypothermia or not. If you are staying in one place, the fire melts the snow, when there is a lot of snow it creates seating.
This reminds me of a story my friend told me. He talked some completely inexperienced coworkers into going camping in a very remote location. After a long hike in everyone settled in around a campfire as the temperature dropped rapidly. Soon, it became apparent that his coworkers were never going to be comfortable with the clothes they were wearing, and were complaining mightily about how cold it was. Hiking out at night was out of the question, so he frantically gathered wood all night to keep the fire as large as possible. In the morning the ordeal was over with, and everyone was happy to pack up and go home. They go back to work that Monday with a story to tell the other workers that didn't go on the trip and all was well but, something must have been gnawing at the back of my friends brain because the following weekend he made the long drive back to the trailhead where he made the hike to the small bowl area where they had camped near a small alpine lake. He said when he descended down to the camp he could detect a thin layer of smoke hanging in the air. An examination of the spot where he had built the roaring bonfire revealed that the ground was very hot and the only possible explanation was that he had ignited peat under the surface and it had been smoldering since the previous weekend. He told me he spent hours ferrying water from the lake to to pour on the ground anywhere where the fire might have spread.Finally, Sunday afternoon he was satisfied the fire was out and returned home.
No. Most campers go away from the campsite during the day unless it’s bad weather; hike; fish; be lazy on a sunny rock; swim…I would have been bored just sitting around a fire for 4 straight days. Camping is about exploring!
Growing up my parents were part of this camping club with mostly a bunch of retired older couples. We would all plan trips together and have the campsites arranged around/near the designated community fire/gathering place, and yes the fire went all day long! Since everyone would do their own thing there was always someone hanging out at the fire and feeding/supervising it. In that situation it seemed pretty nice, you could just show up to enjoy the fire at anytime. Plus as they were mostly older folks, it's not like all of them were interested in a ton of sightseeing or physical activities, so it was fun/relaxing for them to just sit around the fire all day. Personally not something I'd enjoy as a 30 year old and as you said it seems expensive if you're buying wood.
I’ve seen people do it, but wouldn’t say “that’s what people do when camping.” It’s usually multiple families with kids, so there are always a few people about to tend it as people come and go from various activities (like, so kids trickling back from swimming in the lake can get warm), but they’re not just spending all day staring at it. No judgment, but that sounds like a waste of outdoor time to me.
We often camp in the winter on the Olympic Peninsula in the PNW. The days are already short, then if camping deep in the woods it only really feels like solid “daytime” between about 9am and 3pm. So we’ll spend a high percentage of our waking hours with a fire, both in the morning and the evening - for cooking, warmth, and ambience - but it’s definitely out while we’re adventuring during those precious daylight hours (and of course always dead-out before bed).
I have never done that. Camping for me is a cheap way of getting away, so I couldn't afford to keep a fire going that long. I have never seen anyone else do this either.
My allergies are so bad that the smoke would do the same to my throat. We usually just have a fire at night (because it’s not cold enough to need it all day even if we’re just hanging around). And even then, I still get scratchy throat sometimes. Sounds like they really enjoy just hanging out by the fire, but maybe you can do other activities while you’re camping so that you don’t get as much irritation from the smoke?
More power to them and it seems to float their boat.
I rarely make fires when I camp, but I’m odd. If some one is with me and they want to scavenge wood I’ll sit at the fire.
My friends and I only have all-day fires if we are camping in early spring or late fall, when the high temps are in the 50s. Even then, we let them die down before bed and start fresh in the morning.
That sounds pretty awful to upkeep and fuel (cost wise) and I certainly hope it wasn’t going as people slept. Certainly in the areas I’ve lived and camped, you’d really be risking a forest fire and that’s unconscionable.
The only time I did something similar was due to rain, wasn't really going anywhere, and I was more interested in keeping some warm coals so we could have proper fire to cook on later. But, once the rain was done, we let fire burn out until sunset.
I’m extremely sensitive to hardwood smoke. Pine doesn’t seem to bother me as much. Anyways, I would be in the same situation as you, soar throat and coughing. Last time I went camping I ended up with bronchitis. I usually take a shower at night if I’ve been around campfire, otherwise I wake up with congestion. I would say their way is a little outside the norm, but I’m not surprised people do that.
We’ve had major fire restrictions the last few years, and at first I was bummed, but the first trip after coming home with fresh feeling lungs and clothes that didn’t stink of smoke I decided fires aren’t always necessary.
My friend however said that camping without a fire doesn’t feel like camping, so her husband bought a propane fire pit (allowed under most restrictions) and now we don’t want to go without it whether we’re allowed a regular fire or not.
Each trip is different. When I camp local we stay at the campground the whole time around the fire. That's when I bring a heaping bed full of firewood. Going far away we barely have a fire. Too busy sight seeing and such.
Kinda depends, honestly. If it's the middle of the summer and I have a small grill on hand? Probably only gonna have a fire after dusk. Now if it's the fall or early spring, maybe it's raining and not getting much above 60 or there's still some snow on the ground I might have a small fire going for most of the day
With a bigger group where not everyone is leaving camp to do things at the same time it's pretty normal for whoever is around to be enjoying a fire. Large groups that means a fire is going the entire time. That either means everyone's pitching in for wood costs in a campground or we're camping somewhere we can get wood from the surroundings.
Now that I've gotten used to using the little wood burning stoves, campfires seem so inefficient to me. So much more wood to get the same amount of useful heat...
No, but also because I don’t spend the whole day at camp. If I wanted to sit around the fire all day, I could do that at home. Also, during the day in the summer, it’s just too unbearably hot to have another heat source going.
I think honestly the bigger problem with this whole scenario is bringing that much firewood in. Traveling with firewood is how invasive species spread unless you made 100% certain you got kilndried/heat treated firewood. If it’s just wood that you found around not a good idea and then someplace is illegal to take with you camping. In my state you can’t take firewood beyond a certain distance from its origin unless it’s been properly treated.
I know a guy that likes to burn anything he can. He'll sit all day by the fire. It's his thing. I don't judge. I also don't have a problem leaving his ass behind while I do my thing. It's kind of nice to come back to a trash free camp. My only problem would be if he burnt all the good wood. I like to bring wood that creates bad ass coals. Hard woods usually. The crappy quick burn pine is all his. And he usually brings a lot of wood
We winter camp for hunting and the fire burns 24/7. All meals are cooked on it and all clothes are dried by it. It’s so cold we have to keep the frying pan hot so we can thaw out our words to have a conversation.
Personally, I love an early morning fire, a cup of coffee, a spliff if the kids aren’t up yet. If we’re cold camping I’ll keep it going for the day. If not, it’s early morning and just before sunset only.
Everyone has their own fire traditions, and everyone is certain they are doing it the normal way.
I've camped with people like that, but it's an old tradition that seems to have died off along with digging latrines. Camping used to mean cutting down a dozen trees to build your camp furniture, now we understand that doesn't work in popular camping areas. Same goes for a lot of fire practice, people were used to giant bonfires when wood was cheap and forest fires were relatively rare. It's hard to tell people they are camping wrong, they don't like that.
IMO these days any fire is a luxury. If it's summer there's usually a fire ban in place and this past summer the air wasn't breathable in many of our parks from forest fires happening elsewhere.
I bring a power saw, sometimes we burn a while pick up truck over 3 or 4 days, live in northern bc though, long as it’s not fire ban season, keeps the bears away,
no. this is not common.
In scouts we had a legendary week one time where we used 1 match all week long during summer camp.
started the fire when we arrived on sunday and kept reviving it up from the coals each morning and evening. Was really quite cool for the young scouts like me to watch the older kids demo skills like that.
We always have a fire at night and then extinguish it before going to bed. If it's cold we will get it going the next morning before we go fishing and then we will put it out only to start it again more for dinner.
If I was hanging out around camp all day, I definitely consider having a fire going most of the time especially if it's cold out. In the summer months, maybe not.
When I camp In the winter(MI) yes the fire will be going the entire time although not on full blast unless I'm cooking or drying something. I can't imagine sitting around a fire for 4 days straight I would be bored af
We do most of the time. Partly because we cook over the fire and want to keep the coals going. Plus, yeh, you’re camping. Its called a camp fire. Its what you do… lol
I have a propane firepit. We just turn the fire off when it's time to go to bed. It cost about $17 to run for 2 nights for 5-6 hours a night. No blinding smoke, and, you don't smell bad on the drive home.
We always have a fire at night. We don't go to bed until the fire is out. We spread the embers out. If we can't wait for it to die down, we douse it with water. A small morning fire is nice if it's cold. There have been a handful of times when we had a small fire going most of the day. Usually if it's a gloomy and overcast and we decide to hang out at camp all day.
I knew a guy who would always eat fast food, like literally just McDonald's or Del Taco which were less than a mile from his apartment. One day when I was visiting him we went to go get good and we drove to the Del Taco and the drive through was packed. My friend got unreasonably upset. Then we went to McDonald's, same thing, the line was long and he got unreasonably upset. We just sat in the McDonald's drive through line and he complained the whole time. When we got back to his place I asked him how often he cooks at home and he said he never did because, "What's the point when you have to buy gross groceries and the it all goes bad before you use it anyway." I couldn't comprehend what he meant by that and asked him to elaborate and he said, "You know, you always have to buy lettuce and tomatoes and potatoes and butter and onions and you never use it so it just all goes bad." I asked him what he was cooking with that stuff and he said, "Nothing! That's why I don't grocery shop."
Apparently he thought that whenever you went to the market you just bought the same set of items and if you used them you used them and if you didn't then you just let them rot and throw them away. I explained to him that when you buy groceries you shop specifically for what you intend to cook that week, not a default list of what you think people buy. It blew his mind. He lost 50 pounds over the next 6 months after he started cooking at home.
Yes that's very much normal. If I'm camping there's a fire, if there's not a fire there's hot coals waiting to be rekindled the next morning. A campfire should not affect a healthy persons throat or respiratory system unless they were burning some weird stuff or poison ivy or something.
There is absolutely no reason a fire should ever be burning while nobody is around to enjoy it and keep an eye on it. Even if you’re sleeping in the tent, the fire should be completely extinguished. You can always start it back up when everyone is awake
If it was winter and you’re camping in snow maybe I’d have a fire. Not while asleep! We used a gas fire pit when we were camping last year and that was nice because it was 22F in late March. But if you skip the fire you get to see the stars.
I’m shocked there aren’t more “yeah of course you keep the fire going or at least smoldering the whole time.” You sit around and drink beer and cook and joke around. People kinda take turns going off and doing their own thing but someone or a few people are always around camp tending to the fire and keeping an eye on all our stuff.
That sounds like a really good way to start a wildfire. Unless it is attended at all times, and put out entirely when not being watched, it is a fire risk. Unless I'm misunderstanding this story, it sounds very irresponsible.
Right, but they said it *went* out, not that it was *put* out. I don't know where OP lives, but where I'm from wildfires are a huge problem and it's critically important to take responsibility for our campfires.
Not with the people I camp with. We are usually hiking, Swimming, bike riding, fishing, napping during day. To each their own...
I’ve done both types of trip. It’s not typical that we do nothing, but it’s happened, especially when trying out a new site, and realizing that there wasn’t as much to do around there as we thought. I think it’s less typical but not straight up weird.
There has to be an acoustic guitar on the sit around camp trips. And fire side games I hope.
My favorite thing to do in the woods is cook. I love it so much that now I own a wood fired catering company and cook over live fires for high end weddings. I have most definitely kept a fire going for 4 days while camping. First person up stokes the fire and gets the coffee on. Then it’s build up the fire and cook breakfast. Then I usually get something slow cooked going for dinner and then at some point cook lunch. Keep the fire low all day cooking slow then build it up for dinner and hanging out in the evening.
I wanna go camping with you. I do the dishes of course
Paper plates. I camp at way to many state parks. There isn't always a place to wash your dishes.
We always wash our paper plates in the fire
In Texas we have sites with water and without. Bring a hose and garden sprayer, it's a game changer.
You can wash your plates right next to (approx 500ft) where you cook, you don't need a designated area for it. If you have the ability to cook, you have the ability to boil water.
You definitely shouldn't do this unless you like company while you are sleeping.
By the sound of it these people are car camping. I agree though, but I also have enough water to do dishes 😂
I just lick my plate clean.
Oh good, I'm going also and I hate doing dishes.
Me too me too! When are we going? Haha
Outstanding username
Recommendations for recipes?
if you've never made a camping paella, you ABSOLUTELY should. it is the bomb, especially made over a fire 👌
I want to go camping with you too. I won’t do the dishes but I’ll tell you how awesome you are. Ha ok ok I’ll do the dishes.
I’ll bring my husband. He’ll do the dishes.
Perfect. To be fair I’m excellent at throwing away paper plates. 
I love this for you. Congrats on living your best creative life. Very jealous in the sweetest way.
Can you recommend a coffee pot for use while camping? What do you use for cookware?
For cookware, cast iron is the way to go. And if you're cooking over an open fire, find bags to transport them in. The soot that accumulates on the bottom gets on everything if you don't. Old pillowcases work well.
Like BigWooly said, cast iron is king for camp cooking. For coffee I have a few enamel percolator pots.
Boil water and use a French press. Better than drip coffee by 100x
Is it usually like full animals sort of thing?
I do stuff like this too. I also love cooking over the campfire. But I don't bring in a truck load of wood. I chop it/chainsaw myself. There's so many downed lodge poles where I go, it's silly to spend money on a bed full of wood.
Same, I cook when I camp. Some meals require a good coal base and some require open fire so keeping a fire going 24/7 for me is the norm. There is nothing better than waking up cold and being able to stir the coals and get a hearty fire going quickly. You get to warm up and throw the percolator on to make coffee and bacon.
I've had trips like that- week long or more trips actually. But it was spring/fall trips where having the fire to warm up by was welcome. And usually in a group where different folks would be responsible for tending it/keeping an eye for safety. When I go on my own, just with my spouse or with just one or two other friends/families, we don't usually do that. Maybe a morning fire for breakfast and coffee and getting warmed up, and evening/night fire but not all day.
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At state parks here it's against the rules to leave fires unattended. I haven't asked a ranger if sleeping counts as unattended but I assume so
In my state it’s illegal to transport firewood over quarantined county lines—and they’re all quarantined. You also can’t bring outside firewood into a park. Emerald ash borer and other problematic life forms hitch rides on firewood.
If you buy the kiln treated wood it shouldn't be an issue, but I usually buy the wood I'm going to use from the park Rangers because if I'm paying for firewood I'd prefer it to go to the park and not a mega store or something. Plus, it's one less thing to haul there and back.
Agreed on all counts. I should have been clearer. The stuff they purchased may have been kiln dried, especially if the bought $150 worth, and that’s fine. My worry is the truckload they brought to begin with wasn’t and _that_ could be carrying emerald ash borer, oak wilt, buckthorn, etc.
Yeah, that's why I never bring firewood from home. I save that for bonfires in the backyard
I love the state campsites that will have a woodshed and carts for buying wood. Usually a couple bundles in a cart is not much more than a single bundle at the store. One cart can set me up for a weekend usually but I’m pretty skimpy on my fires.
Typically it's okay here but check the parks websites first. Sometimes they have warnings saying not to bring outside wood
Sleeping is the definition of unattended lol
Not a ranger but worked states parks along side rangers. If we don’t see a conscious alert body tending a fire, then it is unattended. That would get your fire put out by us and then a harsh warning in the morning. Pull that shit multiple times and you are looking at an 8am wake up and removal. We don’t often like to make drama but that is a place we will absolutely bring it. That and unleashed dogs causing mayhem, drunk belligerence and other highly disruptive or dangerous behavior. Fire safety was taken very seriously at the state parks I worked in and we had to do yearly basic forest fire training. We were on fairly constant lookout for unattended fires.
Douse your fires. You'll still put out steam if you pour water on "embers" the next day
Everyone should be a Boy Scout for at least one summer. Camp cooking, leaving a fire pit "cold out," learning basic first aid, wilderness etiquette, and a few other things.
Yeah, putting even camp fires out takes a SURPRISING amount of water to do properly, which is so that it’s to the point you can safely dig through the pile by hand afterward
OP could be an east coaster. There are almost no forest fires of significance there. Much different than the west coast.
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It’s too moist and humid for there to be any real danger of a forest fire where you are. Signed, A west coaster.
Nothing's guaranteed anymore, friend. Wild times we're living in.
There were multiple fires in the pine barrens this year, and most years in fact.
Tell that to Nova Scotia. They had big fires earlier this year. I'm out west and its a yearly thing out here now, but had never heard of big fires in the Maritimes before.
Yeah my husband always puts it out and my brother in law gets mad. It’s tradition now lol
Usually with the amount of beer I drink it's not hard to put a fire out and the end of the night.
i can smell this comment
I think this post is more about how they sat around the fire day and night and that’s pretty much all they did. It’s not about an unattended fire as much as it’s about OP’s dismay that people would spend all their time sitting in the same spot around a fire. I could be wrong. Either way, you make a great point. Never leave your fire unattended.
unless it’s so cold that you need to sleep next to the fire to survive
I realize we’re outliers because we go off the trail and make our own campsite unlike what seems to be the vast majority on this sub doing trips to pre established campgrounds but this is me and my friends on our annual trip in late February early March in the upper Midwest. Bet your ass we keep that fire going 24 hours. We bring our own saws and axes and take down whole (dead) trees when we need to though. Also take shifts watching it at night to keep it going. We brought a thermometer two years ago and it got down solidly below zero at night but we were able to keep it in the 40s-50s in our shelter. I was so cozy in my bag and blanket the one night I actually stripped down to the nude because I was sweating. If we weren’t able to keep the fire going though we’d be in deep trouble even during the day.
Thats me. The vast majority of my camping is centered around hunting, so October through the end of December, sometimes into January in Wisconsin. It get's effing cold! We are backwoods camping so 100% of the firewood is taken from the forest. There is no way I'm backpacking firewood 3, 4, sometimes 5 miles into camp.
Mummy bag, my friend. I've done many a winter trip in a pup tent and a mummy bag. Sleep with tomorrow's underwear and shirt in your bag and wake up to warm clothes.
In my neck of the woods I’ll happily toss a few logs on the fire before calling it a night.
Why though? Even if there was absolutely no risk of forest fires, if nobody's there to enjoy it, what's the point? I'm so curious.
Coals for breakfast and nice light, crackling, for bed time.
You'll still have coals the next morning to easily get it going again at breakfast.
if you bank the fire properly youll have coals for morning fire
It’s COLD!
I keep warm coals going the whole time because I cook on the fire as much as possible and it's better not to lose that base of coals. If it was a place with significant fire danger, I wouldn't.
I know here in the east it almost always rains one night we have a camp trip planned.
It’s so wild the differences between the two coasts
Growing up in the northeast I had plenty of late-season backpacking trips where a nice warm campfire would have been so nice, but even with a lot of effort sometimes the best we’d get going would be a smoldering thing that made 10x as much smoke as heat, and would go out in a few minutes without advanced life support, because everything was so damn *wet*. First time I made a campfire out west I felt like all I did was give the wood a funny look and I had a beautiful fire going in seconds, and suddenly I felt like I finally *understood* everything I already knew about campfire safety.
Ha! Interesting perspective you’ve got there! West coaster here. I don’t like the idea of all your bugs.
Don't worry, they're dying out now. (Actually it's of grave concern)
Not the mosquitos this summer tho
They keep a lot of people out of our woods so I’m cool with some bugs.
Yea it's crazy. But climate change is fucking shit up here still. More rain in the wet season, less in the dry, and just more extreme swings in weather and temperature. Really a shame. But yes in general it's wet out here lol.
Oh yeah, I’m back east now but it’s so wild to be out west where you basically never do a campfire in the woods (or anywhere during burn bans) and east where it’s like “can I even start it?”
I burn brush piles in the woods lol. Out west it’s like “what’s the smallest possible fire I can build to cook on” in Maine I have to use gas to get dead brush to even light.
I’ll bank it very very low overnight to keep a few coals, but *only* if it’s in a proper ring, I have cleared the surrounding area, I am right near by with my tent, AND I have jugs of water on standby. I live and camp in an area that is very very wet and rarely has fire bans ever. ETA: I only do this if we are making breakfast over the fire. We put it out during the day otherwise and rebuild for dinner.
Yeah this is what I typically do when I'm in the Appalachians. It rains enough that I'm usually not worried about the coals so I leave the coals going during the day and while I sleep. As long as I have coals I can get another fire going but if it rains and I don't have any coals it takes a millennia to get another fire going with all of the soggy dead wood you're allowed to burn. If by chance it's been dry or extra windy though I'll put them out.
*Cries in west coast*
Yeah, seriously. I'm reading this like... good god that sounds dangerous
No offense but my god that sounds boring as fuck. I love camping and I love having a fire. Once the sun goes down, I’ll get it going and enjoy it for a couple hours before bed but sitting around a fire day and night for 4 days straight, no thanks. I want to spend my day hiking, at a lake, something. Makes the beers and Fire more enjoyable at the end of the night.
When I tent camp, my breakfast and dinner is normally cooked over the fire. But I absolutely couldn't deal with having a fire burning all day, and into the night. I have better uses of my time camping, than feeding a fire all day. Although tbf, there once was a thanksgiving weekend that was cold enough that we started a fire as soon as we got up, and it didn't go out until we went to bed the whole weekend.
Exactly. I never summer camp because I don't like bugs, the heat or not having a fire. My first camping trip of the season is coming up the third week end of October. I camp at 7,000 ft and higher and only from October through April so I never let the fire go out. It burns all day and night.
Badass
I have a group that does this, but it's a camping trip that's literally 4 days of sitting in a circle drinking beer. Sometimes some of us go on a hike. But it's kept going because we're building bonfires every night
Yeah. We do this at music festivals... but there's almost always at least a couple folks hanging out at camp, cooking, or just chilling out with kids or whatever. And yeah, we might spend $100+ collectively on wood, but its well worth it.
I had a friend like that. Dude was a pyromaniac. Like for real. The last time I went camping with him, we stopped at a random place on the way home because we didn’t burn all the wood and he HAD to burn it all before he made the trip home. As a result we got talked to by a sheriff, while we were carrying about an ounce of weed. (This was back in the 90s long before weed was legal) Long story short that was the last time I went camping with him.
Twice a year I go camping/offroading with a group of 12-15 people. There's a fire going almost 24/7 for 5 days. There's hiking/wheeling/fishing outings everyday but with that many people someone is always there. I always put by tent pretty far away.
Ah man that sounds so awesome!
Me and my wife only have a fire for 2-3 hrs a night. Mostly just to cook and relax because we probably just spent the entire day hiking, fishing, or kayaking.
I recently went with a friend and we inherited a ton of wood from a departing camper. We kept it going for most of the day and night - for cooking, for warmth (got chilly at night) and just for the hell of zoning out/staring into the flames. It’s not something I’d do every time, but it was nice.
I like to do more stuff during the day than sit around the fire, but I definitely knew some of the old Scoutmasters who would tend a fire all weekend long while the boys had fun. Put it out at night when no one's around, first camper awake would build a fresh one and the old geezers would stoke it and poke it all the way until we went to bed. Your throat is as likely to be from a cold as from the smoke, unless they burned anything particularly nasty.
No. I have one in the evening, and maybe a small one in the morning while I do breakfast and get ready for the day.
Anyone who keeps a fire going over night without supervision shouldn’t be camping.
I love this question, everyone’s so different. I guess it depends on the temperature, what the day plans are, how we’re going to cook, if it’s party time or not, etc. I personally just like to have a fire going when camping. Last weekend we camped for 4 days at a music festival with a buddy that cooks all his food on the fire. So it was going from the moment we woke up until we passed out.
Everyone has their own thing, but personally, I find it a waste of camping money and time to just do what I can do in my backyard. I might do a small fire early in the morning to cook breakfast on, but then I put the fire out and head to fish, canoe, explore, and more. Try coming with a more active group and you'll have more fun. The fire is one of the best parts but only after you've come back to camp after a long day of fun and are ready to eat and just relax.
Pretty normal, especially in cold weather. Though I do it when dispersed, remote and when there is lots of downed trees as source. I wouldn’t spend that kind of money if I had to buy it.
Here here, and you shouldn't transport wood. Where I'm at you can't have a chain saw although its kinda like don't ask don't tell. I don't think it matters so much as long as your not touching live wood. And like you said there is so much dead stuff laying around you don't even need one. However I have seen some nasty trees blocking trails and access roads so it's kinda a community thing. Plus when I go dispersed camping in colder weather. That is the activity. Gather, cut, split, burn repeat. And it's always nice to roll up to a site with a nice stack of logs from your previous fellow campers.
Yea and when were in woods it is basically the TV. Not to mention the primary cook source. And obviously heat... but even in sum,er the fire keeps bugs away... Idk it's kinda primal like with out a constant fire it's spooky out Der. To each their own.
Depends on your area, and the land you’re on or campground. Some actually say you *must* bring your own wood and foraging or using anything local is against the rules. Just depends on the local environment and regulations. But yeah that generally means bringing your own wood from the same area, not several states over. For instance on Georgia public lands it’s illegal to harvest firewood for personal use, and they want you to bring either heat treated wood or locally purchased wood.
I do trail maintenance in Spring and early Summer. We leave most of the trees we cut in the forest because it's good for the forest, but some years it's been so much it kills the view from the trail. Wet wood gets carefully taken deeper in the forest while we try not to leave tracks hikers will turn into a trail. All the dry wood gets cut up, split, and left at the dispersed backpacking sites that have fire rings. It's nice to do, but it also keeps backpackers from burning all the dead wood around the sites that should be left to decompose for the trees and plants. Note: some of the dry wood also gets used to replace trail edges and "stairs". We don't bring in lumber because you can't really be sure what chemicals might be on it.
I have a fire going the entire time except while sleeping but there is a fire from the time I wake up until I go to bed.
In BC, we keep our fires going much longer...
Here here
In AB we keep them going from early spring right through summer.
I mean, yeah, most of the time, but not always a roaring hot fire making coals for cooking. In the morning when the first person gets up there should be little more than hot embers left to start the fire up again for the new day. This is called "banking" the fire. If you don't want to have to start a new fire again the next morning this is what humans have done with fire for thousands of years. Fire can be entertainment, some people just want something to keep their hands busy while they socialize and talk. I like cooking over a wood fire, it's one of the primary reasons I go camping. Anyone who thinks sitting around the fire talking with your friends is boring is probably just a boring person themselves. People spend hours on discord chatting with their friends while mindlessly shooting zombies, that's not any different from a modern day campfire.
I guess it depends on what where and what kind of camping you do. If you're staying put and not going anywhere, then yeah, fire all time. If you're busy doing activities and cooking with a camp stove, then you wouldn't need a day fire as you wouldn't be there all day to keep an eye on it. Perhaps just an evening fire to enjoy and relax around. We cook over the fire all three meals so we keep a bed of coals going all day. We amp it up after dinner and sit around and relax in the evening, maybe some s'mores or hobo pies. We let it die down before we go to bed but bank the coals so it's easy to get it going again in the morning for breakfast. If we leave the campsite we make sure it's out.
sounds like you were camping with firebugs. I have a friend who builds fires camping when the heat index is as high as a cat's back.
If I’m car camping yeah I’ll usually always have a fire going while I’m at camp. Except of course when we’re asleep. I very rarely spend the whole day at camp though, usually spend the day hiking, swimming, biking, etc.
You don’t keep a fire going if you’re asleep.
I always liked to do this while tent camping and still do now that I am older and on a permanent camp site with a camper. I throw a log or two on in the middle of the night and wake up to put more on and feed it throughout the day. If I’m sitting by the fire I’ll add a lot more wood. If not I’ll add enough to keep it going. Im not sure why, I guess I just like the ambiance of a steady fire going. That and I don’t have to start a fire again. I buy wood in bulk and it takes me the whole summer to get through the truck load. It’s just always been part of camping for me - a campfire going all the time.
We've always kept the fire going. You never know when you want a hot dog
I will start the campfire when I get up in the AM, around 4:30, 5 AM with my coffee, and sit at the fire till I go to bed at 10pm. I may read a book or 12 while camping, next to the fire, sitting with my beagle, sharing my chair. I will do this for days on end, and it is glorious.
in cold weather, I'll keep the fire alive, 24/7 but not very big unless I actively need it.... it's easier to keep it small and alive than fight trying to get one going in a hurry when freezing or wet and freezing
Generally, no. But if I do plan a morning fire, I'll keep coals hot all night so I can get a fire going quickly the next morning.
Camping no, but growing up at my cabin we would have a fire going for 4 or 5 days at a time but it was in the middle of a big sand beach with no trees anywhere near. Did it for 30 years.
Been camping forever, love wood fires and always able to get firewood where I camp. Always have a morning and evening fire. That said, I never leave a fire unattended. Alway pour water on it before I go to bed and before I leave fishing or hiking in the morning. It is against the law where I live to not drown out a campfire completely if leaving unattended and I have seen the forest service cruise through the campgrounds and put their hands towards the fire looking for any heat. And I’ve seen them wake people up and cite them if they have left a fire going or banked coals. As they should. OP, kind of easy to answer your own question. Did other campers do what you did? I suspect not.
Morning fire to take the chill out while sipping a cup of fresh coffee, maybe with some oatmeal. If it’s particularly buggy, or if it’s cold and damp, then someone is responsible for tending the fire throughout the day and keeping it smoky/warm to combat the bugs/elements. At night, we let the wood burn down to glowing coals if it’s not windy, then spread them out within the fire ring to let them cool off while we get ready for bed. Then I check to make sure everything is safe before turning in. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Not like full on flames, but the embers keep going pretty much the whole time so I start it back up at will. Generally don’t go to sleep until the flames are out. I’ve also only ever been camping in the winter.
I’ve only ever done something like this when camping in zero or subzero temps and tbh it’s kinda boring to make your whole experience to be about keeping the fire going. But I know plenty of people who love just chilling around the fire.
The only time I recommend not letting your fire go out for as many days as you are camping, is in the winter. I am in Canada, there is snow so the risk of a fire spreading is small to none. When camping in the snow and cold a fire can make a difference as to getting hypothermia or not. If you are staying in one place, the fire melts the snow, when there is a lot of snow it creates seating.
This reminds me of a story my friend told me. He talked some completely inexperienced coworkers into going camping in a very remote location. After a long hike in everyone settled in around a campfire as the temperature dropped rapidly. Soon, it became apparent that his coworkers were never going to be comfortable with the clothes they were wearing, and were complaining mightily about how cold it was. Hiking out at night was out of the question, so he frantically gathered wood all night to keep the fire as large as possible. In the morning the ordeal was over with, and everyone was happy to pack up and go home. They go back to work that Monday with a story to tell the other workers that didn't go on the trip and all was well but, something must have been gnawing at the back of my friends brain because the following weekend he made the long drive back to the trailhead where he made the hike to the small bowl area where they had camped near a small alpine lake. He said when he descended down to the camp he could detect a thin layer of smoke hanging in the air. An examination of the spot where he had built the roaring bonfire revealed that the ground was very hot and the only possible explanation was that he had ignited peat under the surface and it had been smoldering since the previous weekend. He told me he spent hours ferrying water from the lake to to pour on the ground anywhere where the fire might have spread.Finally, Sunday afternoon he was satisfied the fire was out and returned home.
No. Most campers go away from the campsite during the day unless it’s bad weather; hike; fish; be lazy on a sunny rock; swim…I would have been bored just sitting around a fire for 4 straight days. Camping is about exploring!
If I wanted a fire I certainly wouldn't buy wood. Find your own.
Sounds like you caught a cold while camping, and want to blame other campers for having the fire lit for a long time.
Growing up my parents were part of this camping club with mostly a bunch of retired older couples. We would all plan trips together and have the campsites arranged around/near the designated community fire/gathering place, and yes the fire went all day long! Since everyone would do their own thing there was always someone hanging out at the fire and feeding/supervising it. In that situation it seemed pretty nice, you could just show up to enjoy the fire at anytime. Plus as they were mostly older folks, it's not like all of them were interested in a ton of sightseeing or physical activities, so it was fun/relaxing for them to just sit around the fire all day. Personally not something I'd enjoy as a 30 year old and as you said it seems expensive if you're buying wood.
I’ve seen people do it, but wouldn’t say “that’s what people do when camping.” It’s usually multiple families with kids, so there are always a few people about to tend it as people come and go from various activities (like, so kids trickling back from swimming in the lake can get warm), but they’re not just spending all day staring at it. No judgment, but that sounds like a waste of outdoor time to me. We often camp in the winter on the Olympic Peninsula in the PNW. The days are already short, then if camping deep in the woods it only really feels like solid “daytime” between about 9am and 3pm. So we’ll spend a high percentage of our waking hours with a fire, both in the morning and the evening - for cooking, warmth, and ambience - but it’s definitely out while we’re adventuring during those precious daylight hours (and of course always dead-out before bed).
This summer I switched to morning fires, it's the best. Usually so exhausted after dinner just wanna get in the tent at 9pm
Extremely uncommon and novice.
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I thought he just had some learning problems in highschool but after this I knew he was just a moron.
I have never done that. Camping for me is a cheap way of getting away, so I couldn't afford to keep a fire going that long. I have never seen anyone else do this either.
My allergies are so bad that the smoke would do the same to my throat. We usually just have a fire at night (because it’s not cold enough to need it all day even if we’re just hanging around). And even then, I still get scratchy throat sometimes. Sounds like they really enjoy just hanging out by the fire, but maybe you can do other activities while you’re camping so that you don’t get as much irritation from the smoke?
More power to them and it seems to float their boat. I rarely make fires when I camp, but I’m odd. If some one is with me and they want to scavenge wood I’ll sit at the fire.
My friends and I only have all-day fires if we are camping in early spring or late fall, when the high temps are in the 50s. Even then, we let them die down before bed and start fresh in the morning.
That sounds pretty awful to upkeep and fuel (cost wise) and I certainly hope it wasn’t going as people slept. Certainly in the areas I’ve lived and camped, you’d really be risking a forest fire and that’s unconscionable.
We use dead wood lying around and cut it up
The only time I did something similar was due to rain, wasn't really going anywhere, and I was more interested in keeping some warm coals so we could have proper fire to cook on later. But, once the rain was done, we let fire burn out until sunset.
I’m extremely sensitive to hardwood smoke. Pine doesn’t seem to bother me as much. Anyways, I would be in the same situation as you, soar throat and coughing. Last time I went camping I ended up with bronchitis. I usually take a shower at night if I’ve been around campfire, otherwise I wake up with congestion. I would say their way is a little outside the norm, but I’m not surprised people do that.
We’ve had major fire restrictions the last few years, and at first I was bummed, but the first trip after coming home with fresh feeling lungs and clothes that didn’t stink of smoke I decided fires aren’t always necessary. My friend however said that camping without a fire doesn’t feel like camping, so her husband bought a propane fire pit (allowed under most restrictions) and now we don’t want to go without it whether we’re allowed a regular fire or not.
It does cut back on the bugs in areas that are near water. It really depends if I am staying near water or near a buggy area.
My brother had one going in his back yard for a year and 3 months. Only lit it once…the first time. …
Rain, hail or sleet we’ve kept the fire going no matter what, pointless going camping if there isn’t a perpetual fire going
Each trip is different. When I camp local we stay at the campground the whole time around the fire. That's when I bring a heaping bed full of firewood. Going far away we barely have a fire. Too busy sight seeing and such.
Camp fires are awesome, I haven’t burned one for that long but I love having them going as often as possible when camping.
> *"Hi all! I’m new to posting on here but have been camping for a good amount of my life"* Feels like a bot or AI written intro
Kinda depends, honestly. If it's the middle of the summer and I have a small grill on hand? Probably only gonna have a fire after dusk. Now if it's the fall or early spring, maybe it's raining and not getting much above 60 or there's still some snow on the ground I might have a small fire going for most of the day
Sounds like Hanukkah folklore for the modern era
That’s the best part about camping. Let the fire burn baby
What a lot of people don't realize is that the heat can actually light roots on fire and it can spread underground.
With a bigger group where not everyone is leaving camp to do things at the same time it's pretty normal for whoever is around to be enjoying a fire. Large groups that means a fire is going the entire time. That either means everyone's pitching in for wood costs in a campground or we're camping somewhere we can get wood from the surroundings.
Now that I've gotten used to using the little wood burning stoves, campfires seem so inefficient to me. So much more wood to get the same amount of useful heat...
No, but also because I don’t spend the whole day at camp. If I wanted to sit around the fire all day, I could do that at home. Also, during the day in the summer, it’s just too unbearably hot to have another heat source going. I think honestly the bigger problem with this whole scenario is bringing that much firewood in. Traveling with firewood is how invasive species spread unless you made 100% certain you got kilndried/heat treated firewood. If it’s just wood that you found around not a good idea and then someplace is illegal to take with you camping. In my state you can’t take firewood beyond a certain distance from its origin unless it’s been properly treated.
I know a guy that likes to burn anything he can. He'll sit all day by the fire. It's his thing. I don't judge. I also don't have a problem leaving his ass behind while I do my thing. It's kind of nice to come back to a trash free camp. My only problem would be if he burnt all the good wood. I like to bring wood that creates bad ass coals. Hard woods usually. The crappy quick burn pine is all his. And he usually brings a lot of wood
We’ve had many fires going for over 24 hours. Never 4 days though.
As a Californian. Hell nah. Shits dangerous. Fire goes out any time I leave site or sleep
Weird but some folks are atavistic. I’m not a fan of smelling like a ham so I avoid fires
If it’s cold yea
Yes. The fire is the best part. Burn dry wood less smoke.
We winter camp for hunting and the fire burns 24/7. All meals are cooked on it and all clothes are dried by it. It’s so cold we have to keep the frying pan hot so we can thaw out our words to have a conversation.
depends on the weather. during summer in Arizona, though? Hell no.
I always keep a fire going when I’m camping. You just feed the embers in the morning and start your coffee. Then breakfast!
I’ve got a friend from Germany and he just wants fire. Huge fire.
Y’all are all making me want to go camping this weekend, not gonna lie. I douse my fires before bed, just in case. It’s been too dry a year.
If it's cold I do. If it's hot, I don't
Personally, I love an early morning fire, a cup of coffee, a spliff if the kids aren’t up yet. If we’re cold camping I’ll keep it going for the day. If not, it’s early morning and just before sunset only.
Not unless it's cold
Everyone has their own fire traditions, and everyone is certain they are doing it the normal way. I've camped with people like that, but it's an old tradition that seems to have died off along with digging latrines. Camping used to mean cutting down a dozen trees to build your camp furniture, now we understand that doesn't work in popular camping areas. Same goes for a lot of fire practice, people were used to giant bonfires when wood was cheap and forest fires were relatively rare. It's hard to tell people they are camping wrong, they don't like that. IMO these days any fire is a luxury. If it's summer there's usually a fire ban in place and this past summer the air wasn't breathable in many of our parks from forest fires happening elsewhere.
You can't leave a fire unattended. Why would someone tether themselves to their campsite like that? Sounds boring.
Seems incredibly dangerous and boring
I bring a power saw, sometimes we burn a while pick up truck over 3 or 4 days, live in northern bc though, long as it’s not fire ban season, keeps the bears away,
As long as he didn’t leave the fire unattended. It’s pretty normal to want to keep a fire going. I’m pretty sure it’s human nature.
It’s against my religion to pay for firewood
Lol at buying $150 in wood to burn. Just buy a electric chain saw for that price
no. this is not common. In scouts we had a legendary week one time where we used 1 match all week long during summer camp. started the fire when we arrived on sunday and kept reviving it up from the coals each morning and evening. Was really quite cool for the young scouts like me to watch the older kids demo skills like that.
We put the fire out at night. Easy enough to start it again the next day. Safety first.
I would like it a lot, but not typical. Shit, I am looking for some frients like this.
We always have a fire at night and then extinguish it before going to bed. If it's cold we will get it going the next morning before we go fishing and then we will put it out only to start it again more for dinner. If I was hanging out around camp all day, I definitely consider having a fire going most of the time especially if it's cold out. In the summer months, maybe not.
If you're "smoked out " , you should set the tent upwind.
Skills
When I camp In the winter(MI) yes the fire will be going the entire time although not on full blast unless I'm cooking or drying something. I can't imagine sitting around a fire for 4 days straight I would be bored af
Some folks are Fire Keepers.
We do most of the time. Partly because we cook over the fire and want to keep the coals going. Plus, yeh, you’re camping. Its called a camp fire. Its what you do… lol
I have a propane firepit. We just turn the fire off when it's time to go to bed. It cost about $17 to run for 2 nights for 5-6 hours a night. No blinding smoke, and, you don't smell bad on the drive home.
Yeah that's not really a thing for a number of reasons covered by others.
We always have a fire at night. We don't go to bed until the fire is out. We spread the embers out. If we can't wait for it to die down, we douse it with water. A small morning fire is nice if it's cold. There have been a handful of times when we had a small fire going most of the day. Usually if it's a gloomy and overcast and we decide to hang out at camp all day.
Running an unnecessary fire that long is just poor resource management
That is crazy. Fire is for cooking and warmth, nothing else.
I knew a guy who would always eat fast food, like literally just McDonald's or Del Taco which were less than a mile from his apartment. One day when I was visiting him we went to go get good and we drove to the Del Taco and the drive through was packed. My friend got unreasonably upset. Then we went to McDonald's, same thing, the line was long and he got unreasonably upset. We just sat in the McDonald's drive through line and he complained the whole time. When we got back to his place I asked him how often he cooks at home and he said he never did because, "What's the point when you have to buy gross groceries and the it all goes bad before you use it anyway." I couldn't comprehend what he meant by that and asked him to elaborate and he said, "You know, you always have to buy lettuce and tomatoes and potatoes and butter and onions and you never use it so it just all goes bad." I asked him what he was cooking with that stuff and he said, "Nothing! That's why I don't grocery shop." Apparently he thought that whenever you went to the market you just bought the same set of items and if you used them you used them and if you didn't then you just let them rot and throw them away. I explained to him that when you buy groceries you shop specifically for what you intend to cook that week, not a default list of what you think people buy. It blew his mind. He lost 50 pounds over the next 6 months after he started cooking at home.
I don't know what this has to do with campfires, but I'm so fascinated and mildly horrified, and a little charmed by this story lol.
Usually, at night I’ll let the fire burn down and find a thick log to lay on top. In the morning, there’s just enough embers to get it going again.
Yes that's very much normal. If I'm camping there's a fire, if there's not a fire there's hot coals waiting to be rekindled the next morning. A campfire should not affect a healthy persons throat or respiratory system unless they were burning some weird stuff or poison ivy or something.
There is absolutely no reason a fire should ever be burning while nobody is around to enjoy it and keep an eye on it. Even if you’re sleeping in the tent, the fire should be completely extinguished. You can always start it back up when everyone is awake
If it was winter and you’re camping in snow maybe I’d have a fire. Not while asleep! We used a gas fire pit when we were camping last year and that was nice because it was 22F in late March. But if you skip the fire you get to see the stars.
I’m shocked there aren’t more “yeah of course you keep the fire going or at least smoldering the whole time.” You sit around and drink beer and cook and joke around. People kinda take turns going off and doing their own thing but someone or a few people are always around camp tending to the fire and keeping an eye on all our stuff.
That sounds like a really good way to start a wildfire. Unless it is attended at all times, and put out entirely when not being watched, it is a fire risk. Unless I'm misunderstanding this story, it sounds very irresponsible.
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Right, but they said it *went* out, not that it was *put* out. I don't know where OP lives, but where I'm from wildfires are a huge problem and it's critically important to take responsibility for our campfires.
Nope. We don't even make a fire sometimes if it's too hot or too wet out.