Burn it where you buy it. That's what the signs say and I don't mind doing so if I can actually BURN it. Apparently my husband and I were spoiled with the first two campgrounds we ever tried. The first had bags of kiln dry wood that made a wonderful, easy fire. The second campground stored their wood in a small lean-to shed which kept it dry and again, the wood was easy to light and made a clean fire. After that it went downhill from there. Every campground we have been to since then have had horribly wet wood! At three of the campgrounds, we didn't make a fire, we were making smoke signals since there really wasn't a flame to be found in the ring, just smoldering wood. At the last campground we stayed we again had to deal with soggy wood. It never fails, just when we are about to turn in for the night, the fire decides to really burn and I feel terrible about putting out a fire that I tried to coax all night to burn. Of course everyone else's fire was smoldering as well and personally I'm surprised that the Pennsylvania Forest Rangers didn't think that there was a forest wildfire going on for all the smoke. The next night, the man next to me must have had it with his smoky fire and decided to soak his wood with lighter fluid. He had so much lighter fluid that you could actually hear the WHOOMP of the fire when it was lit. He yelped and jumped back and I could see that all the hair from his shins to his ankles were singed off. As the smell of burnt hair is wafting over to me, I'm thinking to myself, hmm
I hear you... They don't want you to transport wood ( this is a issue in the north east at least) because of the bug infestation issue, but a lot of the campgrounds sell green wood which in turn will causes problems with camping neighbors from all the smoke... go figure
QUOTE(mdcamping @ Sep 22 2009, 10:27 PM) [snapback]19140[/snapback] I hear you... They don't want you to transport wood ( this is a issue in the north east at least) because of the bug infestation issue, but a lot of the campgrounds sell green wood which in turn will causes problems with camping neighbors from all the smoke... go figure
you can try starting with a hot fire. use kindling and a lot. find dry twigs. put some rocks under the fire ring to get it off the ground a little bit. creates a chimminy effect, gets air to the bottom of the fire. don't load a lot of wood on to begin with. get a few going with the kindling. stack them like a cone or tee pee. when they catch good add some more wood around the tee pee. start wit smallest pieces first, they will dry out faster. water wet wood will dry pretty quickly. not so with green wood. i don't know if you already tried this method or not. just trying to help. hope i did. just read what mike said. you can use the supermarket wood to get it going then add some campground wood as you need to.
We also have found that it is very much hit or miss with buying firewood at the campstore. Not only wet or green wood, but a "bundle" may only be 4 or 5 logs. Two bundles minimum for a fire, 3 or 4 preferably. When we've asked about the amount of wood, the campstores have said that it is enough for an "evening" fire... not all night. Oh well.
I would suggest if you just want a campfire for the purpose of just relaxing around it and aren't planning on cooking or making s'mores or anything with it, you might want to take a long a few Duraflame logs. I always take a box of these with me in case we end up not being able to buy dry wood at the campground or nearby.
Well, it poured down rain at the last camp ground we stayed . . . so much for a fire. :unsure: I'm hoping for some sunny, B) dry weather the next time we go camping at the end of the month. Hopefully, I'll be able to try out some of the suggestions!
Crossing into Canada at Sault Ste. Marie, you are also not allowed to transfer wood across the border. Non native pests can reek havoc in areas with no natural predators. In my native state of Florida, we have been overrun with Brazilian pepper, water hysians, and the northern snowbird.
I burn wood at home for heat so I always have an abundance of logs dried and ready. I do mostly short trips (less than 100 miles) and tend to bring wood with me. I have not run into a campground yet that has had an issue with me bringing my own. 1 owner asked, and I told him the wood was actually in my house last winter. He didnt care that I brought my own. Every campground Ive seen charges $5.00 for a few logs. They either need to double the wood or cut the price. The only time I buy from the campground is when I am running low. By that time, I have a hot bed of embers so any wood will burn good. Some people do not like how I start my camp fire. Ive seen the people that try to get the little brush pile going and slowly make it larger. I've seen the people that douse the wood with lighter fluid and watch it go out in 2 minutes. I use a road flare. They burn at about 1000 degrees, and last for 20 minutes. They dry the wood quick and get the fire started and sustained. 1 person has complained about the smell of sulfer, but later asked if I had any extra flares so he can get his fire started too. I like them more than dura-logs cause flares are easier to store and easier to light.
QUOTE(meatwagon45 @ Oct 11 2009, 01:52 PM) [snapback]19490[/snapback] I burn wood at home for heat so I always have an abundance of logs dried and ready. I do mostly short trips (less than 100 miles) and tend to bring wood with me. I have not run into a campground yet that has had an issue with me bringing my own. 1 owner asked, and I told him the wood was actually in my house last winter. He didnt care that I brought my own. Every campground Ive seen charges $5.00 for a few logs. They either need to double the wood or cut the price. The only time I buy from the campground is when I am running low. By that time, I have a hot bed of embers so any wood will burn good. Some people do not like how I start my camp fire. Ive seen the people that try to get the little brush pile going and slowly make it larger. I've seen the people that douse the wood with lighter fluid and watch it go out in 2 minutes. I use a road flare. They burn at about 1000 degrees, and last for 20 minutes. They dry the wood quick and get the fire started and sustained. 1 person has complained about the smell of sulfer, but later asked if I had any extra flares so he can get his fire started too. I like them more than dura-logs cause flares are easier to store and easier to light. Well depending on where you live you may get by with bringing your own HOWEVER the emerald ash borer is and has infected alot of the state I live in (ILL) and last year it was in the extreme northern parts and now is only 40 miles away from where I live in the middle of the state. The campgrounds I go to all the time have said this summer that YES I could bring my own but I bet next year I won't be able too.....Just google emerald ash borer for the websites for your state. If you think you can bring your own do so but don't go crying when the confiscate your wood and fine you for transporting wood into these areas. I do know that ILL & MI are two states with the restrictions on bringing wood and I'm sure others can tell you about their states.
QUOTE(Meterman46 @ Oct 12 2009, 07:33 PM) [snapback]19499[/snapback] Well depending on where you live you may get by with bringing your own HOWEVER the emerald ash borer is and has infected alot of the state I live in (ILL) and last year it was in the extreme northern parts and now is only 40 miles away from where I live in the middle of the state. The campgrounds I go to all the time have said this summer that YES I could bring my own but I bet next year I won't be able too.....Just google emerald ash borer for the websites for your state. If you think you can bring your own do so but don't go crying when the confiscate your wood and fine you for transporting wood into these areas. I do know that ILL & MI are two states with the restrictions on bringing wood and I'm sure others can tell you about their states. Just about every state has a restriction on firewood. However it is dependent on which state. Here in KY, as long as the wood is native KY wood, we can use it at any KY campground. I have a ton of wood from the ice storm last winter, and it was nice and dry this summer. Good firewood is hard to find at some campgrounds, as I too have had the same problem with green wood purchased from a campground. We normally camp here in KY, so we dont have that problem too often. I have used charcoal to start a nice hot fire with green wood. Once you get a hot fire going, the green wood will burn, just not as easily as nice seasoned firewood.
I'm not going to argue about a campground confiscating outside wood, but when they do, what happens to it? Do they dump it in the woods where anything in the wood can spread to trees or do they bundle and resell it to get rid of it? Anyone know?
Rules restricting the importing of wood is about as effective as urinating on a forest fire. I worked for the USFS for the past two years. I just finished a trip thru seven heavily forested states where there was numerous evidence of tree infestation in each. It’s a known problem with the Forest Service, but they can’t get control of it because of the insane tree huggers who block efforts to cut diseased trees and spray chemical that would eliminate the bugs. I agree with BBear. A synthetic fire log is really the best and easiest method for creating a nice fire. It is easy to start and will burn completely with no smoldering ash that might create a hazard if left unattended. Respectfully, I have to take issue with DogDone on putting rocks in a fire ring. DON’T. Some poor camp host will have to do back breaking work removing them so that the next camper has a clean fire ring. It isn’t a pleasant task. My best solution to this problem is to burn tree huggers in your camp fire.
rlm, your kidding me right. the rocks are not in the fire ring they are put under the ring to get it off the ground about an inch or so to get a better draft. there are maybe only three of them .i doubt they weight more than 6 oz. that would be total.
QUOTE(dog bone @ Oct 15 2009, 06:39 PM) [snapback]19565[/snapback] rlm, your kidding me right. the rocks are not in the fire ring they are put under the ring to get it off the ground about an inch or so to get a better draft. there are maybe only three of them .i doubt they weight more than 6 oz. that would be total. I camphosted in a Natl Forest Campground and have worked at several private. When a fire ring was provided you would be surprised how many people put rocks and some LARGE rocks in the fire ring. Especially tent campers. Cleaning fire rings is bad enough but dealing with the rocks makes it worse.
QUOTE(dog bone @ Oct 15 2009, 09:39 PM) [snapback]19565[/snapback] rlm, your kidding me right. the rocks are not in the fire ring they are put under the ring to get it off the ground about an inch or so to get a better draft. there are maybe only three of them .i doubt they weight more than 6 oz. that would be total. Not to worry dog bone, I knew what you were trying to tell me when you suggested putting the rocks under the RING to create a chimney effect. I tried it and it worked like a charm. I didn't have to keep fanning the fire to give it oxygen. I did remove the rocks prior to leaving the camp site. It never occurred to me to put the rocks IN the fire . . . that wouldn't have made any sense. :blink:
