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Wood for Your Campfire
Posted On 2009-05-29 , 10:55 PM
Wood for Your Campfire
About this time every year I see the same thing. Kids are out of school, vacations coming, campers increase at the campground. They come unprepared. One of the worst things to not have enough of is water. Some campsites do not provide drinking water, you have to bring it yourself. If you are camping in the forest or on BLM land, you bring your own everything.
During the winter I see bundles of wood for sale at various places around town. Depending on where you live you may or may not see this too. A lot of beginner campers don't realize that many campgrounds forbid the gathering of wood for your campfire. Why? Because if campers continually take what there is, it will all be gone. I see many campers buying their wood from the camp director, or cutting wood down out in the forest without permits.
Here is What Works for Me
All year long, but especially in winter, I gather wood. I don't gather it from the forest or the desert. I gather it when a friend chops down their tree that they don't want. I gather it from discards at construction sites. If I see a really good price, I might buy a bundle or two, but only on sale. I ended up with three piles of wood in my yard. One is of large pieces from trees, one is planks, 2x4's, and other wood from construction, and one is smaller wood: kindling.
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Then in the spring and summer when I am ready to go camping, I just take some from my pile and take it with me. If I don't use it all, I bring what's left back. |
Firewood Cautions
A nice gentleman from my city sent me a letter because he was concerned about my pile of wood. As a pile of wood sits, it rots, in your back yard just like in the wild. This creates a haven for rodents and spiders, but not bears, oh my. It also can create a situation where you wood pile could catch fire. My friend from the city suggested that I create some kind of a box for my kindling, cover my wood pile with a tarp (slowing down the effects of the rain and sun), and make sure my wood pile is away from any weeds. Once I did these things, I found fewer bugs and mice when I went to the pile for my camping trips. I even went so far as to put some traps and some rodent poison. But that was only in the box, where I was sure kids would not get in.
If the only way to get your wood for your campfire is to buy it, go ahead. But as in almost everything I can think of, planning ahead makes it cheaper. Firewood from your local store in the winter will be less expensive from someone selling it in the summer at a campground.
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