[pct-l] HYOH- campfires

[Edward Anderson]

Hello Chuck,
 
Your picture of the fire that had crept out of it's ring brought back a memory of my, once, decades ago (in the late 50's), having come upon a similar situation. This fire was still burning beneath duff and pine needles. It had spread several feet outside the fire ring. It had been moving very slowly. There was no flame and little smoke. I think a hiker must have left his campsite, thinking the fire would just burn itself out, and not thinking that it was necessary to douse and stir. Perhaps a wind had come up later, restarted it, and blew sparks outward. As I remember, the ground cover had been pretty well removed for about two feet beyond the fire ring. I got water from a nearby creek and put it out thoroughly.Then I made my own fire in the same place. In those days I always cooked over a wood fire; although I did not use a fire ring. I would arrange rocks so as to have a slot about four to six inches wide and long enough for a couple of pots.The
 fire pit below the slot would be wider.
 
MendoRider-Hiker
 

________________________________
 From: CHUCK CHELIN <steeleye at wildblue.net>
To: pct-l at backcountry.net 
Sent: Saturday, February 11, 2012 12:06 PM
Subject: Re: [pct-l] HYOH- campfires
  
Good afternoon,


Here are two examples of poorly handled PCT fire pits:

http://www.trailjournals.com/photos.cfm?id=650508

This photo was taken in 2010.  The fire was next to Chips Creek about half
way out of the canyon north of Belden Town in the area that had been closed
due to the big ’08 wildland fire.  This fire had been abandoned, and
sometime later it crept out of its fire ring and burned the black area of
adjacent duff on the ground.  Fortunately it died before it could spread
further.

http://www.trailjournals.com/photos.cfm?id=650507

This fire pit was about a day north of Belden.  It had been abandoned,
untouched, and allowed to go out.  The ashes in the pit were totally
pristine and untouched even though it was also close to a creek.

These are certainly not good advertisements for PCT hikers.

Steel-Eye

-Hiking the Pct since before it was the PCT – 1965

http://www.trailjournals.com/steel-eye

http://www.trailjournals.com/SteelEye09/


On Sat, Feb 11, 2012 at 8:32 AM, Jeffrey Olson <jolson at olc.edu> wrote:

> I'll take it one step further.  Fires should not be built except in case
> of (extreme) emergency.  Would you grind a cigarette out on the carpet
> of your home?  For the time a hiker is on a long trail we are "home."
>
> I'm kind of amazed at the disdain many hikers treat the wilderness -
> catholes not dug deep enough, tampons and toilet paper on display, fire
> scars.
>
> It may be "legal" to have a fire, but I would hope each of us holds
> ourselves to a higher standard.
>
> Jeffrey Olson
> Martin, SD
>
> On 2/11/2012 8:44 AM, Palomino wrote:
> > I have no problem with anyone hiking the PCT with a lot of gear or a
> > little gear or superfast or superslow or something in between. I DO
> > have a problem with hikers building campfires on the PCT when they are
> > not in compliance with the California Fire Permit we are all required
> > to sign and carry.
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