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Posted by genghis on December 16, 2007 at 2:45:00 pm EST
In reply to building a campfire - sometimes it's just not right posted by bheiser1 on September 11, 2007 at 7:08:52 pm EDT

I think I should point out one of my key statements.: "LNT, when taken to extreme, is absurd." Of course I believe in the general principles of LNT. What I don't believe in is excess.

I enjoy hammock camping, and one of the things I like about it is that it has less impact on the site than tent camping. That's a good thing.

I'm pretty serious about taking everything out that I took in. And invariably, I end up toting out some other person's trash as well.

That being said, a mound of burned wood is not the same as a wine bottle and a soup can. Trash is something that definitely shouldn't be there. But I just can't make myself think the same thing about the remains of someone's campfire.

Not only that, I almost always start my fire where there has already been a fire. Probably been one at that spot for 50 years, and somehow the forest survived.

I gave up cooking on a fire long ago. Jetboil is the greatest for that. But a campfire is a source of heat, a point of reference, a common cause among the campers, and a light to meditate by. (LEDs just don't seem to get the conversation going.)

Tom and Alicia's argument is a classic example of the logical fallacy known as the slippery slope. Yes, I agree, if everyone in Kentucky descended on the Red River Gorge and lit a campfire, they'd burn the whole gorge down.

But that's because the Red River Gorge is not large enough to support 3 million people camping. There would be a lot more problems than running out of wood if they all went at once.

To say, "if it's wrong for them, it's not OK for you," suggests a certain moral superiority of the non-firebuilders. If that's the way you really feel, I'm sorry about that. I don't judge you for not building a fire, or for camping in a tent. (I prefer a hammock.. leave less impact.)

I say you can camp the way you want, just don't mess up the woods. And I'll camp the way I want. With a fire.

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