Camp/RV Cooking Fire Safety Tips

Campfires are a big part of camping. And properly constructed and managed they are safe. We addressed general Campfire Safety in a previous post. If you follow the recommended procedures you should be OK.   But occasionally you may encounter out of control fires, even when cooking on a camp stove or an RV range.  Some foods are more prone to flare up than others, and  grease fires can occur anytime there is grease or cooking oil in the pan.  A little splash over the edge creates a path for flames to sneak back into the pan.   An unexpected breeze might whip campfire flames up into your bacon or burgers and start a conflagration.

Anytime you have a pan catch on fire you first move to control the flames should be to cover the pan to smother the flames.  Put a properly sized lid on the pan or cover it with a damp towel.  Don't use a fire extinguisher.  The force of the extinguishing agent can often splatter burning grease or other ingredients and spread the fire and I don't know of any fire extinguisher that will enhance the flavor of food.  You can use baking soda to smother flames, but, again, that might contaminate your food.  DO NOT use flour!  Although it looks similar to baking soda it is flammable, so much so that about a cup of flour dust has the explosive power of about 2 sticks of dynamite!  Never put water on a grease fire.  I've seen fire department demonstrations of what happens.  The water, being heavier than oil, goes right to the bottom of the pan where it is super heated and expands to steam with explosive force, blasting flaming oil all over!

If your campfire seems to be getting out of control, shovel some dirt on it or drag some of the fuel out until it is once again manageable. If you drag fuel out of a fire, make sure you don't put in on combustible materials like grass and weeds or near your wood pile. Avoid problems in the first place by following proper campfire procedures and not over-loading your fire. Most of us tend to make our campfires way too big. Bonfires sometimes have a place, but for the most part, campfires should be kept fairly small. An old Indian proverb gives us a good way of examining whether our campfires are an appropriate size:  white man build big fire, stand way back.  Indian build small fire, get real close. The larger the group, the larger your fire will need to be to keep everyone warm on cool nights around the campfire, but don't make it any bigger than it needs to be or you'll just be wasting fuel. If you find yourselves having to back away from the fire, it is getting too big. If everyone is crowding up to the edge of the fire pit and fighting for a spot, throw on another log or two.  Another problem of fires that are too large is that they may create more smoke for you and your companions to have to deal with.  Smoke isn't much of problem on calm nights when the smoke goes straight up, but how often does that happen?  Mostly you'll have to deal with at least some breeze and, most often, it tends to shift so you have to keep moving around the fire so it isn't blowing smack in your face. Cooking fires should mostly be kept fairly small so you can control them and so they cook your food and not you!

If you have a flame up while cooking on your camp stove or RV range (or at home for that matter), DO NOT pour water on it. Flame ups usually occur when cooking with grease and water will splatter the grease and spread the fire. Water may also result in an explosive reaction that can shower you with hot grease and/or scalding steam as the water is instantly vaporized by the hot grease. The water is heavier than the oil and sinks to the bottom where it instantly becomes superheated and virtually explodes, sending flaming oil all over the place. Cover the burning pan with a lid or wet towel or douse it with baking soda. Covering a burning pot with a lid is even preferable to using a fire extinguisher since the force of the agents from the extinguisher may splash hot grease out of the pan, potentially causing injuries and spreading the fire. If you don't have a lid or baking soda handy (which you ALWAYS should as a precaution), you may be able to smother the pan with a blanket, pillow, or heavy towel. Light fabrics are more likely to catch fire. You want something that is thick enough to smother the flames before it too becomes another part of the problem. A dry dish towel is likely to just add fuel, a throw pillow will probably smother the flames before it burns. If all you have is a towel or dishtowel, get it wet and wring it out, then drape it over the flaming pot.  Baking soda can be used to suppress fire.  Do NOT use flour or sugar to try to put out a fire. They are flammable, and the dust can even be explosive! Tossing it into the flames can result in a spectacular blast. One cup of flour under the right conditions can create a blast equivalent to 2 sticks of dynamite!

If flames flash over from your campfire into your dinner, a simple solution may be to simply sacrifice your dinner -- dump it into the fire and let it burn instead of risking personal injury or spreading the fire by trying to save the flaming mess. Sometimes just removing it from the fire will allow the flames to die down.  If you have a lid or a heavy towel, cover the burning pot or pan to smother the flames.  Do NOT try to rush into your RV with a flaming pan to get something to put it out. You should always have appropriate fire suppression materials handy whenever and where ever you are cooking, but if you forget and insist on trying to save your dinner, put the flaming pan down outside before going inside to get what you need. Better that your dinner is a little over-cooked than you or your equipment become toast!

Planning ahead. Regardless of whether you're cooking on an RV range, a camp stove, or over a campfire, always plan ahead for fire suppression. Keep an appropriate sized lid and a box of baking soda nearby. When using a campfire, always have a bucket of sand or dirt or water and a shovel handy. Run a few scenarios through your mind and mentally practice what you will do if a problem develops. If you've already decided you will dump your dinner in the fire if it catches fire you will be able to react more quickly and perhaps avoid serious injuries. Run through at least mental exercises (physical practice would be even better) for grabbing the lid or baking soda to control a flame-up so you won't have to take time to think about it if/when a real emergency presents itself. When something unexpected happens, especially something dangerous, we are startled and that slows our reaction time and can muddle our thought processes. Adrenalin kicks in and instinct triggers a fight or flight reaction. Having planned and practiced our responses helps us avoid panic and stay in control and lets us direct the adrenalin-fueled energy in a more productive way.

When cooking in your RV, keep curtains, towels, aprons, and any other flammable materials away from the stove. Maintain adequate ventilation.  Never cook in your tent or under an awning. When cooking outdoors, whether over a campfire or on a camp stove, stay away from trees and bushes (overhead as well as around your campfire) that could catch fire and maintain a safe distance from any tents, vehicles, or people.

When cooking on a campfire, be sure to protect your hands.   Wear leather gloves and use appropriate tools to handle hot pots and pans.  I have found that Channel-lok style pliers work best for me.  There are also "lid lifters" you can use effectively for lids on dutch ovens and other pots on the campfire. 

Keep it under control!

Campers and Wildfires

Recent years have seen a marked increase in the frequency and severity of wildfires in many states.  Historically, most  wildfires were caused by lightning and many still are, but most these days are caused by human beings.  Many are due to carelessness or conscious disregard for fire regulations and restrictions.  A few are the result of arson.   

Wildfires affect campers and careless campers can affect wildfires.  If you are camping in the forest you may face a wildfire at some time.  Whether the fire was from a lightning strike or human error doesn't make a bit of difference.  You may need to evacuate on very short notice.  Campers must do their part to prevent wildfires.  ALWAYS know and follow fire regulations and exercise proper campfire safety procedures.

Having become a volunteer firefighter during my "retirement" years, I have become especially aware of and concerned about wildfires.  In 2020 we experienced the Holiday Farm Fire along the McKenzie River.  The fire started just 3 miles from our home.  Fortunately for us, it was down river and down wind from us.  The somewhat unusual East Winds (with gusts up to 85 mph) blew the fire down the valley like a blow torch, eventually scorching more than 173,000 acres and destroying nearly 800 structures before being brought under control.  Fortunately, there was only a single fatality, an older gentleman who initially refused to evacuate his mobile home when advised to do so.  Later, when it became apparent the fire was about to overtake him, he called for help but it was too late.  Rescuers were unable to get through the raging fire to reach him, despite a valiant effort.  If you are told to evacuate, don't wait!

Not long ago I responded to a brush fire at a commercial campground in our district.  Luckily the responding fire agencies (including state and US Forest service crews as well as our own rural fire department) were able to limit the damage to about 4 acres.  But the fire should never have gotten started in the first place.  In this case, it was due to willful, deliberate, and repeated violation of fire restrictions by campers in one of the camp sites.  The entire area was under EXTREME fire danger, as posted along the highway and upon entering the campground.  The subjects had been given written copies of the fire restrictions and verbally told NO CAMPFIRES.  In spite of all that, they still lit a campfire.  One of the campground staff discovered the fire, reminded them of the EXTREME fire danger and posted restrictions, and put the fire out.  Soon after he left their campsite, they re-lit their fire and it got out of control.  Just how dumb can you get?  Seems to me they could (and should) be sued for all the costs of fighting the fire and should also be subject to criminal charges for deliberately and repeatedly violating posted fire restrictions.  While ignorance is never a legitimate excuse, these folks were well aware of the fire restrictions and openly chose to violate them -- more than once!

We had another brush fire right across the street from the local USFS Ranger Station that was started by a camper ignoring posted fire restrictions during EXTREME fire danger.  How dense do you have to be to ignore fire restrictions within sight of a ranger station?

I can't even count the number of illegal campfires we have investigated and/or extinguished.  Why people do that is beyond comprehension.  As Forrest Gump wisely said:  "You can't fix stupid!"

So, what does all this have to do with RVing, OHVing, and camping?  Well, first, as responsible outdoor recreationalists we must ALWAYS know and obey fire regulation.  We must also exercise proper campfire safety at all times.  Secondly, we must be aware that we could find ourselves in the path of a wildfire just about anytime we are out in the forest. Wildfires are usually not seen in the desert area often used by OHV enthusiasts, but they can still happen there.  What should we do about it?

First of all, maintain situational awareness -- look for signs of an approaching fire and have a plan for evacuation.  Next, if you are contacted by law enforcement or fire service personnel and told to evacuate, to so immediately.  There are usually three levels of evacuations, numbered 1 through 3.  #1 means "GET READY".  In camp, start packing up and organizing your equipment and belongings to you are ready to go when the time comes.  #2 is "GET SET".  That means packing up, planning your escape route, and being ready to leave when told to do so.  #3 is "GO".   When you reach a Level 3 Evacuation, it is time to hit the road.  Don't even take time to change your shoes.  Get going NOW!  It is always a good idea to park so you can make a quick exit during an emergency and especially important during fire season.  Plan alternate routes ahead of time as many roads can be quickly closed during wildfires.  Wildfire can move amazingly fast and, if you need to evacuate, you don't want to waste time disconnecting packing up, and turning around or figuring out where you are going.

As outdoor recreationalists you may be caught in a wildfire situation.  In the old days, in some cases you might be recruited to help fight the fire.  Note that safely fighting a wildfire requires a significant amount of special training that you probably don't have.   I have heard of citizens near a wildfire in the old days being ''invited'' to help in the past, but because of liability issues these days that probably won't happen now.  Fighting wildfires requires a lot of very specific training.  If you do happen to be recruited or constricted to help fight a wildfire, pay close attention to the instructions you are given and adhere strictly to the assignment you are given.  The wildlands firefighters who will be directing you will be doing their best to keep you safe and for both your safety and theirs you must follow their directions.  Wildland firefighters wear fire-resistant clothing.  Since their Nomex clothing is very expensive you probably won't want to fork out the cash on the off chance you might get tagged to help.  If you do get asked to help, plan to wear at least a long-sleeved shirt and long pants.  Denim will give you more protection than light weight slacks.  You will also need sturdy boots.  Avoid steel toes as the steel can heat up if you are walking on hot ground.  Good leather gloves will also be essential.  You will probably be issued a hard hat but having one of your own might be a good idea.  Most likely you will be asked to assist in clearing fire lines.  These are lines 3' or more wide dug down to bare earth around ground fires to prevent or at least resist spreading.  Ground fire lines don't do anything for a crown fire -- a fire that is racing through the tops of the trees in the forest.  You might also be asked to remove "ladder fuels", which is brush and low hanging limbs fire can use to climb into the canopy.

Check the weather before you start out.  The NOAA weather forecasts will include predicted temperature, relative humidity predictions, wind predictions.  High temperatures, low humidity, and high winds all contribute to high fire danger.  Pay special attention to Red Flag Warnings.  Red Flag Warnings means the conditions for the rapid spread of wildfires are high.  Best to stay home or find other venues during a Red Flag situation, but, if you must go out during one be extra careful and pay extra attention to weather and strictly obey all fire restrictions.  Always plan an escape route in advance.  If you spot smoke near your location, you may want to leave before the fire gets too close.

If you see a fire (or even unexplained smoke), call it in immediately.  Even in areas of sketchy cell phone coverage you can sometime make 911 calls.  Provide as much information as you can, including the location, type of fuel (trees, grass, brush, structures, etc), height of the flames, and approximate size of the area involved.  If it is a small fire, such as a campfire that has just started to spread to surrounding vegetation, you might attempt to extinguish it, but only if you can do so safely.  Water or an ABC fire extinguisher or putting dirt on the fire are good ways to put it out.  For larger fires, your best action is to get out!

If you happen to live in an area that may experience wildfires or spend time camping in such places, there are at least two things you do.  First, be aware of evacuation levels and procedures for your area.  Level 1 is "Get Ready".  Level 2 is "Get Set".  Level 3 is "Go Now!".  If you are in an area that could experience wildfires, don't wait to be told you are at Level 1; always consider yourself at Level 1 and be ready to evacuate.  That means having your important papers, critical resources, and valuables identified and organized so you can quickly gather them up, put them in your car (or other vehicle) and be ready to leave.  Level 2, "Get Set", means actually gathering things up and putting them in your vehicle so that when you reach Level 3 "Go Now!" you just need to load your family and yourself into your vehicle and hit the road.  We have experienced Level 3 Evacuations twice in the last 3-4 years living in the Willamette National Forest in Oregon.  The first was for the Holiday Farm Fire in 2020, which started just 3 miles down river (and down wind fortunately!) from our house.  The second was in 2023 for the Lookout Fire that threatened our little town of McKenzie Bridge, which had, luckily, been spared during the Holiday Farm Fire in 2020.  Believe me, the last thing you want to be doing at nearly midnight when the power goes out and wildfire danger is imminent is trying to get things ready to go!  All you want to do is get in the car and get out of there!!!  I have seen Level 3 Evacuations where the flames were already close enough for the radiant heat to be almost unbearable for people evacuating.

Good old Smokey Bear reminds us that only we can prevent forest fires.  Some wildfires are started by lightning, but in recent years more are caused by humans.  Using good judgement, like maintaining proper campfire safety, obeying fire restrictions, and avoiding driving over dry grass, can prevent unnecessary wildfires.  Knowing what to do if/when you are near a wildfire could save your life and the lives of your loved ones.

Be fire safe!

Camp Cooking

My wife should probably be writing this one. She is a whiz at creative cooking and does most of our cooking in camp. She can make frozen corndogs into a gourmet meal. I can't even come close to matching her culinary skills, but I'll do the best I can.  Fortunately, glamorous, appetizing presentation isn't a prerequisite for camp cooking.

One of the basic principles of successful camp or RV cooking the K.I.S.S. principle (Keep It Simple Stupid). We go camping for fun, so camp cooking should be fun too.  One of the advantages of RVing and modern tent camping facilities is the ability to bring a good hint of home with you -- and that includes mealtimes.  Here are some ideas to get you started.

Camp cooking can be fun.  Even if you're preparing the same things you normally cook at home, doing it in camp adds a little bit of adventure.  My wife and daughter-in-law were giddy as a couple of school girls while fixing breakfast when we went tent camping while my son and I got a nice fire going using flint and steel.

Here are some of our favorite meals, accumulated over years of RVing, OHVing, and camping:

Breakfasts. When the kids were young and (over) anxious to start their day riding, we'd often bring along a dozen fresh donuts (well, they were fresh when we bought them the night before) to get everyone off to a quick start the first morning. Not the most nutritious of breakfasts, I'll admit, but quick and easy and provided lots of sugar-energy.   And what kid every turned down donuts?  Add a glass of milk or orange juice and you can feel good about at least part of the "meal". We noticed that some donuts developed a somewhat rancid smell overnight if they weren't refrigerated. We never had that problems with Foster's brand donuts in California, but I don't think the Foster's chain is still in business.  Too bad.  Refrigerating donuts is a way to keep them fresh and avoid having them smell up your RV, but  you may need to warm them up before you eat them.  Since they tend to be best when eaten fresh,  you will probably want to snack on any leftovers the same day rather then try to keep them for another breakfast.  If you need to warm them up and have a microwave oven in your RV, pop them in for a few seconds to take off the chill.  If they're getting particularly dry, put a damp paper towel over them during microwaving.  When tent camping you might try frying them in butter over the campfire or on your trusty Coleman stove.  We found that is a good way to restore day-old pastries to really tasty treats.   Sometimes we deliberately buy day old treats with that in mind, often at substantical savings.

Once you're settled into camp you may find time for more traditional breakfasts. There isn't anything quite like the smell of bacon cooking on an open campfire. A standard breakfast of bacon, eggs, and toast provides much better nutrition than donuts and is not all that hard to fix, even on an open fire. And if you're not up to building a fire first thing in the morning, the RV range, microwave, or trusty Coleman stove will have breakfast ready in a jiffy.

Another favorite, with an almost a pioneer flare, is pancakes. Again pretty easy to make and can be cooked up on the RV or Coleman stove or even over the campfire on a griddle or just in a frying pan. Add some sausage and eggs and you've got plenty of protein to start your day.

Waffles may take a bit more effort, but are even an option when tent camping and campfire cooking using cast iron waffle pans.

Cold cereal is an old standby, however it is not something I enjoy out on the road, especially on cooler mornings. But it is easy, fast, and economical and with appropriate selections is usually a hit with kids.  It is easy to store and transport.   It might be just what you need for warmer desert mornings.

Hot cereal may take a few extra minutes, and since even summer mornings in the desert or mountains can be quite cool, it is a welcome way to start the day. Today's instant packets make it pretty fast and easy, especially if you have a microwave. They may cost a little more than bulk packages, but the convenience is well worth it.  I especially like the instant Cinnabon Cream of Wheat I buy at Dollar Tree --  a box of 3 packages for $1.00.  Pretty good and tasty breakfast for 33 cents a serving!   If you have a microwave in your RV they can be ready in about 1 minute. If you don't have a microwave or don't want to run the generator that early in the morning, boil some water in a teakettle or pan for mixing with instant cereal pouches. If you are feeling a little more adventurous and want to add a pioneer experience to your outing, try corn meal mush. Just cook corn meal in water with a little salt on medium heat for 5-7 minutes. Then serve it with butter and honey.

Lunches. Lunches should always be simple affairs, quick and easy to fix, and with little cleanup. You really don't want to stop what you're doing in the middle of the day to fix or even eat a fancy meal. and then have a lot of clean up to do afterwards. Sandwiches and hot dogs are favorites around our camp. Add some chips and macaroni or potato salad, perhaps some pork and beans, and you've got quite a complete meal without a lot of fuss. Serve it all up on paper plates and you don't even have many dishes to do. Hot dogs can be cooked over the campfire, grilled, fried up in a pan, or boiled. Campfire dogs taste best.  You can even toast your hotdog buns on a stick over the campfire if you're careful. I only boil hotdogs if I have to do a whole bunch of them at once to serve a large group all at the same time.

Dinners. Here's where you may want to invest a little more time and make cooking fun. Old standbys, like hamburgers are almost always a hit. French fries are a bit messy and time consuming in camp unless you microwave some frozen fries.  Steaks are great if you have the budget for them and have a special flavor when grilled over the campfire. Be sure to wrap some potatoes in foil and bake them in the campfire to round out the meal in gourmet fashion. Chili and beef stew are nice on cold nights. With the availability of unbreakable acrylic stemware, you can serve up a quite elegant dinner in your RV, including a touch of the bubbly. Your "bubbly" may have to be sparkling cider as alcohol is prohibited in some campgrounds so make sure to check the rules before you get into trouble. Preparing and serving dinner, as well as consuming it, can be a family affair, a chance for teaching and learning and sharing more than just recipes. There are plenty of tasks to go around. Preparing specific dishes, getting the fire going or the BBQ set up, setting the table. You can bake potatoes right in the coals of the campfire and, of course, they are a perfect side to a fire-broiled steak. Wrap them in aluminum foil and bury them in the coals so they will cook evenly all around. I like to brush mine with butter before wrapping them up. Hobo stews are easy dinners too. Wrap meat, potatoes, carrots and (optionally) onions and other favorite vegetables and seasoning in aluminum foil and bury the packets in the coals. We like to pre-cook the meat in the microwave or on the top of the stove to speed cooking in the campfire and ensure the meat is nicely browned and sufficiently cooked to prevent botulism.

RV and camp stove cooking provide an almost home-like cooking experience in camp. I say "almost" because even though RV and camp stoves approximate our residential ranges functionality, they aren't quite the same. If nothing else, they are more compact so you have to make some adjustments in how you use them.  Ovens and burners aren't quite as large.  The temperature control may not be quite as responsive as it is at home, especially on camp stoves (its pretty good on the propane stoves in RVs, but the ovens are kind of picky). You'll need to watch what you're doing more closely and be prepared to remove things from the heat or make adjustments as necessary. Cooking may take longer and you may have to work with smaller portions and do things in shifts.  the large pans you may like to use at home might not fit on RV or camp stoves.

Campfire cooking can be a fun, rewarding and exciting experience. Give yourself time to experiment and to develop your skills. It takes time to get used to cooking on an open fire. About your only way of controlling temperature and cooking speed is by how close you hold the pan to the fire. Things will continue to cook for some time after removing a heavy cast iron pot or pan from the fire. But with a little practice it can be fun. Obviously it can be done successfully. After all, man has survived by cooking on open fires for tens of thousands of years. We just don't know how many burned or raw meals they had to endure before getting it down.

Dutch oven cooking can provide a single dish meal and is great for stews, pot roast, chicken, soups, and a variety of main dishes. Dutch ovens also are a great way to bake breads and desserts. If you are interested in trying this time-proven method, check out one of the many dutch oven cook books or search for recipes and tips online. Charcoal is the preferred fuel for dutch oven cooking, so you need to prepare ahead of time and leave time to get the coals ready if you want to try out this form of camp cooking. I think of Dutch ovens as a pioneer crockpot.  You can toss in all the ingredients, set the coals, and let them cook for hours without any further attention while you enjoy your activities.

Beverages. There is something special about hot beverages prepared on the campfire. You might keep a pot of boiling water ready all the time to prepare instant hot drinks when needed.  Although I'm not a coffee drinker, the smell of it brewing is pleasant and appealing. Even "ordinary" hot chocolate takes on a special flavor prepared on and served around the campfire, but added flavors (caramel, vanilla, hazelnut, cinnamon, mint etc) can make it really special. Try dropping a fire-toasted (not burnt!) marshmallow on top for a super special treat. For warm summer days, a cooler full of cold beverages is almost a requirement. Water and sports drinks are healthier and better at quenching thirst and preventing dehydration than sodas and beer. Alcohol and caffeine can speed dehydration.  We have experimented with a few summer punch recipes over the years. A favorite we found very refreshing is cucumber punch. It is made from ginger ale, frozen lime concentrate, and sliced cucumbers. I like to add a touch of green food coloring. Served over ice, it is incredibly cooling and refreshing, without the sticky aftertaste of many sodas. It is fun to make it up in a wash tub for large groups. For the ultimate presentation, be sure to ladle a slice of fresh lime into each glass.

Novelties. I have previously mentioned one of our favorite campfire novelties: instant pies. You need bread, pie filling, and, obviously, the pie-makers. Campfire pie makers are long-handled clam shell cookers.  You put a slice of bread in one side, add a scoop of your favorite pie filling, put a second slice of bread on top, close it up and put it in the fire.  In a few minutes you have fresh baked pie.  It was surprising how much ordinary white bread tasted like pie crust when cooked this way.  Of course don't forget the traditional S'mores. Just be prepared for plenty of pyrotechnic entertainment and sticky marshmallow everywhere! On hot days, snow-cones are an instant hit and very refreshing. You'll need lots of ice and a grinder plus various flavors of syrups. Snow-cone syrup can usually be purchased at restaurant supply stores like Smart and Final.  In a pinch make your own from Kool-Aid mix or even dry Jello.

Baking in camp.  RV ovens are a little more than half the size of the one at home.  That puts the burners closer to the cooking platform, sometimes resulting in over-cooked bottoms and raw tops on baked goods.  Baking in camp is going to take some practice  Also pay attention to elevation and follow the special high altitude instructions on the package for things like cake mixes.  Convection ovens are helpful in providing more even heat distribution and reduced cooking times.  Coleman makes an oven that sets on top of your camp stove so even tent campers can do some baking.  They're only about 1' square, so you may have to make smaller portions and bake in shifts.

The availability of microwave ovens to many RV campers gives you a lot of options for quick and easy meals in camp.  There are microwave version of just about every meal or snack.  Frozen meals might be a bit more expensive than those made from scratch, but the added convenience might be worth it. 

Cooking adventures. I've seen Scoutmasters with special wilderness training prepare a whole breakfast in an orange peel. If that kind of experimentation appeals to you, do check it out.  It can be fun.  I've seen it done but never tried it myself. It really looks to be quite fun and tasty as well as ecologically sound. We've cooked up rattlesnake on a couple of desert outings, and, yes, it does taste like chicken. Anyone who has watched Survivorman has seen him cook rodents on a stick. I'm not sure eating rodents appeals to me, but it might be worth trying if you think you'll need the skill for survival. Not sure I could stomach it under normal circumstances, but it would probably be good practice and might be critical in a survival situation.

Speaking of adventures, there are some you WON'T want to experience, such as spilling grease into the fire. This is not uncommon when cooking bacon in a fry pan on a campfire. The resulting flare-up will likely ruin a lot more than your breakfast fare! I've seen more than one unhappy camper go home sans eyebrows and missing hair on their hands and arms. Flare-ups may also catch your clothing on fire. If that happens, DON'T PANIC! About the worst thing you can do is run when you're on fire. The best thing is to drop to the ground and roll to put the fire out. Of course, if you're exercising proper fire safety procedures, you will have a bucket of water and/or sand close by to assist with putting the fire out. If you are burned, by either hot grease or by the flames, immediately cool the burned area with clean cool water. You may minimize your chances of spilling grease into the fire in the first place by using a cooking grid to support your frying pan instead of placing it directly on uneven and unstable wood and coals. Lacking a steel grid, you might make a temporary one from green tree limbs, but it won't last long over a hot fire. Rocks can sometimes be arranged to support pans. Just make sure they aren't porous.  Porous rocks may contain moisture than can expand with explosive force!  A frequent mistake of novice campfire chefs is grabbing the handle of a pot or pan with a bare hand. Bad mistake! The handles get very hot, so use gloves, hot pads, pliers or oven mittens to grasp the handles. Dutch oven lids have special "lifters" or you can use a pair of pliers (I find Channelock style slip-joint pliers work best because of the angled jaws). More than one camper has been badly burned trying to rescue his dinner from the fire. Very few meals (none I know of!), are worth the agony of blistered fingers or burned hands, so if you must retrieve something, use a utensil or a stick, and not your bare hands. Better to drag that steak out into the dirt and wash it off than end up with the flesh of your hands more cooked than your dinner!

Bon appetite!

Campfire Safety

One of the most enjoyable and iconic aspects of camping and RVing is the campfire. The warmth is comfortable on a chilly evening and the dancing flames are mesmerizing. There is even something alluring and comforting about a campfire on a warm evening.  Campfires have been the heart of human social activities for thousands of years. Campfires are traditional scenes of story-telling, song-singing and relationship building. They warm your spirit as well as your body.   Campfires are essential element in a survival situation.  Fires will warm your food and your body, dry your clothes, sterilize  your water, keep wild animals at bay, and warm your spirits.  They are often the apex of social life in a camp ground -- as long as you have control. If a fire gets out of control, it becomes the master and you become its prey. Campfire safety can mean the difference between a pleasant and enjoyable evening and a total disaster!  Minor violations of campfire safety can result in personal injuries and loss of personal gear and equipment.  Major problems may lead to a wildfire situation which could damage tens or even hundreds of thousands of acres of forest, jeopardize homes, and even kill people.  Any violation could result in expensive fines if you get cited by rangers or law enforcement, plus civil penalties if you are convicted of having started the fire!

Fire restrictions. You may encounter fire restrictions in many camping areas, especially in forested areas during the dry season. Look for the "fire danger" signs on your way in. When the fire danger is high, camp fires may be totally prohibited. This is NOT an arbitrary form of harassment! Pay strict attention to fire restrictions. Failure to do so can result in wild fires that are costly in terms of monetary damages, environmental impact, and loss of life! Fines for ignoring fire restrictions can run as high as $5000! And you may be liable for damages as well!  Even during some fire restrictions you may be able to have fires in approved fire pits in approved campgrounds -- but NOT open fires in primitive camping areas. Charcoal BBQs are usually considered open fires and subject to the same restrictions.  Gas stoves and BBQs may be allowed even when open fires are prohibited, but when the fire danger gets high enough, even they may be banned.  Expect fire restrictions in hot, dry weather.  Even a passing rain storm might not drop enough precipitation to relieve restrictions so don't assume its OK to build a fire without checking with the local ranger.

Site Preparation: one of the most important and often overlooked aspects of building a camp fire is the selection and preparation of the site. First, choose a location well away from trees, bushes, dry grass, buildings, tents, and vehicles.  If you are camping in a dense forest you may have to consider overhead clearance as well as proximity of the fire pit to tress or bushes.  Then clear the ground of combustible materials to a radius of at least 5' from your fire. If possible, create a fire pit to contain your fire by digging a hole or using a circle of rocks or an earth berm. If using rocks, avoid porous or wet rocks, which may explode in the heat of a fire as trapped moisture expands. If your camp site includes a fire ring or other fire pit, use the existing one, even in primitive camping areas. If you have to create your own fire pit, clear the ground around the camp fire of any combustible materials for at least 5' around the outside of the fire pit. This is one of the most common failures of novice campers. They build a fire on combustible materials and it gets away from them, burning along runners and roots and popping up in other places unexpectedly.  Just scraping away surface materials may not be enough.  Fire can and sometimes does make its way through plant roots, smouldering along until it gains access to air and pops out as flames, often far away from the original fire.  Using an existing fire pit in primitive campsites instead of making your own saves you time and labor and usually ensures the spot is fairly safe but you should always inspect the pit and the area around it to make sure it was properly created in the first place.   Campfires on snow will require special attention.  The snow pretty much already gives you  the necessary cleared area, but fires on snowpack will quickly melt the snow underneath and around them, sometimes drowning them out and also making the area near the fire wet and slushy.  If the snow isn't too deep, dig down to solid ground.  On deep snow use a large metal pan like an old car hood or build a base of green or wet logs to keep the fire out of the snow.

Build the right kind of fire. The biggest mistake most campers make is to build too big a fire. You only need a small fire to heat up a single serving meal or make a pot of coffee. Some experts call this a "snack fire". Start with a small teepee structure, about 8-10" across, let it burn down, then put your pot on top of the coals and add fuel around the pot until you're through cooking. The next step up is a cooking fire. Start it the same way, only keep building it until you have enough fire to cook your meal. Put a green log on each side of the fire, with about 4" between them on one end and 7" between them on the other end. Spread the fire in between the logs. Your coffee pot should fit nicely at the narrow end, your frypan or cook pot on the wider end. Cooking is best done over coals, not active flames so only feed the fire as needed to support your cooking. The next step up is a comfort fire. The best way to build a comfort fire is to give it a reflector to reflect heat back toward you. A natural reflector is easiest to use -- a cliff, an embankment, or a big rock or large tree, but you can build one out of logs too. If you have a large number of people and need to surround the fire, a reflector won't be useful, but it is really helpful if you are alone, have just a few people to keep warm, or need to reflect heat into a shelter. Build the fire large enough to generate enough heat to keep everyone warm.  A fire pit about 3' in diameter is usually large enough for a family or small group.  If you have a large group you may need a larger fire.  You normally don't need and shouldn't build a huge bonfire. That just wastes fuel and unnecessarily pollutes the atmosphere. It also makes more work for you to put it out at the end of the night and clean it up before you leave the site. For detailed instructions on fire building and some other helpful campfire tips see Three Essential Campfires.

Camp fires are not difficult nor dangerous if handled properly. Undoubtedly you will see people start campfires using various volatile fluids such as gasoline and charcoal lighter fluid. Although many people do this successfully, it is not a recommended practice and is illegal in many places. You can be seriously injured if you accidentally spill any of the fluid on your hands or clothes and it catches fire. The sudden blast when the fire lights can scatter burning debris that can ignite unwanted fires elsewhere -- like your's or your neighbor's clothing, your tent or under your car, OHV, or RV! If you insist on using flammable liquids, NEVER pour a flammable liquid on an existing fire or smoldering fire pit.  Only use it to get a new fire going and then use it carefully and cautiously.  If there is already heat or flames present it can instantly vaporize the fuel and create a highly explosive situation.  Take care not to spill any of the liquid on your clothes or your body. If you do, wash it off your hands and change contaminated clothes BEFORE lighting the fire. Otherwise fumes will bring the fire to you when you strike a match or lighter and you won't like the results. Since it is the fumes that burn, it isn't necessary for your contaminated clothing to come in contact with fire for it to burst into flames! I read of a jet mechanic who, after being doused with jet fuel (kerosene) went into a flight line shack to change clothes.  He got distracted before changing and the fumes from his clothing filled the shack.  When they reached the flash point, the pilot light in the shack heater ignited the fumes and the whole place blew up!  When lighting a fire using accellerants, stand back. Use a match on the end of a hot-dog cooker or similar wire or light the end of a long stick. You will see some people toss a lighted match into a gasoline soaked pile of wood. It creates an impressive flash but is a very dangerous practice. I've seen more than one such fire starter lose his eye lashes and eye brows and all the hair on his arm this way. It often sends flaming sticks flying in all directions as the fumes literally explode. Starting fires with flammable liquids also creates unpleasant and possibly dangerous fumes. No one wants their marshmallows or hot dogs to taste like gasoline or charcoal starter and the smell of burning petroleum products is far from the pleasant fragrance of pine boughs, cedar, or hickory. I read of a camper who prepared to start his fire with gasoline, but had left his matches in his vehicle. His fire pit was slightly uphill from another campsite. While he was retrieving his matches, the gasoline fumes from his soaked wood (which are heavier than air), drifted downhill along the ground to the other fire. About the time he returned to light his fire, it "auto lighted" as the fumes reached the other fire and flames snaked back up the fume trail and lit his fire! An impressive and exciting, almost magical display, no doubt, but one that illustrates just how dangerous and unpredictable using gasoline to start fires can be.  Just think.  If those fumes had crossed over or had been from a spill under his vehicle, it would have been disastrous!

The best way to start is fire, is to build it properly instead of cheating with flammable liquids. Start with tinder -- paper, lint, wood shavings, pine needles, dry grass or weeds, strips of dry bark. I cut all the branches off my old Christmas trees and keep them for tinder for lighting fires in my fireplace at home.   You can often find dry pine needles on the ground in a forested area.   Add kindling -- small pieces of wood or twigs about the diameter of your fingers or smaller. Split kindling ignites more easily than whole twigs so you may want to split your own from larger pieces of firewood. Next a layer of slightly larger pieces of wood -- about 1-2" across. Then some 3-4" across and finally your "logs": larger pieces of fire wood 6-9" in diameter. Good old-fashioned wooden matches are a kind of standard way to start campfires. I prefer the "strike anywhere" variety over the "strike on box" but they are a little more dangerous if you have children around. Butane lighters are also a convenient choice, especially the long ones built for lighting fireplaces instead of the pocket sized units designed primarily for lighting cigarettes. The longer reach lets you get into the center of your fire and keeps your fingers away from the flames. I've started my share of desert campfires using flammable liquids but when I light a fire in my fireplace, I build it from the ground up, with tinder and kindling. I've found it works just as well as gasoline and produces a much better smelling fire -- without the risks or contaminating the flue or burning the house down!  If for any reason you think you MUST use flammable liquids to get your fire going (if, for instance, your wood is wet or there is an urgent need to get a fire going quickly), prepare the structure of the fire first, then pour a controlled amount of fluid over the wood, taking care not to spill it on your hands, boots or other parts of your body or leaving a trail outside the fire pit. Then light a long stick or attach a match to one so you can ignite the fire from a safe distance. And make sure everyone around you is at a safe distance before lighting the fire. Exercise extra caution when starting a fire in a contained space such as an incinerator or metal fire barrel.  Fumes will accumulate in the container and will explode when you light it, so keep your distance.  Tossing a lighted match or stick into a pile of gasoline soaked wood creates a spectacular ignition but sometimes the explosive force is enough to send flaming debris some distance, perhaps setting you, your tent, your vehicle, or your companions on fire.

Using matches or a lighter is the easiest way to start your fire. If you have prepared your fire properly, you can carefully light the tinder in the middle of the fire and you should soon be enjoying the blaze. If you gave in to the urge to dump some gasoline or other accelerant onto your firewood, DO NOT strike your match near the fire pit. Light it some distance away and use a long stick to carry the flame to the fire. Otherwise you'll be losing your eyebrows and possibly setting your hair on fire! That sudden "WHOMP!" when you toss a match into your fire pit and the gasoline lights is exciting, but it can also wreak havoc with the structure of your wood and has the potential to make you and any bystanders part of the conflagration. Not a good way to tell your friends "You Light Up My Life!" The long "log lighter" devices designed for igniting fireplaces and campfires are helpful, but if you're using an accellerant, you'll be too close for safety. With those can place the flame precisely where it needs to go in your tinder when building a proper fire. A small pocket sized Bic lighter is a convenient choice for camping. It takes up little room, about as much as a dozen wooden matches, and will light hundreds of fires. Take care using it to light your campfire. You might use your lighter to light a stick, then use the stick to light your fire, keeping your hands away from the tinder and kindling.  If you try to put your hand deep into a prepared fire structure you run the risk of dropping the lighter when it gets too hot to hold and that could lead to a dangerous explosion if the lighter itself catches fire.

Fire starters are a good way to make it easier to get your fire going. You can buy them commercially or make your own from paper egg cartons, sawdust, and wax.  They will be helpful but they are no substitute for using proper fire building procedures.  I've seen ignorant campers use up a whole box of excellent commercial fire starters without ever getting a fire going.  You still need to build a proper fire.  Build your fire structure with a fire starter in the center of the tinder, surrounded by kindling, then progressively larger pieces of wood.  Then ignite the fire starter.  It should burn long enough to ignite the tinder and the kindling.

Starting fires without matches. For the more adventurous or those who wish to practice survival methods, try a flint style fire starter or a fire piston. Flint style fire starters and fire pistons work best with prepared tinder. Char cloth or charred punky wood ignites easily using a flint fire starter. Another good tinder, which is readily available and inexpensive, is cotton balls. Be sure they are real cotton, and not synthetic cosmetic puffs. Real cotton balls ignite easily from sparks from a flint/steel strike. Sparks simple melt through synthetics without igniting them. You may hear dryer lint recommended for use as a fire starter, but since so many of today's clothes are made of synthetic fabrics, you'd be better off with cotton balls. However, dryer lint from pure cotton is good. That nice blue lint from washing your denim jeans or clean white stuff from T-shirts or towels should work just fine, but the bright red stuff from a nylon sweater will have you getting hot under the collar trying to use it instead of getting a nice campfire going. To use a flint and steel fire starter, hold the flint close to the tinder and strike it forcefully with a knife or other piece of steel -- kind of like you are trying to quickly whittle pieces off the flint. If you do it right it will shower the tinder with sparks. To use a fire piston you place a tiny piece of tinder inside the cylinder, insert the piston, and strike the end of the piston forcefully. The compression works like a diesel engine to generate heat inside the cylinder to ignite the tinder. At best you'll get a tiny ember you will need to nurture to get your fire going. Many wilderness survival sources will tout starting a fire by rubbing two sticks together. While this is theoretically possible, it is unlikely you will succeed, even with practice, and it takes a LOT of work. I would only use it as a last resort in a survival situation. Better to carry a Bic lighter and/or flint and steel in your survival kit. If you get caught somewhere without it, knowing how to use a bow-drill or fire plow could save your life, or, at least add to your comfort.  As I often say, the only way I want to start a fire by rubbing two sticks together is if one of them is a match!

Campfire styles: there are two basic styles of stacking wood for a camp fire: 1) the tipi and 2) the log cabin. Intipi  style fire, pieces of wood are leaned together to form a cone (small end up). In the log cabin style fire, pieces of wood are stacked in a square. I have found no particular advantage to either approach, except that a log cabin is usually more stable than the tipi. When starting the fire you may build all the recommended layers at once, then light the tinder at the bottom or start with just the tinder and carefully adding kindling and larger pieces of wood until you achieve the desired size of fire.    

How big a fire do you need? If you have a large group of people you may want a large fire -- even a bonfire. Bonfires are impressive and throw off a lot of heat and light, but much of that heat is wasted. Bonfires are more for dramatic effect than for comfort.    In most cases a fire with a diameter of about 3' is sufficient for a family or a small group.   If you have a large group of people, you may need a larger fire pit and a larger fire so there is room for everyone around the fire. If you are creating a cooking fire, you only want enough fire to do the job. There is a tendency among recreational campers to build a "white man's fire". "White man build big fire, stand way back; Indian build small fire, get up close." Obviously the Indian fire is a more efficient use of fuel and is actually more effective in cooking food and warming its builder. You may need to build a bigger fire when it is raining or snowing so the rain or snow doesn't put it out as well as for increased heat. Building a large fire to "get you through the night" is a mixed bag. It may waste a lot of fire wood, but it may let you sleep through the night. A large, unattended fire while you're sleeping could pose a hazard. Just a slight change in wind direction could blow embers into your shelter or onto your sleeping bag. The bigger the fire, the more embers it can produce.  Getting up periodically throughout the night to stoke the fire is a nuisance, but it is safer and more dependable than relying on a big fire to last the night and you might actually get more sleep!  I have seen clever ways of stacking wood so it rolls down into the fire as it burns but you really need to know what you are doing to build such a setup safely.

Dakota fire pit. A unique variation of an "Indian fire" is one commonly known as a Dakota fire pit. They make very good cooking fires and are less noticeable if you're in a situation where a certain amount of discretion is required. Dig a hole about a foot or so deep and foot across. Then dig an "air hole" -- a tunnel on one side (the windward side) extending from the surface few inches from the edge of the pit down to the bottom of the pit. This little tunnel will allow air to be drawn down to the base of the fire. Fires of this type are very efficient and produce more concentrated heat for cooking from less wood. Because they burn hot, they have less smoke than open fires. You wouldn't build a Dakota fire pit as a signal fire, but it makes an excellent cooking fire.

Choosing firewood: there are few places left where you are able to gather wood around camp grounds so plan to bring your own to most camp sites. This also lets you prepare your tinder and kindling in advance, which can be of great advantage if you need to get a fire going in inclement weather. Avoid wood with metal hardware still attached or treated or painted wood and composites such as particle board and plywood. Treated or painted wood and composites may give off toxic fumes when they burn. When choosing firewood, it is useful to know the difference between hardwoods and softwoods. Hardwoods burn longer and give off more heat. Softwoods are usually lighter to carry, easier to split and easier to light, but burn faster and give less heat for the same amount of wood. Some typical hardwoods are Oak, walnut, and hickory. Typical softwoods are pine, cottonwood, elm and poplar. Softwoods make excellent kindling. They are easy to split, and easy to light. Just avoid trying to split pieces with big knots in them. BTW, splitting larger pieces of wood is much easier and safer using a wedge than trying to split it with an axe. Wedges are inexpensive and durable and are good addition for anyone who plans to build many camp fires.   Lacking wedges, you might be able to use wooden glut instead.  A glut is essentially a wooden wedge.  Try to use a harder wood for your glut than the wood you want to split.

Safety tips for splitting firewood: don't hold the wood you are splitting with your fingers while swinging the axe or hatchet! This is a very good way to quickly shorten or remove your fingers and give your companions an unwanted opportunity to practice their first aid skills. Instead, use a small stick to stabilize the piece of wood. If you miss your mark and take off the end of the stick, get another stick -- no big loss! Unlike your fingers, the stick is easily replaced and does not create a blood-born pathogen hazard for by standers -- and, as far as we know, the stick will feel no pain. Also take care to keep on-lookers away from where you are swinging your axe or hatchet. A standard method of ensuring a safe distance is to grasp the axe by the head and swing the handle 360 degrees to make sure no one -- or no thing -- is in the way. Also be sure to look overhead to make sure you won't hit branches or (God forbid!) wires that might deflect your swing and cause an accident. Though it might seem tempting to stay under your RV awning or canopy to cut firewood if it is raining, DON'T DO IT! The potential to damage an expensive awning from flying wood or a misdirected swing isn't worth it and the risk of a deflected blow splitting your chin or your shin instead of the wood is too great. You want to have plenty of clear space around you when swinging an axe! When chopping firewood, stand with your legs apart so a missed swing passes between them instead of embedding the axe into your shins.

Here is a tip for splitting large logs.  Ordinarily the pieces fall off the chopping block and you have to keep picking them up an putting them back on to split them into smaller pieces.  Here is a video that shows you how to make and use a simple rig to keep the pieces together until you are finished splitting them.  He calls it the Split-o-nator.  It saves time and a lot of bending and reaching.

Portable Fire Pits: there are a number of attractive portable camp fire pits on the market, but what I've found works best is the tub from an old washing machine -- and they're often free! You may be able to obtain one from an appliance repair shop or recycling center. We've used them for years in desert, beach, forest, and back yard settings. They are inexpensive and the porcelain coating is easy to clean and prevents rust. The squat, round shape and twinkling of the fire through the perforations in the tub caused the first one we saw to be dubbed "R2D2" by its owner. Some tubs have tubes that rise up through the center, where the agitator formerly resided. While these tubes sometimes get in the way of adding wood to the fire or limit the size of fuel, they also lend themselves to a couple of useful adaptions: legs and a cooking grill. I used the same tripod that holds an RV table when you want to use it outside and cut a spare RV table leg to put the R2D2 at the desired height. I made ours so it was about right to slip your toes under on particularly cold evenings but you may want to make yours higher and add a grill to the top and use it for cooking. I found a wire cooking grate from an old charcoal grill that fit mine perfectly. I bolted a pipe floor flange to the grill and screwed in a piece of 2" pipe that drops into the top of the center tube of the tub to provide a very stable grilling surface. A metal garbage can lid is an effective way of containing any stubborn embers if you find yourself ready to retire before your fire is out. R2D2 is generally safe to use in windy conditions and is sometimes acceptable in forest service campgrounds when open flames are prohibited. Be sure to check with rangers first. We've even had forest rangers borrow our R2D2 for their own campfires. There are collapsible fire pits and campfire grills made of wire panels similar to those in your oven. These are light weight, easy to transport, and assemble, but are sometimes a little unstable because they are so light weight. Be sure to follow set-up and use instructions carefully to ensure as much stability as possible. These foldable fire pits are usually not approved for use during fire restrictions.  Portable metal fire rings are another option, but unless they are heavy and bulky, they may be easily damaged and they take up quite a bit of room in transit.  Portable gas-powered campfires are becoming more popular because of their convenience and sometimes an immunity to fire restrictions.

Campfire tools. The most basic tool is an axe or hatchet. Keep them sharp. A sharp axe will work a lot better and is actually safer than a dull one. A dull axe is more likely to bounce and cause an injury. Before using an axe or hammer, grip the tool by the head and swing it 360 degrees to make sure there are no obstacles or people within range of your swing. Keep a close eye to make sure no one wanders into your active work area. Another inexpensive and handy tool is a splitting wedge. You can use the back or your axe or a large hammer to drive the wedge into the end of a piece of wood to split it into smaller pieces. A saw can be very helpful for cutting wood to fireplace lengths. A sharp chain saw makes very quick work of this task but even a one- or two-person tree saw will be easier than chopping with an axe. For your fireplace at home your tool set probably includes a poker and perhaps a set of tongs. These tools are usually not practical to carry along for camping trips. A sturdy green stick can serve as a temporary poker. Or use your shovel to stir things up and shift wood and coals as needed.  Once you get your fire going you may need special utensils for cooking on the campfire.  Those with long, heat resistant handles are best.  Stainless steel utensils are sturdy but be sure to use pot holders or gloves to prevent burning your hands as the steel is a pretty good conductor of heat.

A few additional notes: be careful what you throw into your campfires. You will see people burning their garbage in their campfires. Sometimes that's OK, but too often garbage contains undesirable elements, such as glass bottles, pressurized containers, tin cans, and batteries. These remain in the ashes and can present future hazards. Pressurized cans, and not just flammables like paint, but even things like whipped cream, cooking spray, and shaving cream are dangerous to put into a fire. As the can heats up the remaining propellant and product expand and can explode, sending shrapnel into anyone or anything nearby. Sometimes even sealed plastic water or soda bottles can explode with surprising force when the trapped air is overheated.  Some elements tossed into trash cans without a second thought may produce toxic fumes or may simply generate unpleasant odors. It is a good idea to keep separate trash bags or trash cans for combustibles and non-combustibles. This will allow you to incinerate much of your trash and reduce what you have to retain in your RV or car until you get home. Most paper plates can be safely burned. Styrofoam and plastic coated items, on the other hand, may give off toxic fumes and you might want to avoid burning them, especially in large volumes. Burning  a few at  time where there is good ventilation shouldn't be a problem.  The main components of styrene (what we call Styrofoam) are hydrogen and carbon, so they mostly give off water vapor can carbon dioxide when they burn but they sometimes contain other elements which could be toxic, especially if they have been dyed or decorated..  Incinerating food scraps in a campfire can avoid foul smells in your RV as rubbish rots in trash cans.  If you are sharing a campfire with other campers, always get their permission before burning trash.  Depending on what is in the trash, it could produce very offensive odors.  Always stand upwind when adding trash to a fire.

Never leave a campfire unattended. It only takes a few seconds for an errant breeze to scatter embers that can result in a wildfire. Proper preparation and care of your fire pit will minimize the potential for problems, but you must still keep an eye on things to avoid serious consequences. If an errant gust sends sparks flying, track them down and stomp them out before they can start more fires. If the wind is persistent, put your fire out.

When you are done, make sure your campfire is out -- dead out! Douse it with water or cover it with sand or dirt. I've often seen coals embedded in ash still hot enough to restart a fire 10 or 12 hours after it had burned down. I've even seen buried campfires come to life in the middle of the night, so be careful. By the way, do NOT urinate on a campfire to put it out. Boy scouts seem to find it amusing but the results are not pleasant. It may help douse the fire but unless you have a bladder the size of a draft horse, it isn't going to have much affect, however it will create a really obnoxious smell that will definitely not improve your popularity with fellow campers!  On the other hand, using a bucket of gray water from your RV holding tank is a good way to put out the fire and make more room in your holding tank.  Unless the gray water is unusually contaminated it will be mostly soapy water and will most likely not produce obnoxious odors.  DO NOT even think of trying it with waste from black water tanks!  Always put your folding chairs away or at least collapse them and lay them down.  I've seen a lot of chairs destroyed when a breeze blew them into an unattended desert campfire after everyone had gone to bed.  Of course the last person should have put the fire out.  Just because there is low risk of the fire spreading in the desert is no excuse.  But, if you're not the last to leave and you don't take your chairs with you, at least lay them down.  There is much less chance of them being blown into the fire that way.

Windy conditions. Campfires and wind are not particularly good companions. While a warm fire is nice on a cold, windy night, there is always a potential for the wind to spread sparks or embers and ignite unwanted and uncontrolled fires, often some distance from the fire. And there is always the problem of smoke blowing in your face.  Sometimes it seems that no matter where you stand, the smoke still finds your.  Besides that, unless you are constantly rotating your body, one side will cook and the other will freeze! You may be able to mitigate wind if you can find a spot on the leeward side of a large rock or other windbreak. But, unless the wind is consistently from one direction, your windbreak could quickly become a liability that traps the smoke from your fire instead of the asset you intended it to be to keep the wind off. Using a portable fireplace with a wind screen, or an "R2D2" will help reduce the risk of uncontrolled sparks and embers. I have seen devices that attach to camp chairs that reflect heat from the campfire under the chair and up the back. The heavy vinyl construction of the reflectors also acts as a good windbreak. Still, the best bet for windy nights may be to snuggle up inside your RV or tent and pursue pleasurable indoor activities and save the campfire for another night when conditions are more favorable. I can think of lots of better things to do than fight smoke blowing in my eyes and face and the wind blowing up my coat and down the back of my neck! Constantly changing winds make it impossible to keep the smoke out of your eyes, significantly reducing the enjoyment of a campfire. When the wind picks up, bank the fires or put them out and head inside for some more intimate indoor recreation.   Wind will also make your campfires burn up fuel more quickly, so expect to add logs more frequently on windy nights.

Campfires in the rain will be more difficult to light and keep going in rain but it can be done, with or without flammable liquids. You will probably need a bigger fire in the rain than you would normally use, both for comfort and to overcome the effects of the rain on the fuel.  A strong fire will stand up to all but the most powerful downpours. You will need to keep it roaring. If it begins to die down, the rain may soon overcome it and you'll be left with a soggy mess of ashes and half-burned sticks. Plan ahead if there is a chance of rain. Keep some tinder and kindling dry so you can get your fire going in the first place. Once it is going strong it will quickly dry damp wood. Wood that has been rained or snowed on will probably dry out and burn. Wood that has been soaking and is water logged might let your fire go out before it dries out enough to burn.  Brush snow off of any wood you add to your fire to minimize the prospect of dousing it.  

Standing around a campfire in the rain will probably not be a very pleasant experience.  Sure, the fire may feel nice on your face, but you will likely get soaked anyway unless you are under a poncho, canopy, or umbrella.  You will lose heat 25 faster in wet clothes and being cold and wet is NEVER a good thing and can even be life threatening.  You can get seriously hypthermic even on a fairly warm summer day in wet clothes.

For additional information about fire safety, please see Fire Safety Articles by Mac The Fire Guy.

Get fired up about campfire safety.

Base Camps

Base camps are a semi-permanent base from which to launch your outdoor recreational activities. They should be conveniently located, with good vehicle access. They should provide convenient access to trails, streams, lakes, etc., depending on the type of activities you'll be participating in.  If you're in a group, they need to be large enough to accommodate all participants. When you are desert camping you want your camp to be visible and easy to find when you're returning from activities, such as hiking or riding OHVs. We use flags attached to our RVs to help identify our camp, both for new arrivals and for returning riders. Collections of RVs can all look very much alike from a distance and you don't want to have to ride from cluster to cluster to find yours. One member of our group flies his Shamrocks off-road motorcycle club flag. I created a simple "DESERT RAT" flag to identify our group of unofficial, family-oriented, recreational riders that I mount on a flag pole that attaches to the tongue of my enclosed motorcycle trailer. At night I add flashing strobe lights on the top of my motorcycle trailer so late arriving members of the group can find us more easily in the dark.

You probably won't be setting up a base camp for a single overnight stay, but they are very helpful for weekends or other extended outings.  They are perfect for OHV or horseback riding and are useful for other roaming activities like hiking, hunting, and fishing.  You can set up a base camp from which to explore many trails or other points of interest.  When you return from a long day you'll have a comfortable spot waiting for you where you can rest and relax and refuel both your ride and your body.  Base camp makes a welcome respite from bad weather.

RVs make great base camps for all kinds of outdoor activities but if you don't have an RV, you can build your base camp around your regular vehicle and your tent. If you're on your own you don't need to worry too much about the size or layout of your own dispersed camping site as long as it meets your personal needs. You can choose the spot you like and set it up any way you desire. You will want it to be functional, well-organized, and easy to find when you return from activities. You want it to be fairly compact.  Your layout and location will be pretty much dictated when you stay in developed campgrounds. But if you are in a group, you need to plan ahead a little bit and organize yourselves to best advantage. It doesn't matter whether you're in a designated group site in a commercial campground or staking out your territory in a remote area when boondocking, there are some fundamental guidelines that will make thing work better. When we set up a base camp for our Desert Rat dirt bike outings in the desert we usually use the old wagon train model and "circle the wagons" around a central fire pit. That keeps everyone fairly close together and we can share one fire, which makes for really great camaraderie and conservation of fire wood at the end of the day. I have a home-made Desert Rat flag and flagpole that fits into a pipe mount on the tongue of my motorcycle trailer, which helps guide other members of our group to the camp. We also put out "Desert Rat" signs along the highway and access road. They are usually just cardboard. I splurged and had some nice painted aluminum signs made up a few years ago with big red reflective arrows but the first time I used them about half of them got stolen. They're too expensive to be disposable so now I only use them close to camp and rely on cheap paper and cardboard signs where I can't keep an eye on them. For cheap and easy signs, I just print them out on my computer printer and slip them into the clear pocket of the cover cut from an old 3 ring binder. You can usually get cheap binders at thrift stores. Look for the ones with clear plastic on the covers. Since they aren't totally sealed they still let rain soak the signs, but most of the time they hold up pretty well.  Installing them with the opening down will help protect them a little bit from moisture (rain or dew).  Make sure you secure the paper inside so it doesn't fall out.  Usually the tacks that fasten the sign to the post take care of that anyway.

Location, location, location is the slogan of real estate agents and developers everywhere. It is also applicable to choosing the site for your base camp. You want a spot that is easily accessible, has enough room for you and any companions, and is easy to locate when returning from activities away from camp. We use flags and road signs to guide people to our camp in the desert during the day and flashing strobe lights at night. You will want your base camp in remote areas to be near enough to roads for easy access but far enough away that you aren't bothered by passing traffic, which can create a lot of noise and kick up a lot of dust and may create safety hazards. When using group sites in developed campgrounds, you will have to pay strict attention to the rules or face ejection or possible fines. Take care to know and follow the rules for primitive camping on BLM and forest service lands too. Just because you're out in the middle of nowhere doesn't mean there aren't any rules.

Group camp sites are available in some developed campgrounds. They will usually have  large, centrally located gathering area with a permanent fire pit and sometimes even rustic seating.  Some even have a "bowery", pavilion, or canopy for protection from sun and and precipitation for group activities.  These special facilities usually require a reservation and may have a fee associated with their use.  Lacking a group site, you may have to reserve multiple individual sites.  It will make activities more efficient and convenient if you can get the individual sites close together.  Camp ground managers will usually try to help you get sites that will work well for your group, but prior reservations might prevent them from being able to give you exclusive use to a bunch of adjacent sites.

When group camping in remote, open camping areas, you'll need to pre-select a spot that is adequate for your group.  Pick a spot that is easy to find and to get to, yet off the main roads and not blocking any roads or trails.   One site we often  used in the desert near California City was on a cul-e-sac -- perfect for easy access without blocking any thoroughfares.  The whole area had once been prepared for a housing development that never happened.  Scout out your site well in advance of your outing so you can be sure of access for all vehicles and sufficient space for your group.   In many open camping areas there are sites that have been used before and may already have a rustic, rock fire ring.  Organize your individual camps around that central fire ring.  If you find yourself in an area without an existing fire ring, try to form your camp around an open area where you can build a fire ring and your campfire won't be at risk of spreading and be sure to properly prepare your fire ring (see Campfire Safety).

Spacing. When joining a group always leave room between your rig or tent and others. You and your neighbors will all need room to unload and maneuver your OHVs or other gear and may want a little privacy. But don't leave TOO much space, which may use up real estate others may need. If you prefer not to camp too close to a specific someone in the group, make sure you leave enough room between your rig and theirs for another rig to fit in -- or camp away from the group. How much space you need to leave depends on the type and quantity of equipment and machinery or livestock each camper has.

Organization. Whether you are camping in an RV or a tent, organize your personal space as well as community space in a logical manner. If you have friends in the group that you usually socialize with, you'll want to be near them. Keep your OHVs and related support stuff (tools, spare parts, fuel cans, riding gear, etc) more or less together near your tent or RV and away from the community fire pit, trails, roads, and other campers. If you are camping in a tent, you'll want to set up your camp upon arrival, creating your kitchen and eating area and setting up your tent and preparing your sleeping bags long before you need to use them. I like to park my OHVs inside the "wagon train" circle and chained or cabled and locked for added security. I've never experienced any theft problems in an OHV camp, but it is better to be safe than sorry. OHVs are tempting targets for young people looking for joyrides and are sometimes the targets of vandalism by anti-off-road interests. I did have a dirt bike I left parked in a designated area while we were doing trail maintenance with the forest service vandalized by such people. Later the rangers caught the same vandals tearing down motorcycle trail signs in the same area and they faced stiff fines. The culprits were dumb enough to drive right into a group of 11 rangers and about 200 motorcyclists with the stolen signs still in the back of their pickup truck!  Duh!  The bikers showed amazing restraint in not pummeling the offenders and the rangers gleefully issued them a fist full of tickets.

Community interests. Sharing a common fire pit means sharing your fire wood and sharing room around the fire. We usually make a common wood pile convenient to the fire where everyone contributes what they brought along and anyone at the fire uses what they need throughout the outing. Sharing room around the fire means not hogging the best spots and making room for anyone else who joins the party. You may have to shuffle positions if the wind changes direction. You'll also want to monitor the wind direction so the smoke doesn't blow into someone's RV or tent. Spontaneous pot luck dinners are always fun. You can drum one up just about any evening and turn it into a party. Each Thanksgiving the Desert Rats had the Granddaddy of all pot lucks for our "Turkey In The Dirt" outing. Admittedly, it wasn't spontaneous but well-planned. We dug a pit and baked turkeys in the pit all day and had previously coordinated other dishes to round out a bountiful feast. One year we had 142 RSVPs and 175 people show up! The sing-a-long has been a campfire staple for decades. Acoustic guitars, banjos, tambourines, and harmonicas fit the campfire ambiance and traditional campfire song choices well. If you don't already know many of the folk music classics that are popular for sing-a-longs, take time to learn some. Some other community considerations include respecting each other's privacy, ensuring the community campfire doesn't create problems for anyone, and making sure group activities don't overwhelm non-participants. One of the best ways to do that is make sure everyone is invited to share in group activities. We found that sometimes it worked well to have two campfires: one for the "grownups" and one for the teenagers. The teen fire was within sight of the main campfire so there was adequate supervision but they were able to have their own music and conversations.  I was amused how often the songs around the teen fire were the same ones we enjoyed around the more traditional "old folks" fire.  If you are planning a large group gathering, consider how you will deal with inclement weather.  At one Turkey In the Dirt we managed by setting up our serving lines inside the enclosed motorcycle trailers generously shared by a couple of participants.  Then everyone returned to their own rigs or tents to eat.  Another time one of the guys brought a couple of really big EZ-ups that he used for activities for the motorcycle club he belonged to and we were able to get everyone out of the rain for our pot luck dinner and subsequent activities.  On occasion we have parked two RVs side by side and stretched large tarps between them to create a protected area.  Having some overhead covering is helpful when you need to escape from the hot sun and pretty essential when its raining, unless you like sitting in wet clothes and eating soggy food!

Setting up a base camp isn't as important for day rides, but for longer excursions (including weekend outings) it is essential and it adds to the convenience and comfort of everyone at any outing. You probably won't want to invest the time and effort it takes to set up a complete base camp for simple day rides.  However, wherever you park your RV or other vehicle becomes your default base camp for short outings. A good base camp can also serve as an emergency center if anyone it the group has problems with their equipment or gets sick or injured. I carry a large first aid kit in my motorhome and let my fellow campers know I am certified in first aid, CPR, and as a Red Cross Professional Rescuer and hold a certificate in Advanced Wilderness Life Support. I have helped splint a couple of broken bones for transport to the nearest hospital Emergency Room and have extracted dozens of cactus spines from riders who experienced the prickly plants too intimately. Superficial burns, bug bites, and road rash are common injuries requiring minor first aid treatment. I long ago stopped counting treatments for minor scrapes, cuts, burns, and blisters. They are just a routine part of just about any outing.  Regardless of the kind of outdoor activities you choose, it would always be a good idea to have basic first aid skills and equipment with you when camping. Even simple injuries such as blisters or splinters can seriously dampen your fun and need immediate attention to prevent infection and minimize discomfort and can occur anytime, during just about any activity.

Sanitation. If you're camping in an RV you have your own personal sanitation facilities, but when you are boondocking, your resources (fresh water and holding tank capacity) are limited.  If you are in a campground with sanitation facilities, take advantage of them. I know the pit toilets in some places can be pretty foul, but better to endure a few minutes there now and then than overfill your RV holding tanks and endure the odors for the rest of the trip -- and possibly weeks thereafter!  I've seen sewage overflows that required all the carpet and padding to be removed and replaced before the odors went away.  If there are no facilities and you are tent camping, move well away from camp and dig a small hole to take care of your needs, then cover it up when you're done. The ladies in your family will probably appreciate having a "port-a-potty" instead of having to use the great outdoors but port-a-potty capacities are very limited. If it fills up you will need to carry the holding tank away from camp to a suitable location, dig a hole, and bury the contents if there is no dump station or pit toilet where you can empty it. Disposing of wastes in this way is frowned upon and in most places is down right illegal. The best place to empty a port-a-potty is a dump station.  If you're in an RV, make sure your dump valves are closed and the cap is tightly installed on the dump fitting. You don't want wastes from your RV polluting your camp site or your neighbors'. In some remote desert locations I've seen people connect a garden hose to a special cap on the dump port to carry gray water away. In many places this practice is strictly prohibited, but it may not be harmful to the environment in places like the open desert if it is done correctly and the waste water is carefully directed away from all campers and where it will not be in any road or trail or drain into any waterway. Local plants may thrive on the extra water.

Lighting. Be careful about lighting up a base camp. You don't want to spoil yours or anyone else's night time experience with too much light. Coleman lanterns and the exterior lights on RVs can provide more than adequate light for most activities. Don't use more than is necessary. You'll just be wasting fuel or batteries and perhaps annoying your fellow campers. I have a pair of small strobe lights I put on the top of my trailer to help guide late arrivals in at night. They're bright enough to be seen from the access road but the height and the intermittent flashing doesn't seriously impact campground ambiance. I've seen high-powered LED strobes designed for the top of flagpoles to serve the same purpose, but they're a little pricey. Mine just plugs into a cigarette lighter type 12-volt receptacle. They were designed to mount on the roof of a vehicle using a big suction cup. I modified the original red, amber, and blue covers using theatrical "gels" to create custom colors unique to our group but to be honest, the colors don't really show up as very distinctive from any distance - but the flashing strobes do! They are are real godsend for late arrivals coming in after dark.  These days you can get powerful LED strobes designed for law enforcement and construction vehicles that would be VERY bright.  That would be great for late arrivals, but might impose on your fellow campers.  Might be all right if they are aimed toward the road and away from camp.

Entertainment. The evening campfire is natural place for sharing stories and talents. Bring along your acoustic guitar, banjo, harmonica, tambourine, etc. I've never seem anyone bring brass instruments, but the traditional folk instruments previously mentioned are perennial favorites. Most people enjoy folk music and singalongs. Be prepared to take requests -- and hope you're not asked to play Long Ago and Far Away!  If you do get such a request it is time to turn over the spotlight to someone else.  Very loud music may have its place at Raves, but it is usually inappropriate and unwanted around the campfire, so leave the electric guitars, amplified keyboards, and brass instruments at home. We sometimes even put a folded towel in the back of the banjo to muffle its bright sound a bit.  Sometimes turning the campfire into a big bonfire can be an exciting group activity, but mostly it just wastes wood.  An appropriately sized fire around which people can gather is more intimate and usually more enjoyable.  The fire needs to be just big enough to accommodate all the people in the group who want to sit around the fire. 

Shared treats. Folks in my Desert Rat group each developed their own specialties they would prepare and pass around the campfire or sometimes take them from family to family. Examples include some rather fancy hors d'œuvres like stuffed jalapenos, cool drinks, and a warm chili and cream cheese dip with corn chips that was especially welcome on chilly nights. Snow cones were always a hit on hot desert afternoons. And don't forget the S'mores! They are a long-standing campfire tradition. Just plan on having gooey marshmallow and melted chocolate everywhere! I've recently found campfire marshmallows the size of racquet balls! Just imagine the amount of gooey stuff those will produce! If you're not careful you could end up like Brer Rabbit and the tar-baby!

Wind breaks (not to be confused with breaking wind). Sooner or later you're going to encounter a windy day in camp. Sometimes, in wooded locations, the trees provide some respite from the wind. We've camped at desert sites among huge boulders that served as partial wind breaks. Consider the possible need for protection from the wind when you choose and layout your campsite to take advantage of trees and rocks if you can. Lacking any natural sources, you may be able to park your RVs to provide some protection for your campfire and other activities. A couple of large EZ-ups can protect quite a few people from sun, wind, and rain. Using RVs as wind breaks has its limitations. First of all, you'll still get wind beneath the vehicles. Secondly, the gaps between and under them may serve as a venturi where the wind velocity is actually amplified. You may be somewhat protected while sitting or standing directly in the shelter of the RV, but the wind coming through the gap may wreak havoc with your campfire and may generate a rather loud and irritating noise. The venturi affect may actually make the wind worse. And remember to park your RV with the front facing the prevailing winds if you can to minimize rocking while you're inside.  Doing so, of course, reduces the effectiveness of the RV as a wind break, but as mentioned before, the gaps between and under RVs may create even more of a problem than if the wind were unrestricted. It may become a tradeoff between stabilizing your RV versus sheltering your central campfire.  You can buy or make wind guards for your camp stoves and BBQs to minimize the effects of wind on cooking.  I've seen times in the desert where the constant wind make it almost impossible to cook on our little portable BBQ and we had to finish the burgers in a fry pan on the stove in the RV.

Sharing is a strong advantage of group base camps. You can share firewood, companionship, expertise, assistance, food, water, fuel, spare parts, labor, knowledge, and entertainment. "There's strength in numbers" is a popular old saying. Camping in a group may deter potential vandalism and even keep wild animals away. Being able to share experience and expertise enhances just about any outing and sometimes can, quite literally, be life-saving. Whether you're learning from someone with more training or sharing your own skills with less practiced campers, it is a rewarding experience.

Variations. As the kids in our Desert Rat group reached their teen years, they often wanted their own campfire, away from the adults and their "old-fogey" music and stories. We often allowed them to set up their own fire, some distance from the main fire, but where anxious parents could still more or less keep an eye on the activities. I was very amused to often find them singing the same songs we traditionally sang around the "old folk's" fire. Some folk music really does have a universal appeal.

Combined RV/tent base camps. While most people will gravitate towards groups that share their camping styles, other shared interests may bring RV and tent campers together in one base camp. Our dirt biking group included people in big motorhomes, small trailers, truck campers, tents, and some just sleeping in their cars. There should not be any problem accommodating the unique needs of all groups, and, in fact, the synergy can be quite helpful, especially when tent campers can set up on the leeward side of an RV to be protected from the effects of wind and rain. And everyone can benefit from shared firewood and camp labor, experience, and companionship.  A spontaneous pot luck dinner is almost always a hit too.

Base camp rocks!