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Building A Great Campfire
from: Maxx Adventure TravelThe highlight of any camping trip is often building a good campfire. Though some camping gear makes traditional campfire making look tedious, knowing how to build a camp fire properly could make the difference between life and death in an extreme situation.
In past times that were less complicated, when matches and gas torches were luxuries, building a proper camp fire was an essential part of being outdoors. The camp fire a place of warmth from the cold environment, and where people were able to cook a warm dinner for the family. Night temperatures are very unforgiving, so a camp fires provided everyone a place to gather around and warm up. In addition, a camp fires kept wild animals away since they're not keen on approaching a campfire. That is why camp fires are always left burning into the night.
Making a campfires is a skill is still relevant and essential for modern day campers.
The secret to getting a camp fire going is to start them quickly, which can be done with the three essential elements to start a fire -- heat, oxygen, and fuel.
Though oxygen is all around us, it's not always readily available for a campfire, so you're going to have to arrange the fuel so that it has an adequate air supply. You can supplement this supply by blowing into a cinder or fanning an already blossoming flame.
Heat is usually generated for a campfire with friction. You can use various methods to generate heat such as rubbing two sticks together, using flint stones etc.. However, this won't give you that a glorious fan of flames you're looking for if you don't have the right fuel.
Fuel is what keeps your fire burning, and having the right fuel available is an important part of your efforts to build and maintain a fire. You can't build a fire by applying heat to the logs because this won't work unless you have some tinder, which is any material that is easily combustible and burns quickly and hopefully emits enough heat and gases to start a fire with larger pieces of wood.
The best tinder includes dry sticks, bark, dry leaves or twigs. These kindlings should be used to start the fire and help maintain it, but that will only get the fire to maintain itself if the larger, harder to burn pieces of wood start to burn.
Common Campfire Designs include:
Tepee: Tepees are great for quick fires, and should last well into the night. This design makes use of a lot of tinder, so make sure you have lots available. Longer burning wood is placed and balanced against each other vertically around the tinder. This ensure the heat and gases of the tinder are generated so that they help the larger pieces of wood burn. It's the ideal fire for boiling water and general purpose campfires.
Pyramid: This design is done by building a ‘pyramid' of logs by laying them horizontally on the ground together and then building another layer on top of the next, gradually forming a pyramid. This type of campfire is a bit harder to start up, but the advantage is that it generates a lot of charcoal that you'll use in the future. It burns quite well and is a stable fire.
Parallel: A parallel fire places tinder in between two logs, which makes it an efficient burning fire since the insides of the log burn as well -- having the fire and heat going in a good, snug place between two logs.
Star (Indian)< This is the type of fire usually seen in old Western movies. Logs are laid out like the spokes of a wheel with the tinder placed in the center. This is an easy fire to maintain, although you need to move each ‘spoke' of the wheel towards the middle as the fuel burns up.
There are, of course, other types of campfires, with each one having a specific purpose. However, as with any outdoor skill, creating and maintaining them will require some practice. But remember, do what mothers tell their kids and don't play with fire, but rather, treat it with respect because fire has the power to both save and destroy. Follow all safety precautions when you're finished with your campfire by dousing the flames with water or burying it with dust and dirt.
A fire left unattended could cause serious property damage if you're not careful, so be cautious and you're have a great campfire and camping adventure.
Missouri Camping News
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