After a day spent outside, swimming, hiking, fishing, or whatever activity, nothing is as comforting as a warm, crackling campfire.
The campfire is the centrepiece of any campsite. People seem to be drawn towards them like a magnet. A campfire brings people together, whether it’s too warm ourselves, cook or braai, sing, or tell stories.
But it takes more than just throwing some logs into a pit and lighting a match to construct the ideal campfire. Building a proper campfire is an art form that calls for expertise, practice, patience, and the right materials.
Warmth, cooking, and a unique atmosphere are just a few of the many benefits of having a campfire. Heat production, cooking potential, and burn time are just a few of the ways in which different campfire styles and types affect one another. Listed here are five of the most typical varieties of campfires. Take advantage of your next camping trip to try out a few of them.
The name “tepee,” one of the traditional fire shapes, derives from the shelter-like shape it mimics.
Because of the tepee fire’s large diameter and circular base, oxygen is abundantly available. Lay out a sizable bundle of tinder to start a tinder fire. Next, create a tepee shape above the embers using small pieces of kindling. Keep adding bigger sticks to the tepee framework as the fire spreads.
Leaning more sticks against the frame to feed the fire as it burns is one of the advantages of having a tepee fire. People typically use a tepee fire for quick warming or quick culinary tasks, like boiling water, because it burns through wood quickly.
Cook a meal over a tepee fire only after the wood has burned through and the cone has collapsed. To maintain the fire, place a small pan or pot on the coal bed and add sticks or twigs as needed.
Try a log cabin layout for a long-lasting and simple-to-maintain fire.
As you would while building a cabin, start by stacking wood in the following manner: arrange two pieces’ parallel on the bottom and two perpendiculars on top. Once the fire reaches the appropriate height, repeat the procedure, lay kindling and tinder in the center square, and light it.
For the bottom, use your wider wood pieces, and for the top, use your lighter, thinner pieces. Additionally, you can try tapering the design as it becomes taller, which will make it resemble a pyramid rather than a cabin.
The logs constantly add fresh fuel to the coals as they burn by collapsing on top of one another. A log cabin fire is a better option for evenings when you want to spend a few hours around a crackling flame because it tends to burn more slowly than a tepee.
Similar to the log cabin style, the platform fire’s primary purpose was cooking. With a platform fire, you stack the logs closer together and start the fire from the top rather than the bottom, which is the primary distinction between the two methods.
Because it starts at the top of the wood, the fire burns down the logs rather than up them. This results in the creation of a stable, level surface of hot coals, perfect for cooking. With pots and pans directly on the coals, the fire will continue on its own.
The first step in creating a platform campfire is to arrange three or more pieces of wood on the ground. Put three or more on top, lining up with the bottom layer. Once the fire is at least three levels high, continue adding wood. Next, place Kindling and Tinder on top of the platform.
The star fire can be the perfect fix if your wood supply is running short. It uses solid logs that burn slowly at the ends to build an efficient and long-lasting fire.
First, collect four or five logs; any length will do. Light a small tepee fire with kindling, then pull the logs around it so that the ends point in opposite directions from the fire, resembling the spokes of a wheel or the points of a star. The ends of the logs will catch fire from the central tepee fire. As they burn, move the logs toward the center of the fire, replacing any previously consumed ones.
If you’ve ever gone camping in windy conditions, you know how frustrating it can be to make or keep a fire going in strong gusts. It might feel like you’re always fighting the weather to keep the fire going long enough to cook meals and stay warm.
The next time you find yourself outside in a strong wind, consider making a lean-to fire. A lean-to, using its own wood as a windbreak, shields your fires from annoying gusts.
Locate or set down a heavy log on the ground, facing away from the wind, and arrange your tinder against it. If you lean the kindling against the log so that it covers the tinder, it will catch fire when you light the tinder and begin to slowly burn the log. When the fire becomes big enough, add another full-sized piece of wood. Gradually add larger sticks to the fire to build it up.
Before you leave for a camping trip, make sure you pack or will have access to the supplies below.
Once you’ve gathered your supplies, you’re ready to begin building your campfire. Follow these steps to build a campfire on your next trip:
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