Campfire wood

[ChadMc]

We have a travel trailer and visit a bunch of different campsites throughout the spring and summer. A fire is pretty much essential for a camping trip haha. Every time we buy a few packs of the wood they sell and it’s always terrible. The last place we went to sold bundles of red oak. It was split huge and probably was above 30%. It sucked! After that we got a solo stove cause we were sick of this crap wood smoking in the fire ring. Also after our last trip I started a stack just for our camping wood. I split it smaller and I’ll stack a good bit in the truck when we go again this season. Anyone else do this? Or am I just a firewood obsessed nut? Ha

 

[MongoMongoson]

Around here we are typically not allowed to bring any outside wood to established campsites. I can't remember the rule, as I normally stay at more rustic sites and can gather local dead wood. I would consider pallet wood, though. I recently cut up a bunch of pallet chunks to use for top-down fire starting.

For your purposes, that might be the ticket. It would sure pack nice for traveling, and would burn perfectly in a solo stove. I don't think I would roast marshmallows over that fire, though. The pallets I grabbed were heat treated only, but who knows what has been spilled on them.

 

[MongoMongoson]

Also this reminds me of a campfire wood transportation incident, from maybe more than 10 years ago.

Wisconsin started their crackdown by saying no wood from out of state. I went camping with my cousins, who still lived in the UP of Michigan. We were at a State Forest campground in Northern WI. My cousin brought a nice stash of dry, split back cherry for the camp fire. When the ranger saw it:

Ranger: "I see your Michigan plates, where did that wood come from?"

Cousin: "It came from my camp, near Amasa."

Ranger: "Well, I am sorry but we no longer allow any out-of-state wood at State Forest campgrounds. I am going to have to confiscate that wood."

Cousin: "What are you going to do with it?"

Ranger: "I am going to have to burn it."

Cousin: "But that's what I was going to do!"

I get the crackdown on transporting firewood... but they didn't stop the logging trucks or trains. The first place I ever noticed stands of dead ash were all along a train track in north east Wisconsin.

 

[ChadMc]

Also this reminds me of a campfire wood transportation incident, from maybe more than 10 years ago.

Wisconsin started their crackdown by saying no wood from out of state. I went camping with my cousins, who still lived in the UP of Michigan. We were at a State Forest campground in Northern WI. My cousin brought a nice stash of dry, split back cherry for the camp fire. When the ranger saw it:

Ranger: "I see your Michigan plates, where did that wood come from?"

Cousin: "It came from my camp, near Amasa."

Ranger: "Well, I am sorry but we no longer allow any out-of-state wood at State Forest campgrounds. I am going to have to confiscate that wood."

Cousin: "What are you going to do with it?"

Ranger: "I am going to have to burn it."

Cousin: "But that's what I was going to do!"

I get the crackdown on transporting firewood... but they didn't stop the logging trucks or trains. The first place I ever noticed stands of dead ash were all along a train track in north east Wisconsin.

Ha! I get it also but it’s a funny law. There not to strict around here. All the ash is already dead but now we have that lantern fly. You would also think if your transporting the wood once seasoned there no more risks of bugs.

 

[duramaxman05]

I used to stack 2 rows of wood in the front of my truck when we had a bumper hitch trailer. Now with the 5th wheel and short bed, I am only able to stack 1 row in the front and throw a fee pieces here and there. We never had a problem with taking wood anywhere. They told us to take back with you what you bring. On the wood you got, it depends on what time of year it was cut and how long it has been drying. We have never had a problem with starting a fire and keeping it going. We been camping since I was a couple of years old and YES, a fire is a requirement for camping. Lol.

 

[hickoryhoarder]

If you want good campfire wood you usually have to take your own. I've seen kiln dried at stores, but when I've used it it's not very impressive.

 

[TheAardvark]

If you don't have a fire, you aren't camping.

 

[Rusty18]

Every year at scout camp in the middle of July the first thing we did was ...make a fire. And we usually kept it going the whole week. 90F and 90%+ humidity and we were the only troop with a camp fire and dry clothes/towels.

Yes occasionally we’d loose a towel or two to the campfire gods...they need their sacrifices too you know!

 

[firefighterjake]

All of my "junk" wood goes into my camping fire stack . . . mostly gnarled, twisted pine that just wouldn't fit very well in the woodstove. I think I have enough camp fire wood however to last me for several summers . . . even if I was camping all summer long.

 

[shortys7777]

I bring it. I also bring cut pallet wood sometimes. I usually keep it out of view. No one has ever asked me if I have firewood on hand. I have no problem telling them it came from land in the certain state. My parents live 7 minutes from NH and we camp there. Most of the wood is dead ash from the woods behind them. We load half a trailer fathers day weekend every year. No one has ever even looked at our vehicles coming in.

 

[GreenMountainBoy]

Our experience with wood purchased on-site at state parks has been highly variable, although many parks are going to covered storage, which has made wet wood less of a problem. That said, I do have recommendations to nudge the odds in your favor a bit.

1. Never purchase wood that's been pre-stacked on a rack or loaded in a wheelbarrow. You're rarely getting as much as if you stack or load it yourself, and with the prices they charge now, you want to get your money's worth.
2. Know what kinds of wood you're selecting. If you can't tell pine from oak, you're cheating yourself. Not to mention that wonderful taste a pricey steak gets when cooked over hemlock. Mmmmmm....
3. This goes to a point someone else made. Splitting you wood into smaller pieces will get you a quicker, hotter fire, even if the wood is wet So sharpen your hatchet and bring along an axe to pound it with.
4. Pick the straightest grain wood they have with the fewest (hopefully zero) obvious knots. Nothing is more fun than struggling to split a gnarly piece of whatever, especially when you see that I finished splitting all my wood ten minutes ago and am well into cooking that pricey steak.

The whole "don't transport insects" thing bothers me to no end. We live seven miles from the border of a state we camp in frequently, but we're not supposed to transport our wood across the state line. Yet we can go eight miles, be out of state, purchase wood there, then travel the length of the state (250 miles) with said wood, all while remaining in compliance with their "rule". Does anyone want to seriously make the argument that ash borers or whatever stop at state lines? They don't, and I won't either. Sooner or later, regardless of what precautions are taken, bugs will expand to fill their range as long as they have the habitat they need (a certain tree, food, or type of climate). I think we have better stuff to work on as a society than inadvertent transport of bugs across state lines.

 

[Caw]

All of my "junk" wood goes into my camping fire stack . . . mostly gnarled, twisted pine that just wouldn't fit very well in the woodstove. I think I have enough camp fire wood however to last me for several summers . . . even if I was camping all summer long.

I do the same. I have a pallet wrapped with 4' tall heavy duty deer wire fencing and make bins. I just chuck super uglies or long pieces in there and cover with a tarp for firepit days. No need to worry about stacking it and each bin holds about half a cord.