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Camping Tech: Campfires
Howdy,
Want to learn how to build a fire pit or campfire next time you go camping? Its not that hard and you don't need any fancy tools, supplies or techniques! You can even cook on your campfire if you get creative! If you have a big enough back yard, you can build a stone fire pit there too.
The hardest part about making a campfire or stone fire pit is finding (or buying) the wood!
Here's what you do:
If you have an open space with no flammable materials around and a surface you can light a fire on, you can simply build a stone fire pit on the ground. Appropriate surfaces would be dry dirt, gravel, or sand. It helps first to use your trusty shovel to make a small depression in the ground. This helps to hold your firewood and prevent the fire from spreading or falling to the sides.
Alternatively, if you want to get fancy, or if you don't want to dig, you can find a bunch of large rocks to form a campfire ring to contain the wood and limit it from spreading. Simply arrange the rocks in a circle to build a stone fire pit.
Now your simple campfire or stone fire pit are ready to fill with wood and to ignite!
Campfires are fun simply for their spectacle, their warmth, their ambiance and their aroma. But you can even cook on your campfire! There are several ways to cook when you build a fire pit or campfire but here are a few quick ideas. First of all, the simplest fire pit cooking is with long metal skewers. Load them up with whatever food you want to eat, game birds, hot dogs, sausages, etc...then just slowly turn them near the fire (not IN the fire or they will burn) until they are done! Its that easy, but your arms may get tired. Roasted marshmallows can be made this way as well.
A slightly more elaborate way to cook on your campfire is when you build a stone fire pit. Bring along a grill grate (you can just pull the one off your trusty old grill at home) and arrange the stone fire pit so that the stones are arranged just a bit closer than the grill grate. Once you have a nice fire going (or ideally when you have a good core of wood embers) you can throw the grill on top and cook your food! Even more elaborate is to rig up a metal tripod to hang pots or roasts above your campfire for some serious campfire cooking!
Good luck building your campfire or stone fire pit. Remember safety first though! Never build a fire pit on or near flammable materials and if you aren't going to use a mesh lid or cover, keep your fire clear of flammable materials or structures so that burning embers don't hit them!
Enjoy!
Want to learn how to build a fire pit or campfire next time you go camping? Its not that hard and you don't need any fancy tools, supplies or techniques! You can even cook on your campfire if you get creative! If you have a big enough back yard, you can build a stone fire pit there too.
The hardest part about making a campfire or stone fire pit is finding (or buying) the wood!
Here's what you do:
If you have an open space with no flammable materials around and a surface you can light a fire on, you can simply build a stone fire pit on the ground. Appropriate surfaces would be dry dirt, gravel, or sand. It helps first to use your trusty shovel to make a small depression in the ground. This helps to hold your firewood and prevent the fire from spreading or falling to the sides.
Alternatively, if you want to get fancy, or if you don't want to dig, you can find a bunch of large rocks to form a campfire ring to contain the wood and limit it from spreading. Simply arrange the rocks in a circle to build a stone fire pit.
Now your simple campfire or stone fire pit are ready to fill with wood and to ignite!
Campfires are fun simply for their spectacle, their warmth, their ambiance and their aroma. But you can even cook on your campfire! There are several ways to cook when you build a fire pit or campfire but here are a few quick ideas. First of all, the simplest fire pit cooking is with long metal skewers. Load them up with whatever food you want to eat, game birds, hot dogs, sausages, etc...then just slowly turn them near the fire (not IN the fire or they will burn) until they are done! Its that easy, but your arms may get tired. Roasted marshmallows can be made this way as well.
A slightly more elaborate way to cook on your campfire is when you build a stone fire pit. Bring along a grill grate (you can just pull the one off your trusty old grill at home) and arrange the stone fire pit so that the stones are arranged just a bit closer than the grill grate. Once you have a nice fire going (or ideally when you have a good core of wood embers) you can throw the grill on top and cook your food! Even more elaborate is to rig up a metal tripod to hang pots or roasts above your campfire for some serious campfire cooking!
Good luck building your campfire or stone fire pit. Remember safety first though! Never build a fire pit on or near flammable materials and if you aren't going to use a mesh lid or cover, keep your fire clear of flammable materials or structures so that burning embers don't hit them!
Enjoy!
A canvas campateer
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