Dumbest Question Ever...

Joben said:
I donno...if you're car camping an armfuls of nice seasoned logs could make life easier.

But other than that, yeh pretty silly question.
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Public camping grounds are usually picked clean of firewood.
 
We have an epidemic in this country it is called self-reliant and nature deficent syndrome. More and more American's are ignorant about nature, living in the wilderness, and about how to become self sufficient and self reliant. You can read it in the threads when people say they don't like firearms and cannot see the need for firearms in the "Disneyland" wilderness we all frequent. So it is safe to say from some of the threads and posts I see here I'd say a few of us fall into this category. Those of us who do are trying to find our way while others are not wanting to take the plunge and pay the price to wean themselves from an over-reliance upon hardware, gear, technology, and short cuts. It is rewarding to watch people on this forum grow and master new skills. Myself, I grew up in the outdoors and learned to chop wood both right and left handed with an ax by the time I was ten. I fell my first tree by age 12 and had a firearm by age 14. I spend 2 to 3 months each summer literally living on my own with a buddy in the wilderness during my teenage years.

But for those who haven't had the same experience or opportunities, it isn't their fault. We've created a comfortable, got to have it now, convienent culture which is at odds with waking up cold and having to start a fire by rubbing two sticks together. It is up to us to show them the light before it is too late! Instead of being critical we need to become evangelists!
 
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At Gathering, Rendevouzs, and car camps, I provide seasoned hardwood if you can drive it in. At my last Gathering, we brought wood in, because of accusations of green cutting from my last visit to the area. We could have gathered wood, but having a big pile of seasoned wood, makes bonfires easier, and morning cooking fires faster. When I go back country, no way am I bringing wood. Backpacking goes without saying.

Moose
 
I don't know of any state parks in Texas that allow gathering of firewood of any kind (Legally, at any rate). People do have to bring their own or buy some at the park or a nearby store.
 
:jerkit:Woods and wilderness and camping might need to be defined here everyone. These are relative terms. I myself spent 30 years alone in the Alaska wilderness- defined at over 150 miles from the nearest human. Still… I meet ‘all kinds’ and there are in fact places called ‘the woods’ where it is illegal to cut a tree. Fires must be in designated pits. Ya have to buy firewood. I kid you not. I have met women in my life who defined ‘wilderness’ as anyplace there is not a mall. Camping to some- to most- is in an RV. You know with the 12 volt TV and propane heater. I sell on the internet and have to define all my terms. Such as ‘raw material’ (like for knives) means to me “I think it’s dead- at least it’s not twitching any more” Because some people call ‘raw’ killed cleaned graded dried de oderized cut flat, and if there is still a piece of fur on it (the fang, the claw the horn ) they want a refund. So ya it’s all a matter o f what we are used to where we live and well-- being kind and forgiving as for sure there are areas we would look mighty ignorant. I can kill bears – killed a moose with a knife once- know more about sled dogs then cars – still never drove- you should see me trying to figure out how to use a cell phone. Geez. So I sympathize with people out of their element.
 
milesofalaska said:
:jerkit:Woods and wilderness and camping might need to be defined here everyone. These are relative terms. I myself spent 30 years alone in the Alaska wilderness- defined at over 150 miles from the nearest human. Still… I meet ‘all kinds’ and there are in fact places called ‘the woods’ where it is illegal to cut a tree. Fires must be in designated pits. Ya have to buy firewood. I kid you not. I have met women in my life who defined ‘wilderness’ as anyplace there is not a mall. Camping to some- to most- is in an RV. You know with the 12 volt TV and propane heater. I sell on the internet and have to define all my terms. Such as ‘raw material’ (like for knives) means to me “I think it’s dead- at least it’s not twitching any more” Because some people call ‘raw’ killed cleaned graded dried de oderized cut flat, and if there is still a piece of fur on it (the fang, the claw the horn ) they want a refund. So ya it’s all a matter o f what we are used to where we live and well-- being kind and forgiving as for sure there are areas we would look mighty ignorant. I can kill bears – killed a moose with a knife once- know more about sled dogs then cars – still never drove- you should see me trying to figure out how to use a cell phone. Geez. So I sympathize with people out of their element.[/Do not pay attention to that man behind the curtain! I am OZ, the great and powerful! From the Wizzard of OZ]
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Tuxdad said:
I actually had a lady friend who thought that... I was floored when she had the nerve to argue with me that what was running around in my uncle's front yard was not the same thing as what was packaged in the stores...

I also had a guy at my job, have the nerve to buy some of my firewood from me to go camping with so that he didn't have to buy from someone along the way !!

Takes all kinds to make a world brothers and sisters !! LOL
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the phrase about "fools and their money are soon parted" comes to mind here.

i live in outback queensland, australia.

we constantly get cityfolk (and international folk) out here with absolutely no clue what they are doing or where they are going or how long it could feasably take to get there. people heading down a three day track with barely two days worth of fuel, food and water is a common one .

a lot of our roads are unsealed. please don't drive on them within 48 hours of the last rain (and it's been raining a LOT lately). all you do is cut the track up and get yourself bogged in your "4WD".

then for the next six-twelve months, once the landscape has transformed from sticky, gooey mud to a diamond-hard baked ceramic; we have to drive down roads cut to ribbons by deep, exhaust crushing, suspension testing, bone jarring, undercarriage smashing wheel ruts, which are the subject of bitter complanit by the next batch of tourists.......

/rant.
 
hiwa said:
At the 7-11 near my house , they got bundles ( maybe 5 lbs) of birch firewood for $7

I reckon enough for a camp night's fire outta run about $ 500.:eek:

I'm really glad most of us here are keeping the spirit of woodsmanship alive. It's a skill not taught in school and it's up to us to pass it on to the young ones and others not knowledgeable about such things.

Get them started young , so they don't grow up clueless.
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best post and best pic ever!

every year i make a killing on the labour day long weekend selling prepackaged firewood to city dwellers.

sold over two cords last year at $5 for 5 pieces of wood and some kindling.
 
moosez45 said:
At Gathering, Rendevouzs, and car camps, I provide seasoned hardwood if you can drive it in. At my last Gathering, we brought wood in, because of accusations of green cutting from my last visit to the area. We could have gathered wood, but having a big pile of seasoned wood, makes bonfires easier, and morning cooking fires faster. When I go back country, no way am I bringing wood. Backpacking goes without saying.

Moose
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I still cant believe we burned all that wood.
 
if ur car camping. . it can make it alot easier .. this isnt to dismiss woodcraft/field skills. . specially if your taking along trip cross country and are unaware of where you may be staying and the conditions that exist there (including weather conditions) .. also if car camping having a few duraflame logs in the trunk is a hella easy way to start a fire up (especially if adding other slightly damp wood) .. it can make it easier if you have family along and need to attend to multiple duties. I served my time in the Corps as an 0311 so please save me the rhetoric (yes it is important to pass the skills along as well) .. here's one i'll pass along from my grandfather who passed away at 91 in '06 (grandfather. . he'd seen it. . left home @ 12 to ride the rails and lived life*** from there ,, round the whole world. . from newspaper in the clothes to stay warm to living the hollywood life ,, 26 years Air Force WWII ,, lobster boat up Mass ,, hippie health food store ,, lived w. the monks Tibet in his 70's .. and always traveled. .) when i was little we would hit a campground w. plenty of time to set up (no need to push things he said. . ur always gonna be somewhere.. might as well be at ease w. a lil twinkle in his eye) he'd set the wood - and then soak it all in lighter fluid - and then go on about the day. . come evening. . a couple of matches and a lil paper. . foumph!! .. fire. . he loved it and would crack up laughing watching everybody else trying for longer periods to get there's up .. he was quite the ladies man too. . and this fire trick was the first leasson he gave me. . you set it up ahead and when you start the fire that evening she smile at ur majick skill. . he was right. . everything in life. . is balance. . good to kno how to start a fire w. nothing. . good to know how to start on like majick for a lady and leave the sweatin for later while ur still clean ;) .. and if ur hawaii status w. a couple hundred people surf beach party status .. you hit costco and grab 50 pallets. . to whoever put this up. . not a stupid question. . jus always use ur head but follow ur heart when it comes to an answer. . all the best ,, aloha
 
I come from a long line of woodsman. I grew up hunting, fishing, camping, hiking, and canoeing. I knew I wanted to raise my children the way I was raised, or at least expose them to the things I hold dear and see if they feel the same way. I came across a book entitled Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv and hit paydirt. This book is the absolutely phenomenal! You can buy it for around $10 shipped from Amazon. If you have kids, it will the best $10 you ever spent.
 
If car camping I always carry wood, most of the places you can drive to are pretty picked over for fire wood.

I also really hate to see public primitive camps around my favorite trout stream, lake or hunting area with hacked off stumps, same kind of people that leave their turds behind the camping area with a wad of toilet paper beside it, I guess marking their territory. :barf: Chris
 
Wow, thread resurrection with a definite change in tone.:p
I don't do big "Hawaiian Parties", so I don't need pallets.
I don't like where other people go much, so there's LOT'S of wood when I go. There's still a few entire dead TREES there at my site which haven't been touched, right in the vicinity. There are also huge piles of wood I collected when out there. Cry for the woods out in BC due to logging and paper mills, if you want to, not because I went camping.
I'll think about the ethics of car camping when I get a car, although I'M only going to use the car to get to a place further away, not as a mobile laziness platform.
If they leave toilet paper strewn about, it isn't a very "primitive" camp now, is it?
And it's still a dumb question. My friend would agree with me that he asked an entirely ridiculous question and deserved to be laughed at for at least a while...that's part of what friends do.:)
 
I don't think it's a silly question at all.

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