Firewood, What do you Bring or use

[NMWildcat]

Originally Posted by itat

If I have leftover would that I've bought at the campground I do not bring it home unless I'm camping 10 miles away from home. If I leave it on my site I'm leaving it for the next occupant of that site, not for somebody else. I'm paying it forward.

It's not like leaving your junk at the curb at home for the local junk collectors to take overnight. Have a little class people.

It's exactly like leaving your unwanted junk at the curb! So if a fellow camper at another site wants to use your thrown away wood, he has no class? You left it to be used. I think this idea that discarded wood left at a campsite belongs to the campsite is interesting thinking

[dalford]

Originally Posted by GreenImp

Question for those that have propane fire pits and roast marshmallows with them. Are fallen marshmallows a problem that requires cleaning/removal?

Better yet, should you leave some marshmallows behind for the next camper..

But of course you should pick up fallen marshmallows. Nothing worse (well almost) than having one of those things stuck to the bottom of your shoe.

[gspot01]

Im just wondering what makes the dude who arrives at your site five days from now more deserving of your leftover wood than the guy next to you who will be there tonight and tomorrow night and could use it too.

This weekend there was a stack of wood exactly halfway between my site and the one next door. He wasn't using it, and it didn't clearly belong to him. It was there when I got there. Who's entitled to it? Should we have shared it? (I brought my own and didn't use it. He never had a fire and didn't use it either. It was still there when I left this afternoon.)

I think leftover firewood should be treated like any other wood lying around (branches, trunks, etc. ) Whoever wants to walk around and gather it up... I don't see any shame in it, although I've never done it. I might think twice now, however, if people are gonna look down on me.

[itat]

Originally Posted by NMWildcat

It's exactly like leaving your unwanted junk at the curb! So if a fellow camper at another site wants to use your thrown away wood, he has no class? You left it to be used. I think this idea that discarded wood left at a campsite belongs to the campsite is interesting thinking

If I leave my wood on my site, I leave it beside the fire pit, not at the roadside. If I want to give it to a neighbor I'lll do that. I'm not throwing it away or discarding it, I'm giving it to the next person on my site. If someone goes around the campground and scrounges wood from other sites IMO it's poor etiquette.

[NMWildcat]

Originally Posted by itat

If I leave my wood on my site, I leave it beside the fire pit, not at the roadside. If I want to give it to a neighbor I'lll do that. I'm not throwing it away or discarding it, I'm giving it to the next person on my site. If someone goes around the campground and scrounges wood from other sites IMO it's poor etiquette.

So with that logic, the next person using that site is 'scrounging' your thrown away wood. Guess we will just agree to not understand each other's thinking. But know if I camp next to you and you leave wood, I am going to use it

[SidecarFlip]

I take my chainsaw with me and cut it as I need it. Hatchet and splitting wedge too. I do camp primitive, as in off road.

[itat]

Originally Posted by NMWildcat

So with that logic, the next person using that site is 'scrounging' your thrown away wood. Guess we will just agree to not understand each other's thinking. But know if I camp next to you and you leave wood, I am going to use it

No, as I said in my previous post I'm paying it forward to a specific person and they are accepting my gift, not scrounging.

I understand what you're saying though, and in fact that may well be happening without my knowing it. So I guess in the future I should donate it to someone of my choice personally rather that leaving it up for grabs by anyone inclined to just walk onto another person's site and scrounge it.

[MacGumbo]

I just cut down the largest tree next to my campsite then spend the whole first day cutting it up with a very loud chain saw and log splitter. I then sell it to the campers at just under the price the campground sells it. If anyone tries to come and take some while I'm still occupying the campsite, I chase them away with crossbow. Just before I leave, I take the remaining leftovers and throw them way out in the woods or in the water.

[dalford]

I really haven't given this much thought but I think if someone checks out of the campground it is not their site anymore. So I don't get the logic that wood left on a vacated campsite still belongs to the vacated camper.

[boondocking]

Originally Posted by dea49

I just cut down the largest tree next to my campsite then spend the whole first day cutting it up with a very loud chain saw and log splitter. I then sell it to the campers at just under the price the campground sells it. If anyone tries to come and take some while I'm still occupying the campsite, I chase them away with crossbow. Just before I leave, I take the remaining leftovers and throw them way out in the woods or in the water.

Good for you!
Don't want someone else scrounging that wood.

[Velosprout]

Propane is not a campfire for me. I cannot see setting around a liquefied-petroleum flame whilst enjoying a fine cigar, libations and engaging conversation. The crackling and sizzling sounds, intermittent jostling of the logs with the steel poker we always carry, moving chairs about to avoid the moving smoke currents, and the smell of the burning wood are all essential to the experience, and not to be duplicated by propane or pellets.

I usually carry one sealed bag of USDA approved kiln-dried firewood to my destination. That lets me have one fire the night of arrival and buy locally the next day, without providing entomological transportation.

I did see a county park campsite this year in Wisconsin that had a smoke-free campsite, with no fires allowed. The way this is trending, we will soon be watching videos of a campfires on an outside TV or smartphones while warming marshmallows in our armpits.

Wood (and the attendant insects) are transported daily by landscapers, homeowners, home supply stores, gardeners, nurseries, firewood purveyors, tree service companies, utility companies, and by water through rivers and lakes. The insects are transported in mulch, fallen wood, timber for pulp and lumber, firewood, live nursery stock, and even old demolished structures. The relatively smaller amount of wood transported by recreational campers probably won't make a difference. While I won't contribute to the problem myself by transporting non kiln-dried lumber or firewood any distances, ultimately all of these bans will be lifted as the infestation spread will continue unabated. With no places left unaffected, a ban will no longer make any sense.

[Terier]

Donating it to someone specific is a good idea. I also don't see anything wrong with picking up fire wood left behind by another RVer. Generally speaking it's nice to share when there's more than just a few pieces of wood.

[howie70]

Originally Posted by itat

No, as I said in my previous post I'm paying it forward to a specific person and they are accepting my gift, not scrounging.

So who is that person? You know them? I'm guessing you don't. So you're actually just leaving it for the next random person that will occupy your site. Who may not even show up for 3,4,5 days or so. There may be a chance of rain over the few days that it is sitting there, or the chance that the campground itself will take it.
I can see why it would be just awful for some one who is actually there camping to use it after you discarded it.

[Dave Lyon]

The Provincial Parks in Ontario tell you not bring firewood, however, it is not enforced, that I've seen. I sometimes take my own wood, I have a wood-stove and the wood from home is mostly maple, oak and yellow birch.

Ironically, my firewood is transported two hours south to me and I carry it back up north to camp.

When I know that a local is selling quality wood close to the park I will buy from them. I found this local and he charged me $30 for a box width and box high of birch. I always by from him when in the area.

[itat]

Originally Posted by howie70

So who is that person? You know them? I'm guessing you don't. So you're actually just leaving it for the next random person that will occupy your site. Who may not even show up for 3,4,5 days or so. There may be a chance of rain over the few days that it is sitting there, or the chance that the campground itself will take it.
I can see why it would be just awful for some one who is actually there camping to use it after you discarded it.

Leaving it to a random person? Yes, and that's exactly the point of "paying it forward". Like paying for the coffee of the person behind you at the coffee shop. There is an intended person to receive it, not just anyone walking by. I think of camp sites like rental accommodations. If someone isn't renting the site, why are they on the site pilfering from it? If I want just anyone to take it, I'll leave it beside the campground road not in the back corner of the site by the fire pit.

Where we camp at provincial parks the sites are generally booked solid for the entire summer - you have to book 5 months in advance - and I can see from the reservations site that someone is coming in to the site that afternoon.

No sense taking this discussion any further, I seem to be the only one who thinks this way. So it must be me.

[spock123]

I'm happy when I get to a campground that doesn't allow campfires. Or if I am beside someone that builds campfires then I'm doing a rain dance. DW has allergies and campfires right besides our camper makes for bad nights for her. I like a fire and I think I'll try out the propane fire pits, I'll just look for a small one


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[CaptnJohn]

X 2000

[Jeff_and_Abby]

itat ... not just you.
"Society" is different today, that it was twenty, thirty, forty years ago.
Can't vouch for nowadays, but back when we were in scouting, it was more about skills and leadership than about "social justice" and alternative lifestyles.
POINT BEING ... in Scouting, there was the concept of leaving a "Courtesy Woodpile." You know, leave the campsite better than you found it. At some of the more mature Boy Scout ranches (for those who know what PHILMONT was all about ... ) you would leave enough dry wood, kindling, tinder ... so that the next group of hikers, who like you were a weeks hike from base camp, would be able to get the dinner fire going even if it was pouring rain that day.
These Modern Times, are not by their mere existence an improvement.
/* rant off */
- Jeff

[SidecarFlip]

Originally Posted by dea49

I just cut down the largest tree next to my campsite then spend the whole first day cutting it up with a very loud chain saw and log splitter. I then sell it to the campers at just under the price the campground sells it. If anyone tries to come and take some while I'm still occupying the campsite, I chase them away with crossbow. Just before I leave, I take the remaining leftovers and throw them way out in the woods or in the water.

Sounds like you are having a fantasy moment....I camp in the woods with plenty of deadfall and I cut up DEAD down trees and use them for a campfire, not standing timber in as much as I own the timber and the land I camp on. I split logs manually btw., an I only cut what I use during the time I'm there because when I camp again I can cut more.

Other than my fire spot and tire tracks in the grass, you cannot tell I was there. I leave it like I found it, always.

I don't stay in a campground...ever. I look at staying in a campground like staying home with neighbors, why do it. I can 'camp' in my backyard just as easily, my 'backyard' is 40 acres.

Never paid a 'fee' to camp either, other than the real estate taxes on the land I own.

Next.....

[stellaandspike]

Think the original post was not necessarily about someone collecting the wood that was left to use it at the campground. Was about collecting all the wood and leaving. Big difference. When I leave wood I leave it for someone to use at the campground, not take home.