So I almost had to camp out on the way home but I got lucky with the rides, but my plan was to wander into some dense woods a ways and have a fire for the night. What advice do you have for keeping a fire undetected at night?
stealth fire advice?
- Thread starter The Hiker
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- advice fire wilderness living
Dakota fire hole should do the trick.
Small fire, bigger isn't better. No wet sticks or green leaves they create smoke. Dig a 6 inch hole a foot in diameter line it with rocks.
Just to add:
-some fuels create more smoke than others. The more resinous the fuel, the more smoke. The harder the wood, usually, it will create less smoke.
-grass creates less smoke than pine needles
-the more things around you for the light of the fire to reflect off of, the more people will see you from a distance
-ALWAYS clear the area around your fire of fuel. I have seen this go wrong in homebum camps SO many times. You dont want to be the asshole who starts a 50,000 acre forest fire....like the assholes around Santa Barbra this year.
-some fuels create more smoke than others. The more resinous the fuel, the more smoke. The harder the wood, usually, it will create less smoke.
-grass creates less smoke than pine needles
-the more things around you for the light of the fire to reflect off of, the more people will see you from a distance
-ALWAYS clear the area around your fire of fuel. I have seen this go wrong in homebum camps SO many times. You dont want to be the asshole who starts a 50,000 acre forest fire....like the assholes around Santa Barbra this year.
If you're up in some woods several hundred feet from a road or whatever, its pretty unlikely that anyone will know. Don't be paranoid.
I've actually found that if you can find dried animal droppings in the woods or so you can burn whatever methane is still trapped in there to make a smokeless fire.
If you've the materials, I've used alcohol stoves for this reason. A very dull blue flame that's nearly invisible by day, hard to see at night. Methanol/HEET is almost scentless, and doesn't make your stuff stink like white gas if spilled on it. With a cleverly built shield that isn't reflective, it's likely as stealth as it gets.