stealth fire advice?

[The Hiker]

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?

 

[Jackthereaper]

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Dakota fire hole should do the trick.

 

[Thor and Broomhilda]

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?

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.

 

[Thor and Broomhilda]

Dakota fire hole!

 

[Coywolf]

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.

 

[happythoughts123]

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.

 

[zesmothe]

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.

 

[Antlered]

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.