Campfires Should Be Designed to Delight — and then Disappear

Little in the wilderness experience quite compares to sitting around a warm campfire after a day on the trail. Crackling embers, shimmering luminescence, and radiant warmth have an almost primal attraction. 

When you take advantage of our teen leadership expeditions, adult leadership expeditions, or our high school summer semester, you’ll experience many campfires.

Whether you’re toasting marshmallows, sharing stories, debriefing the day’s group-based activities, or simply gazing into the glow, a campfire creates an intimate connection to nature, to others, and to oneself.

For those of us who work in outdoor education and adventure-based programming, the impact of a campfire on our students must include consideration of the environmental impact of these moon-lit activities. In this blog post, we explore why people are so drawn to campfires and then we share tips on how to enjoy them without leaving a lasting trace.

Appreciating the Appeal of Campfires

People are naturally drawn to campfires, and for good reason — actually several good reasons. Here are some of the qualities that make campfires so alluring

• Physical warmth: The heat from a fire provides tangible comfort, especially in colder weather, harkening back to our ancestors’ reliance on fire for survival.
• Emotional comfort: A campfire creates a cozy space amid the wilderness and open sky — a space that’s conducive to relaxation and reflection.
• Safety and protection: Firelight offers a sense of security by illuminating the darkness, but don’t count on your campfire keeping wild animals at bay. Truth be told, a fire may repel some wildlife and have no effect on others.
• Sensory experience: The sights, sounds, and smells can be meditative and calming.
• Social bonding: Sitting around a campfire encourages conversation, storytelling, and shared experiences, fostering a sense of togetherness and connection with others.
• Nostalgia: Campfires often evoke memories of childhood camping trips, family gatherings, and positive experiences, creating a sense of familiarity and comfort. 

Minimizing the Environmental Impact of Campfires

Ideally, campfires will leave lasting impressions on our hearts and minds. What we don’t want them to do is leave a lasting impact on the natural environment. Before building a campfire, consider the potential damage it can cause to the natural landscape. In fact, follow these best practices to minimize the environmental impact of your next campfire:

• Minimize your use of campfires overall. Use a lightweight stove for cooking and enjoy a candle lantern for light instead of relying solely on campfires for light and cooking. (Curious to know more about camping stoves? Read Stay Sharp In The Offseason By Following the Way of the Farmer, here on the NCOAE blog.)
• Check for any burn bans in your area and gauge the fire danger with respect to your location, time of year, and weather conditions. Also check for fire restrictions from the agency that manages the area, such as park administration. (The U.S. Bureau of Land Management maintains a restrictions page on its website that’s regularly updated with such restrictions.)
• Use established fire rings, pans, or mound fires where fires are permitted. Later in this post, we provide basic instructions for creating a mound fire.
• Keep fires small.
• Use only sticks from the ground that can be broken by hand. When selecting wood, follow the 3 D’s: Dead, Down, and Dingy. Don’t remove wood if the harshness of growing conditions for trees and shrubs in the area means regeneration of wood sources can’t keep pace with the demand for firewood.
• Burn all wood and coals to ash and put out campfires completely. Then scatter the cool ashes.

Wilderness Basics: Building a Mound Fire

When a fire ring is unavailable, a mound fire may be an alternative. A mound fire is a fire built on a pad of soil, sand, or gravel that protects the underlying surface from the heat of the fire. The advantage of the mound fire is that it can be built on various surfaces — anything from flat exposed rock to an organic surface such as duff (decaying leaves and branches) or grass.

Construction of a mound fire can be accomplished using simple tools: a garden trowel, a large stuff sack (for collecting and carrying the soil), and a ground cloth or plastic garbage bag. To build a mound fire, take the following steps:

1. Collect mineral soil, sand, or gravel from an already disturbed source. The root hole of a toppled tree is one such source. (Mineral soil is earth without organic matter, such as twigs or leaves, which can burn.)
2. Lay a ground cloth (or sheet of plastic) on the fire site that’s several inches larger in diameter than the fire you’re planning. The ground cloth should be larger than the fire to accommodate the coals that form as the fire grows. (The ground cloth or plastic makes cleaning up the fire much easier.)
3. Spread the soil over the ground cloth and form a flat-topped mound 3 to 5 inches thick over the entire ground cloth. The thickness of the mound is critical to insulate the ground cloth and underlying ground from the heat of the fire. 
4. Build your fire atop the mound, being careful to keep it a few inches within the perimeter of the mound to allow for spreading coals.

As the spring, summer, and fall camping seasons approach, we encourage you to get out and enjoy nature, including building memories around a campfire. Do your part by following these precautions to protect the environment. In that way, you are ensuring that future generations can continue to enjoy timeless campfire traditions without leaving a lasting mark.

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About the Author: Cameron “Cam” Francisco, MEd, is the Associate Director of Outdoor Education at The National Center for Outdoor & Adventure Education (NCOAE). Prior to joining the team at NCOAE, Cam spent 19 years as an independent school educator and administrator. A member of the Association for Experiential Education (AEE), Cam is a certified Wilderness First Responder (WFR) and is certified in CPR by the Red Cross. His hobbies include fishing, soccer, skateboarding, hiking, and camping.

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