I am new to backcountry camping and have been reading up on places to go in MI. I haven't found any place that allows open fires. My husband and I would like to go camping where we can have an open fire and not have to be in a populated campground. It seems like the only places in MI we can have a fire are in regulated campgrounds or in places where only stoves are permitted. We are not interested in using a stove. Any suggestions?

I know you have some trees back there. In the west we can call the Forest Service or BLM depending on the area of jurisdiction (sp).
Duane

In this day and age of Leave No Trace and Prevent Forest Fires (the last not actually a great idea, except that fires do cause loss of life and property), the campfire is becoming a thing of the past. Out here in the Pacific NW where I live, either everything is too wet to burn or, during the summer months, it's too dry to allow open fires.

There are certain advantages to the stove, including no blackened pots, no searches for fuel, no smothering in smoke from wet fuel and enjoying the stars at night!

I am afraid I must agree with OM. Open campfires are becoming a thing of the past, except for emergencies. There is a long history of disastrous forest conflagrations sparked by escaped camp fires.

I find lightweight stoves, of which there are numerous types, far safer, quicker, and cleaner, although perhaps not as picturesque.

Thanks for the info. I fully support LNT, but it is a little disappointing that the regulations don't allow ppl to have an open fire if weather conditions permit. I am having a hard time imagining camping without a campfire

I don't know, but this might help with imagining life without a fire. If you're a fan of Colin Fletcher, there's a section in the Complete Walker where he talks about discovering what it was like to do without a fire. His description, for me at least, made camping without a fire sound almost as romantic as camping with a fire. Reading it might help.

Lkling,

Don't know about Michigan, but you are not too far from Ontario and I believe all our provincial parks allow fires in established campsites. I canoe in both Frontenac and Algonquin regularly, and my canoe partner is a fire builder (brings saw and axe). I am virtually certain the same rules apply in the Quetico, and I believe there is at least one provincial park near Sarnia (Port Huron).

best, jcp

I found this listing of the causes of forest fire from the Virginia Dept. of Forestry.

Cause Percent
Open Burning 30
Arson 20
Smokers 14
Misc.
(house, vehicle, aircraft, etc.
that spread to the forest) 11
Children 9
Equipment Use 7
Railroads 5
Lightning 3
Campfires 1

To prevent forest fires, it would make more sense to ban houses than to ban campfires.

Recently, there was a fire in Colorado caused by a camp stove. Liquid stoves need the same care as a campfire. Maybe more for a white gas stove.

Rather than looking for information here, I'd suggest calling the National Forest Service in the area. I couldn't find any special restrictions on backcountry fires.

Lkling,

Just did quick ck. There are at least a half dozen provincial parks within 100 km (50 miles or so) of Sarnia (Port Huron), and the same for Detroit/Windsor. Several are beaches. It appears that all permit fires. Also, I think there may be a ferry on Lake superior that would open up the (spectacular) North shore parks. Google Ontario Parks and use the Park Locater for full detailed information.

best, jcp

The closest I've ever come to starting a grass/forest fire was with an over-primed camp stove.

I judge it has all to do with 'where' you are camping. When kayaking, we have camp fires. Drift wood, huge water source, and the entire group cooks on the same fire.
Lately in Texas, a campfire is unthinkable. We lost a very large amount of park land forest last year and fire bans remain in force. Politically, campfires are taboo here.
However, 'if' I cook at all, I've gravitated toward "cook fires", which are tiny campfires fed with sticks, extinguished when cooking is done. I see those as no different than a stove.

I vaguely remember, from Scoutmaster days, teaching the boys to build those small twiggy cooking fires from coffee cans and coat hangers: vent holes (one a bit larger, to allow you to feed more twigs in) in the bottom, hanger wire for a grate near the top, and it nested inside the larger coffee can you used for pot. (This also allowed you to keep a supply of dry twigs inside the stove for those rainy day hikes.)

That was when we were all too broke to afford stoves. The next Christmas, I got a Svea 123R stove and a two-pot Sigg cookset; by noon that day, my coffee can kitchen was in the trash can, and I never looked back.

Well, I'm going to have to disagree with both you and OM, campfires are not a thing of the past.

Here in the Ozarks "campfires" are still as much a tradition as camping itself, and a dearly held one at that. By the time our kids are in middle school they're going to "Creek Parties" and building, what has been traditionally called "campfires" with their friends. During the Deer hunting season hunters will gather and spend nights out together at their hunting camps and they also have what has been traditionally called "campfires". So campfires are still very much a part of the present here, but there's more to it than just that...

The truth is, here in the Ozarks, we know these "campfires" offer real ecological benefits, but we also know that times have changed, and we know we have to change with them, so now we call building and tending campfires a "PCSS" (Public Carbon Sequestration Service).

If fact, this year our local backpacking club is applying for a government grant that pays us to tend to our "CSZ" (Carbon Sequestration Zone). These payments will be funded by the sales of "Carbon Credits" .

I expect to be able to buy all new, high-end, backpacking gear by the end of next season. So, in a very real sense, "campfires" are very much a "thing of the future".



[Disclaimer: some of this may not be entirely true, but it may be someday ]

I am from MI but have not used campfires. For the most part campfires are permitted in most of the state and national forest land unless posted otherwise due to high fire danger. Your best bet is to call DNR and ask them what the rules are for the area you want to camp in.

Whatever your view of campfires, every outdoorsperson NEEDS to learn how to build and maintain a campfire especially in wet conditions. Building a fire is a survival skill. And skills need practice. I use campfires where I can build them without much environmental damage. An important part of using campfires safely is how to put them OUT! The reason many agencies discourage use of campfires is that most people, because they do not use campfires much anymore, are no good at building a good one or putting it out properly. A campfire has saved my sorry self a few times.