Fire can be our most valuable resource, but given its capacity for destruction it can also be our greatest enemy, scarring landscapes and decimating forests.The first question we ask ourselves is whether or not it is appropiate to light a fire. The campfire in particular is a matter of fierce debate. One view is that hike stoves should be carried into the wilderness and used instead, because they leave behind fewer traces of our presence. On the other side back-to-nature campers maintain that sitting by a campfire brings them closer to nature in a spiritual way that is impossible with hike stoves.
It all depends on where you are. It is certainly true that there are areas where use of a campfire is innappropiate: places where it may trigger a forest fire where fuel is not sufficiently plentiful, or where fires have never been lit before. In these regions a hike stove is the sensible option as it safeguards the environment we have set out to enjoy. But at the same time there are many other places where the falmes do not threaten the forest, where fuel is abundant and where, with proper management, a campfire need not leave any unwelcome after-effects.
I recommend aiming to travel throughthe landscape like a shadow, leaving as little trace of yourself and your activities as possible, and to use either a campfire or a stove as your location and circumstances dictate.
An excert from Essential Bushcraft by Ray Mears.
