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Got told my camp stove setup was a fire hazard by a ranger at Glacier
Last summer I was boiling water for coffee near a backcountry site in Glacier National Park. A ranger walked over and pointed out my stove was sitting right on a patch of dry pine needles, maybe 6 inches from my tent wall. I'd been doing that for years without thinking. He explained one spark could torch the whole area in seconds. Now I clear a 3 foot bare dirt circle before lighting anything, and I keep my stove at least 10 feet from the tent. Has anyone else had a ranger call them out on something they thought was fine?
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diana15520d ago
Oh man, I actually read a story last year from some guy in Yosemite who had his whole campsite confiscated because his propane stove was sitting too close to his tent. It's wild how fast things can go bad. That ranger at Glacier probably saved your trip honestly. I always thought I was being careful too until I saw this video of a wildfire starting from a camp stove spark on dry grass - it took like 2 minutes to spread into a full blown fire. Now I do the same thing you do, clearing a 3 foot spot of bare dirt or rock before I set up anything. Better safe than sorry when you're out there with no way to call for help.
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coran6319d ago
You're making too big a deal out of this. Rangers get paid to find things wrong, sometimes they just want to show authority. Been camping for 30 years and always set my stove on a flat rock or packed dirt, never cleared a full circle. Pines needles aren't gasoline, they need a sustained flame to catch. A camp stove spark is tiny and goes out fast. Ten feet from the tent is overkill for a little backpacking stove. If you're that worried about fire, don't bring a stove at all, just eat cold food.
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