Fire Pans, NO MORE RINGS!

[dumolebob]

Thanks for the ideas!

Some may be tasking me wrong as I am NOT opposed to good ole stone ringed fire pits! I love 'em and in fact think I build some really nice rings myself! What I don't like is several - even MANY - in the same area. Say one dispersed camp site with five rings! What possible sense does THAT make?

As to not having the "right" to remove them I'd have to wonder how that stands up to having the "right" to build 'em?

Feel like I kicked the hornets nest here while all I was hoping to get was ideas for building cheap, good fire pans!:Wow1: Excussssssse me!

 

[kai38]

I saw a collapsible fire ring at Wal-Mart yesterday, under $30.00

 

[cruiseroutfit]

...Some may be tasking me wrong as I am NOT opposed to good ole stone ringed fire pits!

We may be... but after reading back through your op, I think its pretty spot on no? Sorry if I'm reading things wrong but I'm envisioning pulling up to my favorite spots in the Swell to find the fire rings dispersed all over the campsite because somebody had a mission to save us from the constant abuse.

"I am done using fire rings. We have all abused these things past the point of reason so I am determined to start carrying a fire pan AND destroying all fire rings everywhere I camp! That’s going to be “my mission”!"

As to not having the "right" to remove them I'd have to wonder how that stands up to having the "right" to build 'em?

Excellent conundrum. I would say that as soon as their right to enjoy their own fire pit starts trumping your right to enjoy a fire pitless area. About as clear as mud.

Feel like I kicked the hornets nest here while all I was hoping to get was ideas for building cheap, good fire pans!:Wow1: Excussssssse me!

Then you could have made it more about your quest for a firepan and less about your mission to disperse fire pits

PS, where were you camping in Moab that was so bad?

 

[DaveM]

Thanks for the ideas!
As to not having the "right" to remove them I'd have to wonder how that stands up to having the "right" to build 'em?

Well, because in many areas the public is given express permission to build fire rings, in fact it's often a requirement to having an open fire when dispersed camping. I agree on having too many rings in one spot and I've disassembled some in cases where they were obviously not the primary ring at that camp (using the stones to make the primary ring a better camp cook ring).

You do have the right to move on and find a spot more to your liking, and I wouldn't question your doing away with poorly built or extremely redundant rings but your initial post seemed to suggest a holier than thou attitude and self appointed authority to go around knocking down everyone else's rings because you don't like them. That I don't agree with.

 

[1leglance]

I use a propane pit called a Fire Dancer and it is great, 20hr on a BBQ size tank, plenty of heat for 4-6, and it can even be used in areas with fire restrictions as it has no spark and no ground contact.

 

[cnynrat]

I have had one of these for several years and I love it. http://www.off-road.com/offroad/Rev...-in-one/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/252736

Nice fire pit and you can cook on it too. It is kind of heavy but relatively compact. and seems like it will last forever. I got the one I use off Ebay for $ 60.00 or so.

Can't seem to get the link to work, but I think you are talking about a Pit-2-Go. We've had one for 10 years, and use it as our grill and fire pit when needed. I can't say enough good things about this product, and since it folds up it's much more convenient to carry compared to the cut off 55 gal drum or old wash tub solutions. Unfortunately, I think the company is no longer in business, but good tip if you can find a used one on e-Bay. I would never sell mine, but I guess it takes all kinds .

I think the problem of excessive fire pit building is sometimes related to firepit maintenance. People pull up to a site and find an old fire pit choked with old coals and half burned wood, and feel like the easiest solution is to build a new pit. If we took the time to burn our fires down well before turning in for the night that would help.

With enough use they all will eventually fill up with ash and fire remains, so what do you do then? Most people are probably not prepared to carry out firepit remains, but maybe some periodic maintenance projects in heavily used areas would be a good idea. I think I've read about burying fire remains, and scattering them widely away from camp locations - I suspect the right answer may vary from one area to another. It would help if there were well understood protocols for maintaining firepits in the backcountry.

 

[Desert Dan]

If you go around taking down existing fire rings people will just re-build them.

I think existing ones are fine and people should be selective/careful when building new ones.

In some areas like Anza Borrego you must bring a portable fire pan if you plan on building fires.

 

[dumolebob]

UR Right On Target!

I think "you da man" with your thoughts on fire pits and one big reason we keep building new ones! :wings:

Very often the old pits are filled to the brim - even have a big hump so we start a new one, and on and on and on! My fire pan idea is mostly to get around me adding to that problem.

So maybe rather than just pulling camp and leaving the pit a little worse than we found it we could do a little maintenance ourselves. But, that begs the question, “What can/should we do with the ash, etc”? Short of putting it in a dumpster I really don’t know. Help me here!

I did notice in the Swell and around Moab, UT it looked like the BLM (or someone) was trying to mitigate or clean up a number of pits. They are also starting (none too soon) to address the disgusting problem of a few people NOT taking proper care of their human waste! Some hogs don’t even bother digging a little cat hole! So now in many places we are required to have and use contained toilets! Along most float rivers in the West we are now required to use fire pans or blankets! A step I heartily agree with since there are now so many more of us concentrating on fewer and fewer “designated camp sites”!

Unfortunately, some may think I’m way too “green”. :Wow1: I may be, but only slightly. We’ve been packing horses into the wilderness for the past thirty years and I tie double and triple diamonds w/o even thinking about it. However, now that we are 65+ years old we are starting to use dispersed camps with our trailer, rigged for rough country travel. We still take ole Dobbin’ whenever we can, which poses other problems altogether, but let’s no go there just now!

Don’t we all now have a responsibility as avid backcountry users to be ever more careful about what we leave behind? To be better custodians of our public lands so our grandkids can enjoy them as we do now? Look around the entire inter-Mt west at what we’ve left at campsites - mostly just in the past two generations. We all need to be a little “greener”. To take responsibility and leave a place better than we found it.

Got to go! Can’t remember where I left my soapbox! Sorry!:drool:

Can't seem to get the link to work, but I think you are talking about a Pit-2-Go. We've had one for 10 years, and use it as our grill and fire pit when needed. I can't say enough good things about this product, and since it folds up it's much more convenient to carry compared to the cut off 55 gal drum or old wash tub solutions. Unfortunately, I think the company is no longer in business, but good tip if you can find a used one on e-Bay. I would never sell mine, but I guess it takes all kinds .

I think the problem of excessive fire pit building is sometimes related to firepit maintenance. People pull up to a site and find an old fire pit choked with old coals and half burned wood, and feel like the easiest solution is to build a new pit. If we took the time to burn our fires down well before turning in for the night that would help.

With enough use they all will eventually fill up with ash and fire remains, so what do you do then? Most people are probably not prepared to carry out firepit remains, but maybe some periodic maintenance projects in heavily used areas would be a good idea. I think I've read about burying fire remains, and scattering them widely away from camp locations - I suspect the right answer may vary from one area to another. It would help if there were well understood protocols for maintaining firepits in the backcountry.

 

[DaveM]

Wood ash is actually a decent plant fertilizer as well as being fairly water soluble. I don't see a problem with taking small amounts of excess dry (and cold) ash and spreading it under the bushes or leaf litter away from trails or camp. Wet or hard ash could be placed in a discreetly dug cat hole.

In the end it's often not the ash in the pit that is a problem but the unburnt food and trash as well as the dirt some people use to cover hot coals. Make sure food scraps burn completely in a hot fire, never put garbage in the pit and use the old ash from under the coals along with lots of water to put out your fires.

 

[cruisertoy]

As a frequent user of fire rings, old and new, I agree that most campers pay little attention to building good rings and leaving old ones better than you found them. When I take my scouts camping they have to do a clean sweep of the site to pick up trash before we set up camp and dig up and bury the excess ash from derelict fire rings. I would agree that there have been more and more ring being built in some locations, especially near hot spots like Moab and the swell.

20 yrs ago there were plentiful, nice camp spots around Moab all within 10 minutes of town. Slowly but surely the government has closed those sites and replaced them with very few, very structured campgrounds. This has forced people to condense into small areas or go further out of town. I've spent 10 days in the moab area in the last two months and have struggled to find camp sites within 30 minutes of town. Most of the places that I used to camp are now closed. They force people to camp 15' from each other in these areas and thus you may have 3 fire rings withing a small distance. It's sad in my opinion.

The best option is to improve the fire rings that are there. If you remove them they will be built again and probably scorch additional land. Take the 10 minutes someone else didn't, maybe consolidate 3 crappy rings into 2 good rings. The few of us can leave our mark as well as the slackers. For a whole year i even cut out 55 gallon drum rings for every campsite I went to. I took a few minutes and plasma'd cool designs into the sides of the rings so they glowed when used. I left each on in the center of a fixed up rock ring. I even packed on 2 miles up to a seldom used site in Provo Canyon. That was 5 years ago and over the years I've been back to each of those sites a few times. Each metal ring is still there. Maybe I could get fined for littering, but the sites are better for it.

 

[ExpoMike]

Since I do use areas that require fire pans, I found a nice, compact and fairly light solution for us. It's made by Coleman and packs into a nice case this as big as the stainless steel part you see in the picture. Works great and happy it was a solution that worked for us. Approx. $90

 

[SWbySWesty]

HAHA my local craigslist has "specialized camping firepits" for the green campers....with a picture of a painted washing machine tub. $50! Oh the scams on CL.

Another option that nobody mentioned is, albeit expensive, www.campfireinacan.com although they are apparently remodeling it and don't list a price for the wood-burning one.

 

[dumolebob]

Hats off to you and especially to your young scouts! What a great lesson for them! What a super teacher you are!:wings:

Moab dispersed camping can still be extraordinary and beautiful, but you have to do a lot of looking to find solitude & beauty w/o people! It is all because they are too many of us and too few places!

I look forward to seeing one of your fire rings one of these days! They sound exactly like what I’d like to make for myself. I have a plasma cutter, etc so I think I’ll blast one out!

Actually, on our trip last week to the Swell we found several old drums which ranchers had cutoff a foot and a half tall to use for feed/salt – MANY years ago. The edges had rusted away irregularly and the sides were laced with bullet holes. Rusted to a deep, rich brown! Had no bottom and looked liked so much junk till you got a fire started. Then my how beautiful they were when the fire got going! We left it there for the next guy how hopefully will recognize the beauty!

Thanks so much for your message!
Bob

As a frequent user of fire rings, old and new, I agree that most campers pay little attention to building good rings and leaving old ones better than you found them. When I take my scouts camping they have to do a clean sweep of the site to pick up trash before we set up camp and dig up and bury the excess ash from derelict fire rings. I would agree that there have been more and more ring being built in some locations, especially near hot spots like Moab and the swell.

20 yrs ago there were plentiful, nice camp spots around Moab all within 10 minutes of town. Slowly but surely the government has closed those sites and replaced them with very few, very structured campgrounds. This has forced people to condense into small areas or go further out of town. I've spent 10 days in the moab area in the last two months and have struggled to find camp sites within 30 minutes of town. Most of the places that I used to camp are now closed. They force people to camp 15' from each other in these areas and thus you may have 3 fire rings withing a small distance. It's sad in my opinion.

The best option is to improve the fire rings that are there. If you remove them they will be built again and probably scorch additional land. Take the 10 minutes someone else didn't, maybe consolidate 3 crappy rings into 2 good rings. The few of us can leave our mark as well as the slackers. For a whole year i even cut out 55 gallon drum rings for every campsite I went to. I took a few minutes and plasma'd cool designs into the sides of the rings so they glowed when used. I left each on in the center of a fixed up rock ring. I even packed on 2 miles up to a seldom used site in Provo Canyon. That was 5 years ago and over the years I've been back to each of those sites a few times. Each metal ring is still there. Maybe I could get fined for littering, but the sites are better for it.

 

[lcsodiver]

Here is what we used when I was a river guide, these are spendy, but if you can weld you could make your own easily. The nice thing is they fold up flat and are square-ish for better use of packing space. With the grill you can bbq with wood or briquettes too!

http://www.nrsweb.com/shop/product.asp?pfid=2725

 

[James86004]

*I say this in complete jest but during my travels through Utah with people from all over the US (and world), it is very interesting to see the response and reaction from some. I grew up camping, hunting, fishing and generally wandering on our states wide open nothings... so to me it would be equally as shocking to go back east where the notion of public land is unheard of.

It was really shocking to me when I first moved out west, but I quickly fell in love. I thought camping was in places where there were picnic tables and toilets, and if you wanted to get away from that, you had to backpack. Now I think the campsite isn't isolated enough if I see another vehicle drive by while I am there.

As for the fire ring conundrum, I can count on one hand the number of times I have seen more than one fire ring within 100 meters of another in the dispersed setting. If they are obnoxiously close we combine them. Actually, a lot of times we don't even make a fire, or if we do, it is more for bug control than anything.