When you’re dispersed camping or camping deep in the backcountry, a good campfire can make or break your experience.
Campfires are used for warmth, cooking meals, and sometimes even boiling fresh drinking water.
They are very important!
You can’t just pick up any old sticks, however. Collecting the right wood is an art form all its own.
The quick beginner’s guide below will teach you how to find and collect the best wood pieces for your fire, so you can have a successful camping trip.
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Why Firewood Selection Matters
If you’ve ever tried building a campfire, you know that not all wood burns the same.
Thick pieces burn too slow, thin pieces burn to small, and wet or rotten wood can struggle to stay lit, leaving you frustrated and stressed out.
Selecting the right pieces of firewood will cut down on the time it takes to get your fire lit. This means less time working and more time relaxing in your camp chair.
Always a good thiing.
Firewood Collecting Rules
Before you start rounding up sticks, you need to check the local regulations for wherever you are camping.
Most national forests or backcountry campgrounds will allow you to burn downed and dead firewood, but in traditional campgrounds or other protected areas, you may need to bring your own wood.
Most gas stations carry wood for about $8 a bundle. Sometimes, however, you can find cheaper wood being sold by individuals who live near the campgrounds (often self-serve).
If you are collecting from your site, remember not to damage living plants or trees. Avoid transporting firewood from one campsite to another, as this can move invasive species from location to location.
Don’t trample through the brush carelessly while looking for wood. Instead, try to stick to the established hiking paths, and collect downed wood from the fringe of the trail.
The 3 Types of Firewood You Need to Collect
A good campfire is built in three steps: tinder, kindling, and fuel wood.
When collecting your firewood, you should make sure to grab a good mix of all three wood types.
Tinder: small materials (dry leaves, pine needles, bark, tiny sticks) that burn quickly but easily. Used to start your fire
Kindling: slightly larger sticks (pencil thin) that are used to build the fire up
Fuel Wood: large pieces (arm-sized or bigger) used to sustain your fire once it is solidly burning.
Note: Have all of your wood ready before you start your fire, that way you don’t have to keep going on wood restock trips all night long.
Where to Find the Best Firewood
The quality of the wood you collect is just as important as the quantity of the wood.
Look for quick burning wood, not wood that is wet and gross.
Best places to find good firewood:
- Under tree cover
- In areas further away from the campsite (may be picked over already if in a traditional campground)
- Open areas where sunlight is able to keep wood dry
- Dead branches hanging above the ground
What to avoid:
- Wood near water
- Rotting logs
- Pieces that are too large (won’t burn quickly)
How to Tell if Wood Is Dry
Dry wood is easy to find if you know what to look for.
Look for:
- Wood that snaps, not bends
- Dull, faded color of wood
- Cracked ends
- Peeling bark
Dry wood will usually feel lighter than wet wood as well.
Extra Firewood Tips
- Gather more wood than you think you will need. It’s better to have extra when you wake up in the morning than it is to run out and have to scavenge in the dark
- If you do have to collect wood in the dark, bring a headlamp so you can have light while also keeping both hands free
- Sort your wood by size as you lay it down at the campsite, that way you don’t have to dig through it later
- Bring a good axe so you can split your larger pieces of wood into more manageable pieces
- Buy a telescopic fire bellows to help blow air into the base of your fire when building
- Know how to properly extinguish your fire when done
Final Thoughts
Finding good firewood isn’t hard, but it an act that requires attention to details.
Focus on dry wood, collect a wide variety of different wood pieces, and make sure you aren’t damaging the environment while you search.
Once you know what you’re doing, collecting wood (and keeping your fire lit) will be like second nature to you.
Just keep practicing until you get it right.
Thanks for reading!
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