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Getting serious about LNT fires Through numerous debates on-line about the righteousness of cook fires I have come to the conclusion that more can be personally done to spread the good word about personal responsibility when it comes to fires. I had been playing around with the idea of making a simpler fire and the debates I came across on-line only "fueled" my efforts. I started by going off of the fire instructions in Ray Jardine's PCT Handbook so he is afforded due credit here. The following is what I came up with. Keeping in mind that NO fire will be 100% LNT, but we can minimize the impact. The Lnt cookfire Materials: 10" round, foil cake pan 3 aluminum tent stakes from your tent 4-5 non-river bed rocks measuring 2-3" The setup: Turn the foil pan up side down and place your cook pot on it. Note how much area the pot covers on the pan. Remove the pot. Puncture the foil pan in three spots of equal distance from each other with the thought of this is where the pot will rest on the stakes. Now, turn the pan right side up again.
Finding the proper sight for your fire is very important. You will want the barest area possible with as little burnable material as possible. Place your 4-5 non-river rocks on the ground evenly over a 10" area. We use non-riverbed rocks because riverbed rocks contain moisture and can explode when heated. I doubt it would happed but just to be safe.
Place the foil cake pan on top of the rocks and place the stakes through the three holes we made and into the ground. We want about 2-3" of clearance between the bottom of our pot and the foil pan. With a cook fire we cook in the flames not over coals like cowboys do. I find a good thing to do with the stakes is to pound the bent end straight so it creates a natural pot stand.
Place a small handful of sticks in the middle of the stakes. The wood we should use should be about 1/4" of an inch in diameter. Anything much bigger and it won't burn away completely. It should also be no longer than your hand is wide at the knuckles.
Now light your fire using whatever starter you use. I use hand sanitizer as it has so many other uses and it fires right up every time. As soon as we know the fire is lit put your pot of water on with the lids on tight. Gently blow on the fire to get it nice and hot. Have a small pile of sticks by the fire for stoking as needed.
When you are done cooking and while you are eating keep the sticks that are burning going so they burn down completely. Reduce the sticks to a fine ash if possible. After you are done eating our small fire should be burned up but still warm. You should be able to remove the stakes and pick up the pan. If you are moving on right after the meal is over with you should fill the pan at least half way with water which will totally douse any ambers. The water will run out the holes taking with it a great deal of the ashes so move around with the pan to spread the water about.
Any coals or unburned material left in the pan should either be poured on a compacted spot in the trail or poured in an area where plants can't grow (pick up a rock and pour it under there). Wherever you pour it you should then grind the material in the ground and maybe even pour more water on it if it is possible. there should be no trace of your fire. That's it in a nutshell. By elevating the fire pan off the ground we are not only saving the soil from becoming sterile but our rocks also absorb and disperse the heat. My first test fire only reached 135 degrees under the pan and the rocks were cool enough to pick up with my bare hand when done. There was no burning of the ground and there was no trace of any fire whatsoever. I was able to bring 3 cups of water to the boiling point where I would use it for bag cooking in about 3-5 minutes. And the great thing is that I used a total of 1 oz. of wood to do it. 1 oz.! What's the grand total of extra weight that this fire system adds to my pack? 1/2 an ounce! That's a lot of peace of mind for 1/2 an ounce. But just how LNT is this fire building technique? If you look at what LNT Inc. suggests for fire building you will see that this method is far, far les impacting and more responsible.
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