Re: [Philmont]: Fire etiquette (was reducing fuel load)

As our trek was during the fire permissible period (622-N-01) us
advisor's left it to the youth and they were up for campfires on four
occasions. By keeping it small and then appropriately attending it
until it was dead out the amount of ash and charcoal was only about a
gallon of volume. Ranger instructions were to gather up ashes and
scatter off the trail at least one-half mile from the outer campsite
marker. The crew leader assigned that duty to two crew members who were
otherwise unassigned for the day. An extra heavy garbage bag (everyone
had at least a couple stashed away) was the container and the cat hole
shovel was the scoop. After hiking an adequate distance the
ash-spreaders went at least 75 paces off trail - usually uphill - and
scattered the ashes over a reasonable area. Using the garbage bag meant
that this duty wasn't too messy.

Packing out and spreading ashes has been a backcountry practice for
years. The only change I can recall is that the old practice of making
an "X" with two sticks to show that you left the fire out has been
replaced by the vertical stick - the part in the ground shouldn't burn
and is your proof that you didn't leave a fire.

Gary Boyd
Crew 151 CC
Georgetown, Texas
Trek 32 622-N-01

SIHIWI@aol.com wrote:

> For future reference...We have been told in the past that fire pits
> must be emptied, and the ashes spread over a larger area. This year
> we were told (both by our Ranger and Mark Anderson...even though we
> could not have a fire!!!) that ashes had to be packed out the next day
> (insuring the fire was out) and spread after a distance of one or more
> miles. Just what we were told...
>
>
> YIP X 7
> 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005
> IWTGBTP (but probably won't be able) ;+(
> Steve Unger
> T-50, Fort Worth, Texas

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Received on Wed Aug 3 20:45:16 2005