Fire & Cooking

For three years I built campfires that were too big, and I could not have told you why. Here is what finally changed, what a big fire actually costs you, and the size I settle on now.

I stopped bringing a second pan and it made dinner better. Six years of camp dinners narrowed down to a handful of things that work in one pot, plus the ones that taught me the hard way.

The last twenty minutes of a campfire are the part most people rush. Here is how I stopped rushing it, what I found in a ring the morning after, and the routine I run before I get in the tent.

For years I packed elaborate camp breakfasts and ate them at ten in the morning, cold and frustrated. Here is the simple version I settled on, and why simple turned out to be the whole point.

I have tried percolators, pour over cones, instant, and boiling grounds straight in the pot. Some of it was a waste of a cold morning. Here is what I actually carry and why the fussy methods lost.

Rain all afternoon, a soggy bundle of firewood, and forty minutes of failing to light it. What I learned about wet wood, splitting down to the dry middle, and knowing when to eat cold instead.