Hi everyone,
Since starting my familycampman quest, I’ve encountered a challenge I didn’t expect – starting a campfire.
Whether the wood hasn’t been seasoned properly (a common problem, according to my buddies at thatscamping.com) or completely soaked from from a recent downpour, I just have had serious difficulties getting a fire started.
During one such occurrence, in a moment of complete desperation, I ran to the local store and despite my embarrassment and my injured male ego , I purchased some outdoor Duraflame starter logs.
I hate to say it, but these logs may have saved my familycampman quest. Amazingly enough, they worked out really well and burned for a couple hours. Without them, my wife and kids wouldn’t have enjoyed the campfire and therefore every future camping trip may have been in question.
One added benefits of these starter logs is that they don’t carry the bugs and diseases that are destroying trees everywhere. When you have a minute, visit dontmovefirewood.org to find out more about the dangers of bringing your own firewood to the campground.
Despite how effective, affordable and convenient they were I cannot help but feel that I’ve strayed away from the roughin’ it camping method that I grew up knowing. Did I cheat or just use another perfectly fine resource to help make a camping trip enjoyable? I tend to believe that using starter logs is fine as long as they’re designed for outdoor use. Regardless, I expect I’ll be using them on many camping trips in the future.
Thanks again for reading.
Eric
ps. Check out this video I found on youtube. It’s too funny. Now only if I had the skills of this young girl. I want it noted that I don’t encourage children to play with huge camping knifes or starting campfires on their own. Enjoy!
I say “great firestarter.” I know some will disagree, but after a long day of hiking, etc. sometimes messing with the fire isn’t so nostalgic. Can’t hurt to have a starter log on hand just in case
I like your vote Josh! Non-traditional, but handy they are.
When I show up at our duck hunting “lodge” i.e. shack, and it’s 24 degrees outside and 42 degrees inside, you’re darn right I’m using a starter log. In fact, I’ll use THREE.
Summertime with some beers and some time to kill? No way. Have fun, do it right.
Swamp thing. Great name. Yeah, if I didn’t have an antsy family breathing down my next to get it lit I’d do the same.
quite a general and headache problem which the camping geeks face whenever they went for camping.
I’ve used the full size a few times. I got them so we could still have a fire on Friday night after a late arrival. Get off work get home and get there. By the time I had tent set up it’s dark. Made wife and kids. It didn’t matter to little ones. To them it was still a campfire! Then on Saturday I’ll hunt up some wood.
In some of our parks wood is just hard to come by at times. A great alternative.
Starter logs are great, especially when you’re with family and don’t want to fuss around. They light almost instantly, and you can build a traditional campfire around them. The only problem is that sometimes they are hard to put out, so make sure you have a good sand pit.