[pct-l] Fires on the PCT

[csxii at schizoaffective.org]

On Wed, 16 Aug 2006 09:46:53 -0700, Jeffrey Olson <jolson at olc.edu> had
this to say:

>I haven' built a fire in the wilderness in over 20 years, except for an 
>emergency situation with some group home guys up in the Pasaytens.  It 
>simply doesn't make sense to me to build fires at all when backpacing, 
>let alone thru-hiking.  Isn't this part of "leave-no-trace?"
>
>Jeff, just Jeff...


I don't build fires in the backcountry either.  In addition to their
enviromental impact the smoke gives me sinus infections!   That said I
did have a large fire on my last venture into the backcountry.  We
were hiking and camping  on the ocean beach and it was raining when we
woke up.    It turned out that my husband had not packed any rain gear
so we had to keep him dry by having a fire on the beach below the high
tide line.   It was fun to watch the surf come in and put out the
fire.   

This was a good test of my Shires Rainbow 3 tarptent.  It kept my
family of 4 dry in the night.  In the morning I put the kids rain
clothes on and kicked them out of the tent.

My blog is here:
http://mosswalks.blogspot.com/2006/08/rialto-beach-backpack.html if
anyone wantst to read about my adventures.