Outdoor Skills – Field Sense

Complete your campsite by preparing for waste disposal. Dig your latrines at least 75 steps from camps, trails or water sources & bury them before you leave

• Use established campsite if possible
• Find a place with easy access to a roadway
• Find a place to hang game animals in cool shade
• Avoid camping too near water to avoid pollution
• Never litter & keep trampling to a minimum
• Make sure any fire is cold-out before leaving
• Pack out all trash & accessories

Building an Open Fire

• Collect wood as the camp is set up
• Do all wood collection while it is still light
• Collect enough at one time to avoid running out
• Consider all fire needs when building wood site
• Place two poles parallel on ground and stack firewood on poles to protect it from dampness
• Stack wood at least 10 feet from fire
• Cover with a tarp or plastic poncho

More than 100,000 acres are burned each year in wildfires.
Be careful with fire!

Clear an area at least 10' in diameter.

Building a Fire

Tinder - Place in a small, tight pile at the center of the fire ring

Kindling - Stack loose enough to allow air flow but close so it catches fire

Light - Ignite the fire at the bottom of tinder pile

Fuel - Larger sticks & logs should be added as the fire is going well

It is more difficult to refrigerate food outdoors. Take special care with meats and milks. Get more ice than you'll need. Foil or wire mesh are helpful for cooking.

Foil cooking is possible because aluminum doesn't readily burn. Carry used foil out with you.

Wire mesh can also be used

If no wire mesh is available, rest a long stick on a forked support so that it can hold food over the fire. Wrap food around the stick.

Stand the tin on some rocks so that a fire can be lit beneath it. Build up rocks and earth - or, better, clay - around back and sides and over it, but leaving a space behind for heat and smoke to move around the back.

Use a stick to make a chimney hole from above to the space at the back.

Backpacking stove (propane)

Campstove - (white gas)