Permit for gas stove mojave?

came cross a link where overlanders said that CA requires some sort of permit to use gas stove? is that true? if so anyone ran into this, i am leaving in day and didnt know u need to have permits now on gas stoves.

or is this another cali craziness ?

 

Details here:
http://www.preventwildfireca.org/Campfire-Permit/

 

Depends where you are. National forest usually requires a permit. I think blm is a little more lenient. Both agencies being federal, I don’t see why California specifically would be different simply because of a state boundary.

 

That was easy lol, thanks!

 

A quick google search got me this:

https://www.nps.gov/moja/planyourvisit/camping-regs.htm

Odd this doesn't say anything about permits.

Best to maybe call the park service to be sure.

 

Yeah I noticed too that it doesn't say anything about campfire permits, just that you're supposed to use existing campfire rings (not sure where you're going to find those in Mojave unless they mean one that was built by a previous camper).

That link @Twizted posted though is a good idea just to be safe, I didn't even watch the video and I got all 8 questions right and had a permit ready to print out in less than 3 minutes.

Both times I did Mojave Rd we never saw any park rangers or forest service rangers...but just in case it would look good to have that permit handy

 

Yeah, that one time you're like "I never see law enforcement out here so screw it" is the time the Ranger is out patolling and happened to wake up on the wrong side of the badge that morning.

It's free, so it's really just a way to 1) track who might be making fires, 2) have some sort of assurance that you won't be a complete tard and start a fire and 3) can't say "I didn't know that was illegal"

That's assuming you care enough to even check. A lot of people don't.

 

I fear that things will continue to get more restrictive because an overwhelming amount of people disregard "leave no trace" principles and end up ruining it for us all. This will eventually lead to hyper-regulation of "public" lands and we will all get screwed. I get fired up by this because i'm an avid backpacker and the amount of self-made fire rings is absolutely ridiculous, and unfortunately, not a lot of people think they are even doing anything wrong.

When camping in California also be aware that some places have restrictions on burning based on elevation too. Rangers will often tell you when you pick up a backcountry permit, but for those places that don't require a permit, the burning restrictions still may be the same. The funny thing is, that most of the fire rules in Yosemite at least, don't concern camp stoves. I could be in a burn-free zone and still use my camp stove, so it really just depends where you are going.

Good luck.

Nic

 

Exactly.

A lot of people don't understand that many of those restrictive regulations didn't just come out of thin air. They are largely reactions to inconsiderate a-holes.

That's a good point about Yosemite. Even in these few posts we've found conflicting information. You could print out the NPS link I gave above, and show that to a ranger if necessary, and I think as long as you are conducting yourself with "common sense", have a fire extinguisher nearby, that type of stuff, it would be hard to fault you for that. Most Rangers are pretty understanding of that.

As long as you aren't being a dumbass (which the Rangers I know have an extremely low tolerance for), you should be fine.

 

Takes 5 minutes to get a Cal campfire permit. Keep the pdf on your phone. I do it every year, been asked once. About 30 years ago. Last weekend I used a fire pan for the first time, in an existing, but clean, rock fire ring. It felt like I was doing the right thing, but it was kind of messy to bring home the dirty pan, and I thought it was too heavy to put on the roof. I put it in a heavy duty contractor bag but may make a stronger bag out of an old tarp.

 

I've had to show my permit once. I remember it blew the Ranger away because I don't think she had ever seen one. She was making the rounds at a Kern River campground and making everyone put their shit out, and I whipped it out proudly (that sounds weird, but you get the point).

Anyway, it's free and takes like 5 minutes so I always have a copy in the glove box.

 

see post #2...

 

Its Cali craziness alright

 

YouTube links and associated thumbnails are blocked at work. So posting the screenshot actually helps me.

 

Why crazy? We have had deadly fires here, some started by campfires, I bet none by people who cared enough to get the permit.

 

The permit is free and is given to everyone who wants one. They just do it to make you watch a short, basic video on fire safety.

 

Fires cause billions of dollars in damage and kill people.

With the last several decades of devastating wild fires, many of which were started by a-holes with illegal or improperly protected fires, yeah you could say we get a little "crazy" about fire and it's perfectly justified.