The 395 and Owens Valley-Eastern Sierra Region

which webcam are you guys looking at?

 

If they are in Inyo NF there are absolutely no wood fires of any type allowed right now anywhere - Stage II fire restrictions in effect for the whole NF.

https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd947202.pdf

This kind of idiocy in the middle of a historic fire season is frustrating… Follow the dang rules and be aware of them. Especially a group - someone must have organized it and not bothered doing a tiny bit of basic research.

 

I might head into the Whites tomorrow. Where are they?

 

unfortunate, the Whites are one of the last few areas that haven't been totally blown up and overused...yet

 

yes, that spot has a large fire ring. i drove by a couple years ago with the area under fire restriction, and there was a big stack of cut wood from down valley sitting there in prep for a party night.

 

top of silver, kind of a flat there amongst the antenna installation (cam). i've seen large trailers there as well.

 

10:1 whoever organized it knows damn well what the deal is.

 

I saw the groups in question while looking for a nice sunset spot. I didn’t get a warm fuzzy feeling and left.

 

Were they primarily driving 4Runners?

 

The group with the trailer, I am unsure. They were at the end of the spur road and I don’t like being near others camps. I didn’t know they were back there until I walked up on the rise.

The second group had a variety of vehicles but looked like mostly or all Toyota. I don’t know if they were all one group or strangers that don’t mind camping right on top of each other.

I was almost certainly on the webcam for a bit before I left.

It looked like one of the dead Bristlecone snags up there had been used for firewood previously.

 

This you?

 

a few 4runners there, looked like GM wagon as well, ground tents, rooftop tents, no adverse events! spotted a blue third gen with GFC there off to the side, pretty sure i cross passed that good looking truck in Bridgeport friday.

 

Hey guys, just wanted to put in another plug for propane campfires. It's a bit bulky, but for those of us who aren't hardcore enough to go camping without a fire for cooking and for warming ourselves, it is a safe and legal way to do so without trashing the back-country, risking yet another wildfire, or transporting destructive bugs in your firewood. And for a multi-night trip, the fire apparatus and 5-gallon propane tank are no more bulky than the pile of firewood I'd need to haul.

I've been camping in fire country several times this summer, and asked rangers if the propane campfire was allowed whenever I got the chance. Every time, they told me to go ahead, and seemed pretty glad I was being so comparatively careful compared to the average camper. Everywhere I went, there were definitely people gathering firewood and burning it despite the bans.


Here we are camped at a state park in coastal CA with some friends, enjoying the only campfire in the park that night. Unlike most other places we camped, there was a ranger on duty to shut down the wood fires that night.

Perhaps the greatest virtue is that you don't wind up with your clothes and sinuses infused with smoke after each night at camp. At first, I missed the crackle and smell of a wood fire, but now I genuinely prefer the propane campfire over a wood one, even when I have the choice of either.

 

2nd this, we have one and really like it.

 

That's pretty cool and something that I have never took into consideration. How long does a tank usually last, more than a few nights I'd imagine. Can you provide a link for the one that you have, or for ones that you recommend?

 

Mine's a Camp Chef, I'm pretty sure this is the one. I never tracked the "mileage" but I've used it several nights on a 5lb tank. I did cut a piece of 1/4" hardware cloth and bungee it over the lava rock to keep them from jumping out during transport.

https://www.cabelas.com/shop/en/cam...6203b9574fd918aec2b6d80d4b2ea585&gclsrc=3p.ds

 

Just got back from the Whites. I stopped by the group at the top of Silver and had a chat with them. I just let them know that the illegal campfire they had last night was done right in front of an AlertWildfire cam. They didn't really have much of a response except "We where just about to head out". lol

 

Pulled the trigger on this

https://fireanytime.com/lavaboxes/p/naked-tabletop-volcanno

hopefully will arrive before next trip in a few weeks. I like it’s compactness.

 

Mine's a Camco 58041 Portable Propane Campfire, which I got for about $60 in 2019. Looks like they're in short supply at the moment. Be careful when running it the first time, some of the lava rocks will explode like my junior-high art class clay project in the kiln.

It's hopeless to run one from a disposable propane cylinder, but for a single summer night, a 1-gal refillable tank will do the job. For multi-night trips, or camping in the cold, I bring a standard 5-gallon tank. I'd say it's good for 2-5 nights depending on use. If the stars are out I'm usually running it from sunset to 2 AM or later. It's pretty easy to refill the tanks at major gas stations en route though.

Edit: Also, it's not too bad to cook with this setup--with low enough heat, it doesn't char the cookware too much. Where legal, I'll throw a handful of charcoal briquettes onto the lava rocks to get them glowing, then stack them onto the dutch oven lid. Combined with propane heat from below, we can still use the dutch oven to cook all sorts of delicious camp meals. But I don't grill over the open flame like you can with a campfire, out of fear of making a portable bear magnet.

 

Rad!!