Campfire alternatives for a hot, dry summer
Posted May 29, 2015 8:15 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – The warmer, drier El Nino weather pattern is getting the blame as we see a very early start to the wildfire season across Western Canada, and you can bet that will mean restrictions when it comes to your camping trips this summer.
But grab that bag of marshmallows because there are some alternatives to sitting around a traditional fire that give you at least some of the ambience of the real thing.
“There are ways to do it,” says Laurence Thor, an MEC product specialist in Vancouver. “The first priority, of course, is finding something to cook on so you have some decent food out there.”
He recommends different propane barbecue and stove options, which don’t produce fire-causing sparks.
“Some are two-burner stoves, some are full-on barbecues, and some are split in that they have a burner on one side and a barbecue on the other.”
Depending on how much you are willing to spend, you can even roast your weenies in a propane-powered oven/stove combo, which is about the size of a typical cooler.
But while the novelty of cooking a gourmet meal on your fancy equipment in the middle of your campsite may be fun, Thor admits it’s not quite like the real thing.
“I don’t think anything can really replace an open fire. There are lanterns that give you the light and some of the ambience, but you’re not going to get the same experience I think.”
But most importantly:
“You can still cook s’mores. That’s if you haven’t bought some kind of fancy, pre-prepared s’more that looks like a chocolate bar,” he laughs.
There are already open fire bans in every region of the province except the Northwest but campfires are allowed for now.
