How Much Firewood You Need To Bring Camping
Knowing how much firewood you need to bring for camping can seem tricky. You need to know several factors when you’re calculating how much wood you’ll actually use during your camping trip.
Below, we’ll discuss everything you need to consider and how to calculate out your firewood needs.
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Firewood For Camping Overview
To put it simply, when planning how much firewood you need for camping, you should determine which activities you’ll be using the fire for (cooking, warmth, ambiance, entertainment).
After you know how many hours you’ll be using a fire, a conservative rule of thumb is to bring one bundle of wood per hour needed.
If you plan to cook over the fire, you should plan to have an extra half-bundle for each meal you cook to ensure you’ll have enough wood to keep the fire hot enough.
For example, if I know I’ll want 2 hours of fire in the morning and 2 hours of fire in the evening, I’ll bring 4 bundles of wood for my trip.
If I’m planning to cook breakfast and dinner during those hours, I’m going to bring one extra bundle to cover those two meals. This means I will want to bring a total of 5 bundles for my day of camping when planning the right amount of firewood.
This is a very conservative & generic guideline. As long as you’re not in harsh conditions, then this wood will last you a minimum of 4 hours, but probably even longer than that.
Typically, one bundle of wood in good condition can burn for about 2 hours.
Wood Measurements
There are several terms when it comes to describing wood measurements. For camping, we typically talk about a bundle of firewood.
A bundle of firewood is usually 4-6 pieces of wood log, which is then cut into firewood pieces. There are typically 7-12 firewood pieces in each bundle depending on the size of the cuts.
There is another measurement called a “cord” that you might hear if you are buying larger quantities of wood. The difference between the cords is based on the cubic feet of the wood pile:
- Full cord = a stack of 4 feet wide x 4 feet high x 8 feet long
- Face cord = a stack of 16 inch wide x 4 feet high x 8 feet long
Depending on how often you go camping, you might want to have a lot of wood on hand to bring. You could consider buying a full cord of wood instead of small bundles if you often camp locally.
Conditions To Consider
Knowing how long fire burns is helpful, but there are many conditions that could alter the burn time. You should keep in mind these factors below when you’re planning out how much wood you need to bring for camping.
- Uses
- Number of people
- Weather conditions
Uses Of Firewood
Knowing how you need to use your firewood will help you determine how much wood you need. These are the 4 uses to consider:
- Warmth
- Cooking
- Ambiance
- Entertainment
Do you want to keep the fire burning for long hours into the night for ambiance & entertainment? Do you just need it to cook a quick meal? Will the fire be your heat source to stay warm?
These factors need to be considered when you’re planning how much wood to bring with you.
Again, the general rule of thumb is one bundle of firewood per one hour of burn. If you need to cook longer meals over your fire, then plan for an extra half-bundle for each meal you cook.
Number Of People
You also need to determine how many people will be with you to use the fire. If you have a large group of 6 or more people, then you’ll need to build a larger fire.
Especially if you’re using the fire to keep warm. Also, your cook time might be longer if you’re cooking to feed a large crowd.
Use the number of people as a determining factor of if you need to bring extra wood with you during your camping trip.
One bundle of wood per hour will work fine if you have 6 or less people with you. After 6 people, you should plan to bring more wood.
Weather Conditions
Knowing your weather conditions will be a huge indicator of how much wood you’ll need. Fire can only burn so hot based on how much wood you’re using and what the outside conditions are like.
For example, if you just want to look at a nice fire for ambiance vs. you need that fire to keep you warm on a cold night, this will determine the amount of firewood you need.
Staying warm in colder conditions will require that you bring more firewood with you. Wood won’t burn as hot or for as long of time if you’re in a colder climate or at a higher altitude.
I recommend planning an extra half bundle of wood per every hour if you’re fighting cold or wet conditions during your camping trip.
Types Of Wood
After you know how much wood you’ll need, you also need to decide on the type of wood to use. There are two types of wood that you can choose from.
- Hardwood
- Softwood
These types of wood are determined by which type of tree they come from.
Hardwood
Hardwood is the wood that comes from trees such as oak, maple, birch, etc. These trees typically have bark on the outer part of the trunk and visible growth rings inside.
Hardwood trees are also usually thicker in the trunk & grow seed flowers (opposed to cones).
In general, hardwood burns more slowly than softwood. This makes it a great option when choosing your firewood.
When you’re purchasing bundles of wood from a gas station or camp site, it will typically be bundles of hardwood.
Softwood
Softwood is wood that typically comes from coniferous trees like pine, fir, & spruces.
These trees will generally have a smaller trunk width & won’t have tree growth rings.
Softwood trees grow from cones instead of seed flowers.
This wood lights easily, but it won’t burn as long as pieces of wood from hardwood trees.
Choosing Wood
When choosing your firewood, you want to determine the best wood for your camping situation. You can either buy bundles of firewood or gather your firewood from your surroundings.
Regardless, you want to make sure you are choosing wood that has a low moisture content. Dry wood is easier to light and will burn more efficiently.
Wet wood will be hard to light and will also result in a lot of smoke from your fire.
A lighter color wood is usually a good indicator that the wood is dry.
If your wood feels really dense and heavy, that might be an indicator that the wood has a lot of moisture in it.
Buying Firewood Locally
One option when choosing how to get your wood is to buy firewood. A few places where you can buy firewood are from the ranger station at state parks or the national park. You can also usually buy wood at local gas stations or grocery stores.
Typically bundles of firewood can cost you anywhere from $3-$10. This can get expensive if you’re planning to bring a handful of bundles for a trip.
Bringing your own wood is a good idea because you can choose the best firewood that will burn for a longer time. Also, you can make sure the wood is dry & in good condition for an efficient campfire.
Regardless, you want to make sure you buy wood that is native and local to the area that you will be building your campfire.
If you bring foreign wood into your camp area, you run the risk of introducing new invasive species to that ecosystem. This could be detrimental to the health and survival of the nature & wildlife in the area.
Gathering Firewood
Gathering your own firewood is a great way to save space while you’re packing. You don’t have to worry about transporting several bundles of firewood to your campsite.
Free firewood is always a great choice, but you want to make sure to follow the guidelines of Leave No Trace to ensure you’re keeping the surrounding area safe.
Leave No Trace has the 4 D guidelines to follow when you’re gathering firewood.
- Dead – make sure you are only gathering dead trees and not harming live trees
- Down – even if a tree looks dead, you want to make sure it is fallen down if you are going to gather it for firewood
- Dinky – smaller pieces of wood are less likely to house any insects or species, so it is safest to choose the smaller pieces of dead wood around you
- Distant – find wood from a wide distance around your campsite, don’t just pull wood from the small area that you’re in. This will lessen the disruption on the wildlife in one area
How To Build A Fire
Always make sure you are checking the rules & regulations in the area that you are camping in. Oftentimes, there might be a fire ban or some restrictions on the type of fire you can burn.
You should use a fire pit if possible to help prevent damage to the nature around you or running the risk of starting a forest fire.
You can also build your own fire pit by clearing out a small circle and surrounding it with a line of rocks.
Leave No Trace recommends building a fire mound for your fire. You’ll essentially dig the dirt from around you to build a small mound to get your fire up and off the forest floor.
Materials To Build Fire
Starting a fire isn’t as simple as it seems. You need to make sure you have the right tools with you along with your firewood.
Shovel
If you’re at a campsite without a fire pit, then you’ll need to create your own. This might require a little digging to clear out the brush and grass in your fire pit area.
You could also dig a fire mound with your shovel if you prefer to go that route.
Fire Starter
For easy fire starting, you’ll want to have kindling to start your fire. This could be small sticks or tree debris from around your campsite.
If needed, you might consider bringing fire starters with you. You can buy pre-packaged fire starters or make your own.
We like to use a cotton ball dipped in petroleum jelly because it lights easily and burns for a long time. You could also use dryer lint or a Doritos chip to start your fire.
Lighter/Matches
The easiest way to start a fire is with a lighter or a match. These will ensure that you can get a quick flame going.
You might also choose a flint stick to try to strike your own spark. This is alot harder and takes more skill than a lighter. But it is a great skill to have if you want to practice this survival method of starting a fire.
Fire Stoker
To keep your fire going, you will most likely need to stoke it. I’m not suggesting that you buy a fire poker from the store to bring with you.
You’ll need to find a long stick or object that you can poke into your fire. It will also be ideal to have this object to spread your firewood out a bit when you are finished burning it. This will help the fire die down more quickly if you are ready to pack up and go.
Never leave your fire burning without your supervision. The firewood and embers should be cool enough to touch with your hand to ensure the fire is completely out.
How To Store Firewood
It is so important to keep your firewood dry at your campsite. Just a small rain could cause so much moisture in your wood that you won’t be able to light it.
The best way to store firewood at your campsite is to cover it with a tarp.
If you don’t have a tarp, you might also:
- Store it in bins with lids
- Place it under a picnic table
- Place it under your car
- Keep it under a tree as a last resort
How To Conserve Firewood
Trying to use less wood is a good idea during your camping trip so you won’t run out.
To do this, the best option is to build a small fire. Instead of filling up an entire fire pit, you can just use a few pieces of wood at a time to conserve the firewood.
Then, you’ll only need to feed it a log or two at a time to keep it going. A small campfire is the easiest way to conserve your firewood.
Firewood Alternatives
There are a few alternatives if you don’t have the ability to bring a ton of firewood bundles with you.
Some other options are to bring pre-made fire materials like wood bricks or a Duraflame log for a short fire. These won’t burn as long or as big as firewood, but you can use them for quick warmth and ambience.
These probably won’t be great to cook on as they won’t burn very hot or for long enough.
If you don’t want to bring enough wood for campfire cooking, you could also choose other ways to cook like with a propane stove or a charcoal grill.
Propane and charcoal are great heat sources for cooking and they don’t require as much space when packing for your camping trip.
Conclusion
Now you should have a better idea on how much firewood you need to bring with you on your next camping trip. In general you’ll want one bundle of wood for one hour of fire.
You also need to consider other factors like if you’re cooking on that fire or if the weather conditions will require more wood.
Regardless, planning how much wood to bring with you while camping is not as complicated as it may seem.
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Basic Camping Packing List
If this is your first time camping, or you need a refresh, then here is a free download for our Basic Camping Packing List. It is a full list of the basic items you need to bring for a successful camping trip.
