American camp fires

State Park Camping

I had more thoughts on why the camp-fire is so iconic for Americans. Of course there's the whole frontier spirit thing, and then there's cowboys, coffee and beans, but I think there's another factor at play here; the ready availability of firewood.

If I had the opportunity, I would spend all summer bumming round the USA and camping in state parks. The rangers usually sell you firewood and every pitch has its own fire pit and metal hob so you can brew up, stay warm and keep the bears away, all at the same time. I have had beavers raid my stash though. Having a fire in your camp is normal; whereas here in the UK, it is usually forbidden, though we do have BBQs now.

I have to admit that I have never toured the deep south where traditions are different. Probably the campfire tradition is a northern one, perhaps brought in by settlers from Scandinavia and northern Europe, maybe it came from the Native Americans or perhaps it's an ancestral memory in all of us? We do so love a log fire.

Pump

Then there's Canada; a ready source of firewood, if ever there was one. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP or The Mounties) are on constant alert against firewood raids from the south. In the winter months when lakes are frozen, gangs of guys in states from Washington to Maine sneak over the borders to get logs using skidoos and 4x4s. It's got so bad that they now use Airborne Mounties (CAMP).

Getting Mounties up in planes and helicopters has proved difficult, not least because of the headroom required in the cockpit. The CAMPs stock of elderly De Havilland Otters and Beavers are up to the job though. Providing extra head room did not require bulges in the superstructure; they just cut the legs off the chairs in the cockpit. It's not always easy to get the horse to go into a plane either and some of them object to wearing a helmet and a parachute. But all these problems have been overcome through training so that the RCMP can still say "We always get our man."