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trippythings wrote:
It seems like nobody else cooks breakfast over a fire.
I'd say we cook breakfast on the fire pretty much any time we are cooking breakfast. Since I'm generally a pretty relaxed tripper and base camping more often than not, then we're cooking breakfast almost every day. If it is a travel day, which could just be the last day of a base camping trip, then we might stick to the stove to boil water for coffee and oatmeal.
That also means that we're not usually too worried about how early we start. On a spring fishing trip it's common to finally be leaving the site around 11am. Last year it was just me and the dog. One day I didn't get up until noon and Trigger slept for another hour after that. That was a rather wet day and we didn't actually go anywhere at all. What was really unusual was the last day of that trip when I was up by 6:30am! It was a bit cold that day and while I could have just added another layer and gone back to sleep, Trigger was cold too and the wind was light so I figured we might as well pack up and start moving. 8am would be a more typical wake up time for a last day of the trip when I need to get home and go to work tomorrow.
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I wake up when the birds wake me up.. usually miniutes before sunrise. I may lay there for 10.. 20 minutes or so - then I remember coffee. Oh the sweet thought of a cold morning with a hot coffee - it's seriously what gets me out of the warm sleeping bag each morning.
If its really really cold, I'll get a fire going to warm me up from the outside, while the coffee does it's job from the inside. The fire won't be used to cook breakfast - except if there is toasting of something (bagels, english muffins, whatever) to be done.
I'd say the real reason I don't cook breakfast over a fire is time. I'm usually packing my gear and tearing down camp during my morning coffee (ahem, 2nd morning coffee, that is) and when it's all packed (except the kitchen gear) I sit down, make & eat breakfast then go - off to the next destination. It's not that I'm in a rush, I just don't like to dilly-dally at what's now my 'old camp' - I like to get to the new spot with plenty of time left over for relaxing, swimming, bathing, collecting wood - whatever. I like to leave camp early to arrive at new camp early. I don't like getting to camp with only an hour or two of light left, I feel like I lost out on that campsite (but probably gained on the adventure getting there - why else would it take so long?).
Man all this talk about camping, fire, food - it needs to be April 7th instead of Feb 7th. Do we not have a sorcerer here that can switch time.. cmon.. just for a quick day trip down the Oxtongue??? I swear you can switch it right back tomorrow.
I wake up just before the first colours of the sunrise (I like to start watching when it's still completely black), and it's nice to get a fire going at some point. I usually just have oatmeal for breakfast, but I still enjoy making the fire and boiling the water on there. I agree about getting to the next campsite early... I like 4-6hrs of travel each day - out by 9-10am, at the next site by mid afternoon. Exceptions will obviously be made sometimes, but generally speaking that's what I enjoy.
I have to disagree about it feeling like the "old campsite" by the morning though. I wake up and I feel accomplished... I put in hard work the day before, I made it to the site, and I survived the night. I'm familiar with the land - I've cooked there, I've slept there, and I've helped fertilize the land. The morning is when that campsite now feels like home to me.
And regarding the time travel request, I'll have to speak to my guy and get back to you on that.
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Most would probably consider us lazy trippers. We are often staying on one site for 2 days and like to wake up slowly. I love the feeling of waking up to the birds chirping and snuggling into my bag for another 30 mins of dozing.
Even with a relaxed morning, we typically do breakfast on the stove. We like to get our coffee as quickly as possible to enjoy it while relaxed on the biggest rock on the site with the best view.
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I've never been able to dawdle in the mornings. Up early, boil water for oatmeal and coffee on the twig stove, then I'm packing up and moving on. I'm entirely go go go from the moment I crawl out of the tent (which is always pre-sunrise) until I'm on the water, the one exception being the morning cup of coffee. That I will take the time to enjoy, preferably sitting somewhere with a nice view of the morning sun.
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My group and I always cook over the fire. We always are portaging into the interior so big grills are too big and cumbersome for packing. Something about cooking over a nice fire is very special.
We do usually bring a small propane single burner in case it rains for extended periods of time and we want to boil some water to make coffee or something.
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And old wetcoast scouting trick for fire soot.
Rub a bar of ivory soap over your pots before use. The soot rinses right off.
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Those old Colemans are pretty bombproof...
It being the dead of winter right now the above made me think of accidents. I kind of blew up a butane canister one time... two meter fireball say and I quickly dropped and rolled around in my poncho but luckily only the ground was burning in little patches here and there... easy to stamp out if you're wearing heavy boots.
The kicker was that there was a sudden frost after sundown (in May!) and butane gets very, very sluggish in the cold. So the stove which "refused to light" was actually leaking invisible Jell-O along the ground towards where I had... set up a candle on a rock. BOOM!!!
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And old wetcoast scouting trick for fire soot.
Rub a bar of ivory soap over your pots before use. The soot rinses right off.
I too have used bar soap and liquid soap on pots before using over the fire. Makes clean up a breeze.
