Bushbuddy

I'll contribute to the hijacking. My 15C from college remains my best friend although since I left the field of Physics I'll admit I don't use a lot of complex math nor can I recall the last time in inverted a matrix. We used to have religious wars about RPN.

I also have a 48SX which in it's time was the bomb but I don't use it that often.

George,

Yes, that windy-land technique and others depending on the situation — but traditional campfire is what I had in mind. In windy siutations a campfire may work better than a bushbuddy. Maybe one of our objectives as backpackinglight.com community members is to work on a good wind screen for that bushbuddy

As you know a big fire gets water fast, but makes handling the pot tough, uses up a lot of wood and may be illegal or unethical in an agiven area.

I am also wondering if a longer, boxier shape wouldn't make it easier to put linear pieces of wood in.

TI's. In the early '70's we refered to them as "Brand X". I've got an HP45, HP11C, HP69 (gone belly up), the use-every-day HP41CX, and a 48GX. I can just bearly use an algebraic (stone age) machine at all. RPN forever.

On the topic of campfires for cooking has anyone ever made a dakota fire hole? You dig a hole in the ground, perhaps a foot or two deep… perhaps a foot across. Then on the upwind side about a foot away you dig a smaller connecting hole for ventilation (it should meet up with the first hole at the bottom and is a PITA to dig). You build your fire in the bottom of the first hole and the air gets to the fire via the second hole. It works really well for cooking food. I learned how to make these from my grandfather. I haven't made one since I was a kid.

James,

Yes, I've seen the dakota fire hole in books, but never tried one. Found a good diagram on the web:

http://www.m4040.com/Survival/Skills/Fire/Fire.htm

Looks like it is worth trying one to add to one's bag of tricks.

I took a really short video of my Bushbuddy Ultra burnin’ away on my friend’s front porch this past weekend.

http://samh.net/backpacking/media/bushbuddy.html

I am seriously looking into the Bushbuddy as I am all about minimizing my environmental impact where ever I can. As an all around tool, it looks as though its usage could go far beyond hiking. In the up and coming year I have a diversity of trips planned where I will hike the Grand Canyon to a Colorado 14er to a 3 day thru hike of the MA Midstate trail to camping in the sometimes wet and snowy White Mountains of New Hampshire. Aside from the knowledge required to build a fire, is there any kind of environment where this item would not be suitable? I am thinking of my trip to the Grand Canyon and while this seems like a perfect item b/c I will have no fuel hassles on the plane, is it not suitable for an environment like this?

I know that Grand Canyon National Park does not allow fires, so if you plan on following park regulations you would not be able to use the bushbuddy there.

thanks Scott. I have not done my homework on the area yet, so that is good to know.

In many desert environments the Bushbuddy would be a poor choice since there is limited fuel available. For a cross-country trek through the Pacific Northwest however the stove is about ideal.

Fires are totally banned in the Grand Canyon. When you get your permit the Park Service will send you a DVD that will make this clear. No fires of any kind. A lot of very bad fires have been caused by people burning their TP and other foolishness. You don't have to take fuel on the plane. There is an REI in Henderson (near Las Vegas) and also the store at the Grand Canyon has fuel and all sorts of other items for sale. Just plan to make a stop there before your decent and you should be good to go. On my last trip I flew in advance of the rest of the group with a "shopping list", hit the REI in Henderson, and had the entire groups fuel purchased and ready to hike down on the first day. It worked well. However, like I said, the camp store would have most common fuels you would want but call ahead.

>For a cross-country trek through the Pacific Northwest however the stove is about ideal.

Fires (including in this type of stove) are often banned throughout various national parks and forests in Washington in August or September. (E.g., 2006, 2004, …) No fires are allowed in Olympic National Park above 3500ft elevation, as well as some other areas in the park.

Check before you go…and bring a small alcohol stove (e.g., SuperCat: 0.2 oz) just in case the situation changes.

I appreciate your response, Doug. I am well aware of the restrictions in the National Parks. For my upcoming thru-hike of the PNT I have a solid fuel system that I will be using in conjunction with my Bushbuddy for my walks through national parks and other areas that may have seasonal burn restrictions. I was going to mention this in my post earlier but was trying to stay on-topic. Now look what I've gone and done ; )

I’ll put in my 2c in favor of the Bushbuddy for the desert environments I hike in, which include the canyons and high deserts of SW Utah and the high deserts of WY-ID-CO.

Yes, “wood” is limited in these environs. We don’t need wood to fuel the Bushbuddy, however, we need fuel.

Desert fuels in the abovementioned environments are plentiful, and include: dead grasses and (downed and) dead cacti stalks, sage, pinyon, cottonwood, and tumbleweed.

For the traditional firebuilder, these might all be considered “junk fuels” (except pinyon and cottonwood) but that is exactly why the Bushbuddy excels – its efficient firebox design means (a) you need less fuel and (b) you can use junk fuels to concentrate a lot of heat (flame) to the pot.

Fuels that create flame are preferable to fuels that burn slow and long (coals) which is counterintuitive for fire cooking unless you are simmering.

It’s amazing what you can find if you get on your hands and knees. Posted at my recent packrafting trip photo gallery is one example of an alternative fuel for the Bushbuddy that we used to boil our morning coffee recently.

Ryan,

So tell us more detail about the "buffalo chips" as a junk fuel…did they work well? Were they too wet to burn hot? Did they lend a certain "nutty" flavor to the morning pot of cowboy coffee?

OK, so the fuel in the photo linked to from above is from a moose. They were semi-dry and burned ok.

Cowchips from a few days earlier (WY desert, of course) varied based on age. Brittle dry chips burned great. Any bit of moisture made the experience less than pleasant. Damp moose is marginally better (smelling) than damp cow. Probably a diet thing?

Wow… I can only imagine the look of horror and then awe that would appear on the faces of the boy scout troop I work with if I ever pulled that off…

You could always dry them like marshmallows on a stick. Just don't forget what they are…

I am considering trying to order an Antigravity Gear custom pot cozy for my FireLite 1100 pot. I am thinking that this might be the perfect way to store the pot in the backpack and manage the soot problem. The soot stays on the inside of the cozy and also the cozy serves as padding for the pot (as if it needs it). I pondered a bit as to whether or not a cozy was really needed with the Bushbuddy since saving weight on fuel is really not an issue, but in the end so many of the meals I cook benefit from sitting in a cozy for reasons other than fuel savings. I don't know… the mesh bag is lighter. It was just a thought. I could make my own and test it but I am lazy and theirs are so much nicer than the ones I have made in the past.

As you mention, James fuel-savings are much less of an issue with the Bushbuddy as you can keep your food warm by keeping the pot over the still smoldering fire – thereby eliminating the need for a cozy to "simmer" your food. However I agree with you otherwise that af pot cozy certainly is nice for other reasons. In the shoulder seasons for keeping warm water around for post-meal tea, or for keeping your beans and rice from getting cold before you finish them, et al.

Took the Bushbuddy to the woods for the first time last weekend on a hike in the Southern Sierras. As it turned out it really surprised me at just how nice the stove did work.

Pine needles were an excellent source of fire starter. The BB, stuffed with these super dry pine needles, took off burning like gasoline with the conflagration quickly engulfing small twigs and sticks providing a liter of boiled water almost on demand. It was so much fun that I was boiling water even when I didn’t need it.

A couple of large Tyvek envelopes were stuffed with twigs and sticks along with large handfuls of pine needles to keep the fuel dry in the intermittant snow flurries. I had it the back of my mind to bring these envelopes along not realizing until arriving at camp how valuable they were. I may have picked this tip up here at BPL.

For skeptics, the Bushbuddy is very easy to use and if you are an incurable fire bug, the pyrotechnics will prove to be a source of untold joy and unmitigated delight. I highly recommend it especially to anyone hiking in unrestricted fire areas. Unfortunately I will not be able to use it in many of my favorite hiking haunts since open fires are not allowed in a wide swath of the Sierras

I wonder if the bushbuddy stove fits the definition of an open fire. I've had some " wild " fires while trying to prime my white gas stove. I now use a canister stove, but I am intrigued by this stove.

If anyone has had any conversations with the powers to be in these fire restricted areas, please share them.

Thanks
Dave

I think we are talking about two definitions here, or maybe three. In many areas, at least in the backcountry, there is a "no ground fires" rule. You can use a backpacking fuel stove, and, at least according to the state park rangers here in Texas, you can also use a twig stove that does not allow the fire to contact the ground. This applies to homemade peach can stoves, for example, and would also apply to a stove like the Bushbuddy. Second, during times of especially high wildfire danger, there may be imposed a temporary "burn ban." A burn ban does not apply to white gas, canister, or alcohol backpacking stoves, but it might apply to a twig stove, because of the potential to throw off the occasional spark. Third, you might encounter a "no open fires" rule in some areas, which might be like the burn ban, but permanent. The instructions that come with the Bushbuddy refer to restrictions in situations like the second and third here, because of the potential for sparks. So under some backcountry rules that restrict open fires, you will be able to use a Bushbuddy, and under some other backcountry rules, you may not be allowed to. If you aren't sure, contact the supervising agency in advance and ask.

There are also no fire rules above 9600 ft. in much of Yosemite Nat'l Park which in part is to prevent degradation of sub alpine and alpine environments by the using of scarce wood resources—decaying wood is potential future alpine soil–the creation of which is a very slowww process.

I would like to see a coherent ruling by the Nat'l Park System of whether or not a Bush Buddy could be used in such places (after all, one could carry fuel–twigs, pine cones, whatever–from lower elevation zones to the high country).

update:
Revisiting Yosemite Widerness regs.—" Outside the Valley, wood may not be gathered at elevations above 9,600 feet or in sequoia groves. Cutting standing trees or attached limbs, alive or dead, is prohibited, as is the use of chain saws. Campfires are permitted only in established fire rings."
–which would imply that a Bushbuddy could be used if you carried fuel from below.

Lesson learned…

Practice with fuel that is damp if you're a dummy like me.

It took quite a bit more effort for me when using damp sticks. After using dry stuff a few times, I thought I was a firemeister.

One main dumb thing I did was: not trying to find the least wet sticks BEFORE trying to burn wet stuff. I wasted three Tinder-Quick tabs and about 30 minutes. At least, I'm proficient with my Firesteel now. Ugh, me make big spark – me go run mammoth off cliff.

Would have been much better had I started with my second batch of sticks. Then it took me one Tinder-Quick to get my fire started. About ten minutes.