Firewood is expensive

[flbuilder]

What do you guys do for firewood when you camp?  I've discovered the hard way that if you wait until you get to the campground and pay $5 or more for a dozen pieces, that you can easily go through $10 - $15 worth of wood per night.  There has to be a cheaper way, but most state parks won't let you scrounge through the woods.  Where do you get cheap firewood?

[birol]

I think a lot of us carry it. I can't carry, so after checking in, I bought it from the side of the road sellers at a better price. Like three dozen or so for 5 bucks, it was cheap ! Buying them at the CG is too expensive ! Anything at the CG is expensive ! :compumad:

[brainpause]

We used to buy a lot of firewood at cg's and nearby, but last year I bought a 1/2 rick of wood for $25. That amount of wood filled my Nissan pickup, mounded over. BIG load. We have used it for our patio fireplace too. About time to get some more, but it is way more than the 5-7 bundles that $25 would have bought.

Larry

[flbuilder]

Maybe a dumb question...

How much is in a rick of wood and where do you get it?

[tlhdoc]

We try to take our own.  If we don't have the space I buy from road side vender's if possible.  We have had some wood given to us and we have some from our old apple tree.  Last year I got some 4 X 8 or 10 pieces of dry oak from work.  That make a great bed of coals for cooking on.

[brainpause]

Maybe a dumb question...

How much is in a rick of wood and where do you get it?

Not a dumb question at all. I am not sure of the answer, but a half a rick mounded my truck pretty good (with a large toolbox in it). I am trying to remember the size of the stack when the cutter was measuring it....seems like it was four feet wide, about four feet tall, one layer thick. Not sure though....

Larry

[brainpause]

Maybe a dumb question...

How much is in a rick of wood and where do you get it?

I stand corrected...I found the following on the internet:

"4x8 feet x16 inches (commonly called a rick)."

That would amount to 42.67 cubic feet of wood. My measurements I gave in the above post would be about 21 cubic feet of wood, so maybe I did guess pretty accurately, since I bought a HALF rick of wood.

On edit: Just for comparison, a CORD of wood is equal to 128 cubic feet of wood. Depending on who you talk to and where you read, a RICK of wood is 1/3 to 1/4 of a cord. Of course, by the above calculations, it is 1/3 cord.

Larry

[Gone-Camping]

I have never found the room to carry firewood, let alone been able to cope with the added weight. We generally do the scavenger method, as most parks and campgrounds have the "No standing timber" rules, but that leaves what ever is down free for the taking. Around here that used to be slim pickins, but Hurricane Isabel changed all that, there are still downed tree's everywhere you look! Get out in the parks and forest there are huge quanitities of downed wood, and now pretty well seasoned! At Pocahontas SP during the Spring Fling, the camp host ENCOURAGED us to gather as much as we could. They do sell firewood there, but with so many downed tree's it was a total free for all on firewood.

[garym053]

Depends! Usually we camp in state parks and they have a tough enough time financially so I buy the wood from NH and VT state parks, usually priced about $2.00 for an armload which equals 8 to 10 sticks of varying sizes. Mass State Parks charge $5.00 for 5 or 6 pieces of wood in a plastic bag, so we generally bring our own or buy it from a road side vendor! By the time I load coolers, propane, kayaks, paddles PFD's, Safety and Rescue equipment for Kayaking, there is not much room for wood!

[aw738]

"4x8 feet x16 inches (commonly called a rick)."

The correct term is a cord of wood.

[deniski]

We buy a cord of wood each year at a church fund raiser.   Then we take some of it along when we camp, it's cheaper that way.  Oftentimes, we find wood that somebody else abandoned when they left the campsites near ours - so we'll use that also (hey!  we make SURE they are really gone before we do that!!).

[Old Goat]

My Son owns a sawmill,so I get all the firewood I want for free. He always has plenty of junk wood and trimmings that is only good for firewood. It is mostly oak, hickory,ash and pine. He sometimes has red cedar which burns fast and gives off a pleasant odor. I tow with a full size pickup so carrying plenty of firewood is never a problem...On long trips I carry a small electric chain saw along to cut up pieces of wood we find along country roads... It is light and quiet running and doesn't upset fellow campers with a lot of noise.....


Old Goat

Popup and pickup
Camping since 1940

[wiininkwe]

We're lucky enough to have our own almost never ending supply of wood, ( a mixture of pine, oak, maple, poplar and wild cherry)  but MI also has a policy that allows people to get a permit to gather "dead and downed" wood from state lands.  I'm thinking that other states may have the same kind of thing.  A permit is good for an entire year, I think, and anything laying dead on the ground is fair game.  You could gather what you need for a while maybe once or twice a year, or maybe once a month if you have a place to store it.
T

[B-flat]

When you're in the country, there is usally plenty of free wood to take along to the campground.  Leftover wood gets offered to the campers staying on, so it isn't hauled home.

[campingboaters]

Just got back from our first outing this season and you are not kidding the firewood is getting expensive -- and we thought only Gas and milk were getting expensive!!  

We usually buy from a road-side vendor on the way into the campground.  This trip, we brought old wood we had in our garage so we didn't need any, but noticed that the wood we used to buy for $5 for a large stack was priced at $10!!!  Granted, it's probably enough wood for the weekend for us, but THAT is EXPENSIVE!