Bush Buddy

On a few different trips recently, I opted to take my BushBuddy rather than one of the usual alcohol stove set ups I use. I knew it was going to be cold, and I knew I wanted to have an actual fire to help stay warm.

Besides its obvious utility as a means of boiling water and cooking food, it’s also a nice self contained fire box.

The pot looks a bit unbalanced, but it’s actually balanced better with it off to the side a little bit given the slight slope of the terrain.

In front of the wikiup. I know it looks precarious, but it really did feel more securely balanced off to the side a bit.

Cupatea.

I was using the knife to split small pieces of wood even smaller. Only twigs and very thin branches are needed to fuel it. It does require almost constant attention though, and a very steady feeding of wood. Which has to be done very gingerly as the slot is small, has flames licking out, and a pot of hot water sits there.

As much as I like alcohol stoves for the convenience on a hike of known duration, not to mention the lack of noise and smell, and lack of sooty pots, a wood stove has the edge when the trip will last an unknown length of time, warmth is needed, water needs to be boiled for bathing, etc. In addition to that, there is something so awe inspiring about a fire. Sadly, I live in a modern city, and a fire is something I get to enjoy very, very rarely. For millennia, a fire was a daily occurrence for almost everyone. Now, our use of an actual fire has been drastically curtailed. Yes, yes, it probably is safer not to have fires in densely packed cities. But I think it’s fair to say, we would never have gotten to the point of even having cities, let alone be able to worry about the safety of the issue, without having attained mastery of fire. I think that connection with fire is so utterly primal, and not experiencing it on a daily basis leaves a void in our psyche, whether we realize it or not. I somehow feel amazingly “right” when I’m sitting next to a fire.