Burning Issues: When to Say NO to a Campfire — and Why

Burning Issues

When to Say NO to a Campfire — and Why

The campfire is a backcountry icon, and “dreaming the fire” is one of the great joys of evenings by the water. But the pleasures of the fireside come at a price. With this year’s drought-driven infernos still fresh in her mind, Tamia explores some “Burning Issues.” It’s a hot topic.
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by Tamia Nelson | October 8, 2002

A Tamia Nelson Article on Backinthesameboat.com

It’s raining as I write this, a steady, sustained, soaking rain. Such rains aren’t uncommon in the northern foothills of New York’s Adirondack Mountains, but they were very rare this year. The summer that just ended was hot and dry — unusually so, in fact. Fire weather. And not surprisingly, we’ve had our share of fires. Some 70 flared up across the Adirondacks in August alone. Most were small, almost intimate, affairs. Many involved only a few acres, or a few tens of acres, and nearly all were contained quickly. None reached the size of the terrible western infernos that led the network news broadcasts.

A few still smolder on, though, and a brush-fire complex that began in a training area on Fort Drum (home to the 10th Mountain Division) was initially allowed … Read more »

In the Same Boat: Getting Acquainted

In the Same Boat

Getting Acquainted

Who we are, where we came from, where we’re going, and what we’re about.
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by Farwell Forrest | March 1, 1999

A Farwell Forrest Article on Backinthesameboat.com

Nearly twenty years ago, I found myself in an Old Town Tripper on a wild river in northern Quebec. With me in the boat was a young woman I hardly knew. We’d met several times, of course, usually in the little library that served the small upstate New York town we both called home. I’d noticed that we took out the same books. So had she. It was just about all we had in common.

We’d paddled together only once before — a hastily-planned canoe trip down a stretch of the Androscoggin. What brought us together on the river in northern Quebec is a story for another day. At the time, only one thing really mattered: we were there, we were in the same boat, and we had nearly two hundred miles of river and lake ahead of us.

Well, the trip spun itself out as such trips always do. The tempo varied, but the theme remained the same. River, lake and portage. Still water and fast. Gale-force wind and dead calm. Rain and … Read more »