Mathias Outdoors

In general, you’ll find that you need between 2 and 5 bundles of firewood per day for your campfire. However, variables can disrupt how you determine the exact amount you will be requiring for your needs, vs Wants. For instance, you may need more wood if you plan to have a fire going for more than just a few hours each night.

A camp fire is probably the most enjoyable part of any camping trip. I mean who doesn’t like a good camp fire at the end of a long hot summer day? However, crafting that perfect campfire requires having enough wood to keep it properly fueled for however long you plan to enjoy it.

I am always asking myself “How much firewood do I need for my camping trip?” Or I’ll ask my partner! “How many bags should I get for the nigh, or week sometimes? The fact is that we are rarely correct with whatever number we come up with. We either get to much or too little it’s either or.

most campers will find that they need between 2 and 5 bundles of firewood per day, or about 3/4 to 1 bundle an hour for their campground campfire. That being said, if you plan on using your campfire for cooking, as opposed to a more efficient, wood burning, camp fireplace , you may want to bring slightly more wood for each day of your trip.

How Much Firewood Do I Need For Camping?

When planning your trip, & While there’s no one-size fits all answer to how much firewood you’ll need, this general guideline may help you make a decision based on your unique situation.

A quick estimate of how much firewood you’ll need,

Duration/. Log # warmth / cooking

1 hour 4-5 logs. 4-6 logs

2hours 1 -2 bundles 2-3 bundles – 4-10logs / 10-15logs

6 hours 4 to 6 bundles / 5 to 7bundles. – 20-30 logs) / (25-35 logs)

4 hours. 2 to 4 bundles / 3-5 bundles – (10-20 logs) / (15-25 logs)

8 hours, 6 to 8 bundles / 7 to 9bundles – (30 to 40 logs / (35-45 logs)

How To Determine How Much Firewood You Need For Camping

As you can see, the amount of wood you’ll need depends quite a bit on the duration of your fire and whether or not you plan to do some cooking as well. However, this is just a rough estimate and there are many more factors that go into determining how much wood you’re going to need.

Length Of Your Trip

. As you can imagine, the longer the camping trip, the more wood you’ll likely need for your fire. Also The weather is a major factor to the table above. This guesstimate is only for temperatures above 0 degrees Celsius.

As a result, we recommend multiplying the estimates ( hours of fire you expect to use per day) by the number of nights you plan to spend outside. Doing so should give you a good approximation of how much wood you might need for your trip.

Campfire Habits

Everything depends on your camp habits?

Example: you plan on burning 3 hours of regular firewood plus 3 hours of cooking time, however 2 hours of cooking time will be on an already existing fire your using for warmth. ! You will need approx 4 full hours of fire wood with a %25 increase of wood for the hours you are cooking for, you will need approx 5 bags of purchased fire wood from the campground. (Per day) x 4 days camping trip? = 20 bags of wood

$$$$Cost of Campground Wood!$$$

Camp wood usually costs around $7CDN a bag (on average) to purchase on site so remember on top of all your existing costs, remember to think about the additional cost for camp wood. In the above example 4 days & 4 nights will cost approx $140.00 in wood alone. Unless you plan to collect that amount from the nearby woods.? This is usually my plan of action however it is very time consuming and exhausting. Collecting surrounding wood can take up a decent portion of each day. This is even if you are allowed to do this in the first place. Park rules vary from place to place but most Parks around my area do not allow the collection of any wood at all. But if you camp on crown land then the wood is fair game.

Local Weather Conditions

In general, when camping in the rain or in a very windy conditions , pack a some extra firewood for each day. because wet and windy conditions reduce the burning efficiency of your fire, leading to increased wood consumption a general rule of thumb would be to expect an additional %10 to %15 of wood needed.

Moisture Content

Wet conditions are the least ideal for campfires and cooking in. But, even if it’s bright and sunny out, having wet firewood can also be a non-starter or fuel for your fire.

In fact, damp firewood is one of the biggest factors that affects how efficiently a fire can burn. Ultimately, the drier the wood, the better it will burn, and the more easily you’ll be able to start your campfire.

Alternatively, the best wood you can get for a campfire is dried, seasoned wood, like what you’d get if you purchase a bundle of firewood at a campground store. Now the wood that you get at a campground is generally a variety of soft woods in the sack.

Camping Season

Finally, seasonality (i.e., whether you’re camping in the winter or the summer) also has an impact on your firewood consumption.

For example, if you’re going winter camping, you may find that you need to pack more wood again, more than if you’re camping during the summer months or in the rain/ wind. Unless you are using a hot tent with a wood stove? Then you can base the amount you pack, or collect, to be about %5 to %10 more than the chart above. For summer camping. Otherwise don’t be surprised if you use %25 to %30 more for and open fire type of camp fire.

Cold weather, or temperatures in general have a great impact on wood consumption and how it burns. A general rule of thumb for me is, for every -5 degrees Celsius Below 0 degrees, I plan on an additional %5 to %7 added to my supply.

Although not everyone will have fires while winter camping, if you’re planning on having winter fires, you could end up using a whole lot more wood each day.

(Remember this if you are overnight winter camping) especially when collecting your own wood in the woods) much of your day will be spent collecting fire wood. It’s a good idea to bring the best wood processing equipment available or manageable in with you. If you can manage a small chain saw? It will be a huge time saver. If not, then bring a sharp (largest possible) axe that you can carry, & saw with you.

So in conclusion the following checklist is a good idea to go over before you decide how much fire wood you are going to need to purchase or collect for your next trip out.

How Much Wood Will I Need?

1 – Trip length

2 – What will my habits be for the trip ( how much time having a fire will I utilize every day away)?

3 – fire purpose? Warmth, aesthetics, or cooking?

4 – what’s the weather and what’s the season?

5 – what’s the condition of the wood I bought a/collected? Moist, or dry?