[alaskayorkie]

This thread has been silent a while, so I thought I'd bring up one of the oldest man topics on record: building a campfire.

My question, inspired by a recent camping experience: Is there any honor left in building a fire with kindling and wood only, the fewer matches the machoer? Or with all the modern conveniences out there, are gasoline, lighters and yes, blow torches, acceptable?

I grew up in a family where the art of building a fire in the woods was sacred. It was passed down from grandpa to dad to brothers to me. You start with the lightest, most combustible kindling, then you add larger and larger sticks, finally a small log. You build a frame, light one match and voila, man has fire.

But I just returned from a camping trip where a friend, who is no slouch when it comes to outdoors adventure, pulled out a blow torch to ignite everything from logs on the fire to his campstove.

You couldn't argue with the results. We had a nice fire quickly. But, damn, the art of the fire seems to be lost.

Have I just turned into one of those crotchety ol' guys who insists on doing everything the old-fashioned way?