No Firewood, No Problem
If you don’t plan ahead you could find yourself in an awesome camp spot with no way of building a campfire for the perfect night under the stars. I found myself in just that scenario last summer. I even had s’mores fixin’s ready to go. What a shame, I thought…until I remembered about the trusty charcoal chimney I had stashed in the rig.
Foldable charcoal chimneys are available at several online retailers including Amazon.com. By clicking on the link you’ll be able to get your hands on your own foldable charcoal chimney and it’ll help me out as the referring website. Thank you!
For anyone who has used a charcoal grill at home, a charcoal chimney is the absolute best way to get the coals started. Most models hold the coals in a bulky cylinder with a handle, which is just fine for home use. When space is limited, like in a tiny home on wheels, collapsible is best. I had just bought a collapsible version myself and jumped at the chance to try it out. Our camp spot was a relatively popular weekend camping area, but since we were there on a weekday we were surrounded by vacant camp spots (and associated campfire rings). It took a couple of trips, and a bit of a walk, but I was able to track down an armload of partially burned wood, some small wood scraps, and a bunch of quality charcoal.
In a matter of minutes I was able to light the charcoal in the chimney and have a marshmallow-ready fire! Seriously, it was the fastest, hottest fire I’ve ever built. Pure magic!
Side note, I have yet to do it, but another reason that I chose the collapsible charcoal chimney was for the small grill grate on the top. With very little effort (and fuel) you could have enough hot coals to grill a couple of dogs. I’ll have to try it out and let you know how it goes!