By Ben Bailey
Over the years, I’ve spent countless hours sitting around a campfire. A campfire is not just warmth and light…it’s more than that. I don’t know if there are words to describe the effect that a campfire has on those within its circle. I guess the word comradery comes close, but even that doesn’t seem enough. Darkness is usually associated with evil and light, with all that’s good and noble. Warmth speaks of friendship and goodwill. I can attest to the fact that friendships forged in the flames of a campfire will stand the test of time and trout, baked over its coals, are just a little better. I have spent a few, not many, nights in a camp without a fire and it was worse then Aunt Jemima’s pancakes without her syrup. The conversation and laughter wanes and we drift off into darkness to cold sleeping bags. It’s a welcome site in the morning, waking to the sound of a snapping twigs and somebody building a fire.
A few years ago, I, and two others, were walking the last leg of the trip from Clingmans Dome to Proctor. We were tired after four days on the trail and it was raining. Our buddies, who had come to pick us up by boat, had prepared a fire pit and covered it with plastic. They lit the fire as we walked into camp. It was such a beautiful sight and gesture… I will never forget that moment. A campfire is meant to be shared and, once shared, never forgotten. The charcoal and circle of stones is like a shrine to all that was said and done here. Others who may pass this way will know a kindred spirit has been here and in some small way, as they sit around their fire, we are joined and become fellow travelers.
We are told by science that fire is the giving off of energy that has been stored in the wood from all the sunshine that the tree has been exposed to over its life. If that’s true, then I would think that we, as we sit around that fire, would also soak in a little bit of that energy. I’ve also seen people soak in a little moonshine while sitting around a campfire and even if that doesn’t work for you, you’re bound to soak in some of the wisdom that is passed around and through the flames. I’ve heard it all from humor, to theology, to how to achieve world peace.
I remember a poem by Hector Donald called “The Land of Heart’s Desire”:
Did you ever watch the campfire
When the Wood has fallen low,
And the ashes ‘gin to whiten
Round the embers’ crimson glow,
With the night sounds all about you
Making silence doubly sweet,
And a full moon high above you
That the spell may be complete?
Did you ever sit there thinking
‘Mid your pipe’s gray, pungent breath,
While the fire’s last, feeble flicker
Met a magic, glow-worm death—
Tell me, were you ever nearer
To the land of heart’s desire,
Than when you sat there smoking
With your feet up to the fire
Ben Bailey, is a native of Western North Carolina, Master Carpenter, Avid Angler, and Naturalist.