The Dakota Fire Pit: Great way for people with Asthma, COPD, or sensitivity to smoke, to have a fire in the outdoors without the smoke inhalation. Also great for stealth camping when you don't want to let your wife know your hiding out in the backwoods escaping from her weekly book club.


All kidding aside, I actually like this method of making a fire pit. For those that never heard of a Dakota Fire Pit, it is an serious of 2 dug holes parallel to one another with a shaft dug between them. Military have used these fire pits since they produce little smoke, and dug them next to trees so that the tree's leaves would mask any smoke that emitted from the fire pit.

This type of fire pit is extremely resilient in windy conditions and may be the only type of fire that you will be able to keep alive in harsh windy conditions. Because of its design, the Dakota Fire Pit burns hotter then above ground fire pits. You can even put your pot directly on top of it to cook your food without having to worry the fire will go out.

I strongly advice not placing a Dakota Fire Pit near any tree or a trees roots. The term "Leave No Trace" also accounts for what one does not see. What many people are not aware of is that both underground and above ground fires could ignite an underground fire. Think of under the ground one walks on as a spiderweb of intercrossing roots from trees, bushes and what not. If the roots under the fire pit catching on fire itself it can stay burning for a couple of months and travel great distance underground until something catches fire and burns its way to top ground which can result in a forest fire.

BY no means an I suggesting not to have a fire. Just saying, next time you do throw water on your embers to put them out, try quadrupling the amount of water used, so that it also extinguishes any roots that might have been affected. ( for areas that are known to have an integrated root systems that are prone to Root Fires or for any fires near tree roots)

(I personally came upon this knowledge after talking to the wife of a California forest fire fighter several years back. It literally blew my mind that a fire could penetrate several feet down underground and last months prior to it extinguishing or burning above ground)