Bed of Coals...

In the movie jermiah Johnson, there is a scene were JJ and Bear claw are camping out under the stars in mid-winter. Ol Bearclaw shows JJ a trick to sleep warm....making your bunk on a bed of coals.

have any of you ever tried this?

I did try this once while camping near moab, utah in november. the temp got down in the single digets. i dug a trench in the sand and placed rocks from the fire in the bottom about 8" deep. Then placed my tent over the buried rocks. It was like sleeping in a sauna it was so hot. The winds picked up to about 40 mph and i was toasty warm. So i would say it works great.

Mitch also posted on this a while back:

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...ighlight=coals

Have done it twice when siwashing. Works good, if you are leaving at first light. I rarely have open fires. Met a guy who actually slept in a gutted Brown bear once.

I have never slept over a firebed but it is something I've always wanted to try. It does take a long time to dig, burn, and bury one again. Most of the write-ups I've read about them mention steam which could be a problem in itself if its too excessive.

One quicky version I've read about is to make an ordinary fire in a sheltered place and heat rocks. Then place your seat over top and throw on a poncho to trap the heat.

Other methods include heating rocks and rolling them into your shelter.

I know a canteen filled with boiling water and placed back in its cover will stay hot for a long time and keep your feet warm. Mac

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pict

Other methods include heating rocks and rolling them into your shelter.
Mac

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I've posted that here somewhere? If it was going to be really cold, I would heat some large rocks around my fire, then right before I'm going to go to sleep, I use my shovel (NATO fold up) and roll them into the shelter about 8" to 12" from the tent or shelter wall, about every 3 - 4 feet. Works well. But you can't put those size rocks into the fire pit, hard to get them out. So you need to keep turning them at the edge of your fire pit to prep. If it starts to get to hot (which is not a good thing) then just roll a few back outside next to the fire pit, for use later or in the early morning if necessary.

have not yet, curious but seems labor intensive when other ways are easier

Very labor intensive, and take's a long time. I would never do it again. The first time it was to hot, the next time everything ended up muddy, and not warm.

Just a reminder as far as heating rocks goes, it is best to not use rocks from near a water source as they may retain moisture inside. If they are heated too fast and the expanding steam can't escape quickly enough they may explode.

I suppose if you were going to be in one place for a day or two it might be a viable option. You could toss the stones into the edge of the fire and let them heat all day or for several hours anyway while you do other things. You could even burn a "bed of coals" if you are in one spot. I wouldn't do it for an overnight unless I had no other options for a wilderness shelter and no gear to speak of.

As a child I used to go with my grandfather over X-mas vacation. We would snowshoe from lake to lake in the Superior Nat'l Forest and BWCA, fishing, snaring rabbits, and hunting small game. We slept on beds of coals several times - once with the same results JJ had in the movie.

Seemed to work.

More often we would build a snow trench. This is a very good way to camp in winter if you have deep enough snow. Much warmer than a tent.

A friend of mine made a fire bed on the beach once. No heated rocks, just the coals covered in sand. He laid his sleeping bag on top and settled in for the night. After about an hour he wiggled his butt down in the sand and then; HOT! HOT! HOT! He burned a hole through his bag and everything else got nice and toasted. :D

I cannot buy into the notion that this is a good idea, at least certainly not the way that movie portrays it. If the rocks are coals are hot enough to warm you, then they're hot enough to melt the snow you buried them in. The puddle you wake up in will not be warm.