steady
The pit
A stone ring and a bed of coals that lasts the whole night.
600°F
Backcountry, kept simple
keep thefire.
A backcountry skills library and campfire community — fire, knots, shelter, and the stories people tell when the dark comes.
photo · Jonny
● now burning · 600°F
01
How it works
Three steps. No gear wall required.
/ 01
Learn the skill
Step-by-step guides for fire, knots, shelter, and the rest — written by people who actually go out.
/ 02
Take it outside
Practice on a real trail, close to home, with a route that won't punish a mistake.
/ 03
Tell it around the fire
Log the trip, share what you learned, and pass the story to the next circle.
02
Everything but the store
Skills over gear. Always.
Fire, from scratch
Tinder to coals, taught in the order that actually works.
Five knots, no filler
The only knots you'll reach for in the backcountry.
Shelter that holds
Tarps and lean-tos for rain, wind, and the long night.
Routes that are real
Every trail walked and graded by a person, not a bot.
A fire worth sharing
Stories, trip reports, and the circle when it's dark.
Don't get lost
Topo reading and route planning, taught before you need it.
03
The field, up close
Shot where the fire actually happens.
04
The fire, broken down
Three things every fire needs.
Fuel, oxygen, and heat. That's the whole secret. Get the ratio right and a fire lights itself; get it wrong and you're blowing on dead wood at midnight.
Fueldry wood, sized up in steps
Oxygena gap to breathe, never buried
Heatone good spark, fed slowly
burning
05
The slow burn
One fire, in real time.
the night watch · Chris F
06
Four fires
Every fire has a mood.
dinner
The cook fire
Coals raked to the side, cast iron, and a meal that took all day to get to.
450°F
first light
The tinder fire
A one-match fire, built slow and lit once.
flash
shelter
The storm fire
Wind at your back, a tarp overhead, and a fire that refuses to die.
kept alive
From the desk of Gus Redfern
I learned more around a fire than I ever did in a store.
My first fire took an hour and a whole box of matches. I was eleven, it was November, and my dad watched the whole thing without saying a word. When it finally caught, he just said: "now you know why the wood matters."
That's the whole of it. Nobody gets good at this by buying more gear. They get good by doing it badly, once, in the cold, and deciding to do it better next time.
So here's the invite: learn one skill, take it outside, and come back with a story. The fire's already lit.
Gus RedfernFounder, EMBER
07
By the numbers
Live, from our backend.
312k
fires taught
1.4k
skills logged
6.2k
trails walked
88k
around the fire
08
From the circle
People who finally got warm.
★★★★★
"I've read a hundred fire guides. This is the first one that told me the order, and now my fire lights on the first match."
June P.First fire, 2024
★★★★★
"The knots section is gold. Five knots, practiced in the dark, and I've used all five on real trips since."
Marcus T.Weekend hiker
★★★★★
"It's the stories that keep me coming back. Real trips, mistakes left in. Refreshing."
Sofia A.Trail regular
09
The roadmap
Where we're going.
Q3 2026
Skill library + 14 fire & knot guides, live in beta.
Q4 2026
Community trip reports and a shared trail log.
Q1 2027
Offline map packs for the trail with no signal.
Q2 2027
ember field kit: a kit that packs itself from your route.
10
Questions, answered.
How do I build a fire that actually stays lit?+
In order: tinder, then kindling, then fuel. Prep a full armload of each before the first spark, and leave the fire a gap to breathe.
Do I need expensive gear?+
No. A knife, a tarp, and a pot cover ninety percent of it. Skills beat gear every time, and we teach the skills.
Is it just for experienced hikers?+
No. Most guides start from zero. The first overnight we recommend is close to home, on purpose.
Is it free?+
Yes — the skill library, routes, and community are free during beta and stay free after launch.
Do you sell gear?+
No. We're a skills and community project. The gear stays at the store, and we don't take a cut of it.
Can I share a trip report?+
Yes — send it in. If it's honest about the hard parts, we'll run it. That's the whole bar.
The fire is already lit.
keep the fire.
photo · Raul Ling