This year we returned to our car camping spot for elk and mule deer. Car camping allows for some amount of luxury that our previous backcountry hike and spike in adventures didn’t. We have a propane heater with our Big Buddy, we have a toilet seat over a pit, it’s practically the resort town of nearby Steamboat Springs! All we need is some freeze dried sushi and it’s basically the same. Pass the gewurtz. So with all that in mind, I figured this season we could up our lighting game. A year or two ago I bought two UCO Candle Lanterns, a single candle lantern for use on my backcountry trips, and the aptly named Candleier.
The Candleier is the backcountry chandelier if ever there was one. Flames dance on the walls of our tipi, candles snug in their spring loaded candle holders. There’s just something about coming back to a fire, even if it is in the form of a three candle power light, at the end of a long day. It soothes, it speaks to something deep in the hunter’s heart.
Grabbing a Piece of History
The candle lantern has been around for a long time. If you can snag a vintage one, UCO products as well as LL Bean and other branded products were once made in the US. They used to be just a little bit stouter, and some were available in brass, particularly the single candle units. We love the aesthetics and the function for camping but also keeping around for emergencies.
The candles themselves are available in paraffin, beeswax, and citronella to keep the skeeters at bay. The candelier runs about $50, and the single candle lantern runs about $30. The candles are also reasonable and anything from the green-and-yellow find-em-everywhere Coughlan emergency candles fit to the UCO branded options.
The single candle lantern if nurtured and kept safely can even warm up a one person tent like my Eureka to get the frost off the single wall. It makes it nice and cozy on those cold mornings.
There’s just something about these candle lanterns that is comforting whether at our mountain property or at camp on the mountain side. It’s no campfire keeping the wolves away, but it scratches an itch deep in my brain.
