I go back and forth on this. Sometimes I'll go backpacking without any stove and without building a fire, and that's nice. Usually I bring a stove and use it ju

I go back and forth on this. Sometimes I'll go backpacking without any stove and without building a fire, and that's nice. Usually I bring a stove and use it just for cooking, rarely do we have a fire outside of established campgrounds/areas. When it is windy and dry I think a fire is an unnecessary risk but seeing the fire warning high sign all summer can wear out one's caution to the point where red flag conditions seem like more of the same. I don't think fire bans are a problem when the weather determines the need. Unfortunately the conditions may exist longer than we'd like each summer/fall. Recently there were some cases of National Forests closing sections due to excessive heat, that I have more of a problem with. Even though I think the argument was to keep SAR safe by keeping people from needing rescue due to the heat. Last weekend I was backpacking in the Cascades and saw wisps of smoke just off the road a bit before the trailhead. There was a fire that had just been put out but was built on roots and duff which were smouldering. We watched the smoldering spread between checking and going back to the car for water. In the end we used all out water, got water from other cars driving by, and dug about 2 feet down to put it out. Got cut from hot broken jaeger bottles too. There were plenty of fire ban signs on any route to that point. Some people just don't care.