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Fires aren't allowed in most parks in the west.

Also, stoves are infinitely easier, don't weigh much at all, and leave a significantly lower mess on your cook ware (and a MUCH MUCH MUCH lower trace on the campsite).

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When I was growing up, backpacking with my family and with the Boy Scouts, I always cooked with a campfire. I remember one very rainy backpack trip with my dad where he took about an hour to brew small pot of coffee, because the wood was so wet it took that long to get a fire hot enough going. About the time I was in college, I started using lightweight stoves. A few years ago, my stove clogged up on a backpack trip, and I had to go back to a wood fire. What a pain in the rear! OTOH, nothing beats a wood fire if you need to dry out clothes, boots, etc. I'm kind of a fair-weather low impact camper. If the weather's nice, I'm more than willing to go without the fire. If it turns cold or rainy, I'm gonna come home reeking of woodsmoke.