| Carry Tinder
Mother Nature always gets a vote. While on a training event in Maine in the late 2000s, I built a natural lean-to shelter from off the land. We anticipated rain and we took the inclement weather as a challenge to our fire-starting skills. The land was already pre-soaked from rain days before and by the time we tackled building the fire, we were in the dark, had cold and wet hands, and found our ferro rod sparks to be landing in puddles of water forming everywhere. We were accomplished woodsmen, could feather stick like no one’s business, and we’d build fires in adverse conditions before but we wanted an upper hand. We carried petroleum jelly cotton balls in an old chapstick container (keeps your pant pockets from getting greasy) and used every last bit of it with hemlock twigs to get a small fire going. We shielded the heat from the rain and eventually we had a roaring fire that dried us faster than the rain could soak in. Lesson learned, carry tinder and plenty of it. |
