High Sierra Topix

Do you carry anything beyond the normal waterproof matches and /or lighters
to make a fire? Any tinder product that will keep a flame going for a few minutes
so your kindling has a chance,especially if things are damp/wet, beside TP?
Have been using cotton balls that are dunked in Vaseline for a long time which
is kept in a film canister in my first aid kit and works quite pretty well but doesn't
keep a flame after a few minutes. Lats year found a product called "Fired Up" that
are a kind of pellet that works extremely well from a company named Emergency
Essentials.

Pretty much no all around but I have used olive oil to start a fire in really wet conditions.

I sometimes carry a fire starter which I make myself. Its a single section of a paper egg carton, filled with dryer lint and covered in molten wax, usually from an old candle. I make 'em by the dozen and then carry just one. They burn for a long time, even when wet.

If a lady is your hiking partner use one of her super absorbent tampons. She probably kept it dry in two or more bags. Cut it open and fluff up the fibers inside.

Find a horizontal hollow log. Reach WAY deep inside (put a stick in first to check for critters). The powdered wood residue is probably dry. True firs are usually good candidates.

If I'm having trouble getting a fire started, I'll put a pine cone on the stove for a minute until its going pretty good and then throw it in the fire with some small kindling and any paper trash. Usually starts up easily. If not, another quick blast from the stove to the whole pile and it's on.

Does white gas count? it'll start anything on fire. I'm not seeing the word Emergency much on the posts. Mav, was your intent in case you were stuck in a rain storm? You'd probably be in your tent at that point. Most of my recent trips are in fire restriction zones so it doesn't apply. Bag is warm as is the tent, so no need for a fire.

Just trying to figure out the scenario of an emergency fire.

I only had one when I got lost NE of Shasta in the fog. the Bic worked fine as I didn't have white gas; It was a day hike and no equipment except for the essentials. I was out for a squirrel hunt prior to Deer season opener the next day.

If you know where to look, you can always find stuff dry enough to start a fire. Now, if the Bic didn't work, that'd be a different night. Had the striker and flint but didn't need it.

Rlown wrote:
Just trying to figure out the scenario of an emergency fire.

How about a cold Spring or Fall day and you slipped while crossing a deep creek
or on a icy rock while skirting the lake shore and you take a dunk with you pack
getting everything wet. This situation would call for an emergency fire to avoid
hypothermia and getting some of your gear dry.

a good scenario.. Does that happen?

Hey Russ,

I had met this guy many years ago total drenched near the Wallace Creek/HST
junction in June. He had started a fire because he had slipped and fell while
crossing the creek coming out of Wallace Lakes Basin.
On another trip a few years later met a woman who told me the story how they
were skirting a lake on some steep snow and one of her friends slipped and could
not self arrest and slid some 40 feet into the lake. They helped her out (luckily
has some rope) an immediately started a fire. In both of these cases the starting
of a quick fire probably saved their lives. So yes, it can happen.

fair scenarios, but a fire won't really dry out your sleeping bag in time. Your second scenario meant that those people had a tent and bags and were in a group that could warm her.

Still a good topic, but not so much in the emergency part.

I've actually done survival trips with just the flint stick and a knife, and no stove or gas for multiple days. Still not that hard to find dry tinder in a wet storm. You just have to know where to look and look a lot.