The Tinder Experiment

 I have heard for years about various fire starting tools that one can add to their 10 essentials kit. In the event of an emergency, the ability to make a fire can also mean health and safety. While I'm not sure if it's ever really been studied, I would imagine that if you find yourself in dire straights, having a fire can ease your nerves and provide a level of emotional comfort as well as physical.

 Last week, M and I hiked out for a night of camping. I brought with me a couple of empty film canisters filled with things I had heard made great fire starter. I had a brand new Light My Fire Fire Steel. I didn't take a picture of mine, so here's what I'm talking about:

 

I also took some dryer lint as its highly flammable and a tissue smeared in Vaseline.I would have preferred a few cotton balls in Vaseline but we were all out...so we made use of what we did have. 

 Here's what we're starting with. Our teepee fire.
By the way-yes, that's a giant lighter. We had to have backup in case none of these great ideas paid off.

My photographer (M) apologizes for the blurry photos to follow. I think you'll still get the idea.

 Prepping the tissue in vaseline

 Tissue is ready to go on one side of our fire

 Tissue on the left. Wad of dryer lint on the right (it looks like a blurry gray mass)

 Pulling out the Fire Steel to light my fire

 Once both sides were lit. The tissue is winning by a mile!

 And we're off!

Bracco approves of our cozy campfire.

 

So do we!

 So, while the dryer lint surely did burn, it was more of a slow smoldering burn. I found this a bit difficult to work with it trying to light other twigs etc. The tissue burned long and strong. In hindsight, I shouldn't be too surprised that a petroleum product burned so well. Now I'm curious to know whether a tissue, paper towel, cotton ball or other paper will burn better in vaseline. I guess that will be my next experiment. 

I kind of like the idea of bringing a small container of vaseline without having it pre-made into a cotton ball fire starter. It makes it more versatile for other possible needs on trail. Also, I'm a big proponent of having at least two different ways to make fire if needed, particularly for extended trips. So, if you're headed out bring a spare lighter or weather-resistant (proof) matches along as well as your fire steel.

As a side note, let me just list the difference between a magnesium fire starter and the fire steel. A magnesium strip looks like this:

  You can sort of see in the picture that first you shave a small pile of the magnesium from the "shaving edge." You then use a pocket knife to strike the "sparking edge" in order to light the little pile of magnesium you just made. The magnesium bar does not burn whole and is waterproof. The filings burn hot and fast so it's necessary to have additional tinder easily accessible or your fire will quickly burn out. The more shavings you've put in your pile, the longer the burn BUT it takes a decent effort to get this built up.

The Fire Steel is ONLY your spark. It will not ignite, which is why you need a tinder, such as the Vaseline cotton balls or dryer lint options. All of these options are lightweight, easily packed and ready to go when needed.Earlier, I noted that the fire steel was new. This is important because it took a minute or two to make it spark as you need to get through the outer coating.

Has anyone else tried the dryer lint and had better luck? Mine might have too much dog hair in it to be useful.

Adventures Revealed

The fall lineup includes:

Tour de Fat- Labor Day Weekend (a tradition of course)
Holden Beach, NC
Fort Collins Sustainable Living Fair
Paonia, CO
Depoe Bay, OR
San Jose, CA
Minneapolis, MN
Omaha, NE
A visit from my awesome bro and sis-in-law (hopefully)
Complete 5th Peak and climb at least one 14er this fall

A secret weekend away that I cannot reveal at this time as it's a surprise
AND a longer adventure yet to be determined

My week-long TBD will either involve technical mountaineering south of the border

OR

backpacking in some European country

I'm waiting to see if the mountaineering will pan out (they haven't reached the minimum to run the trip yet). If not, M and I are buying the cheapest ticket available to run away together for a while. Either way, I have no complaints and plenty of new gear to try out!

When I look at this all written out, I'm a little overwhelmed. I mean, that's 5 states in addition to my own and all of these trips will occur between now and the end of November...most are just a weekend. A couple are work-related but I plan to attempt some outdoor fun while traveling for those trips too. Upon completeion, I plan to settle in for a looooong winter's nap.

What are you up to this fall?

Squeeee- New Gear!

 It's been a while since last I splurged on some new equipment to add to my gear closet. For one, there's just not a lot that I need and I try not to buy unnecessarily. I also have been out of the gear game for long enough that I sometimes get overwhelmed thinking about which new gear to buy if I do need something.

 I have been kicking around ideas for a big fall adventure (more details to follow) and determined that I was ready for some upgrades. Here's the loot I walked away with last week and is making its way to my doorstep little by little:

Patagonia Black Hole Duffel 120L
  You may be wondering what in the world anyone would need this giant bag for. Well, they're awesome gear haulers when travelling for an extended period. For mountaineering trips in the past, I've used the North Face Base Camp Duffel. It's been a trusty friend but I needed something bigger than the one I have and figured I'd give this well-reviewed bag a try. It was also on closeout so I got a great deal. I guess there aren't a lot of people who love this shade of aquamarine. I do. The bag can be worn as a backpack, which is perfect for carting it around airports. One thing I do like about this as opposed to the Base Camp is the exterior pocket. I loves me some organization!

The Black Diamond Storm
  100 Lumens! 100 Lumens! 100 Lumens! (read: Bright! Bright! Bright!) Really, what more is there to say? Okay, there's more. 100 Lumens is impressive but what I really liked was that the "low" setting on this model was still 25 lumens. An improvement from my Black Diamond Spot, which is only 4 lumens on low. As I've learned, a person can hardly function at night with only 4 lumens, forcing a higher setting and therefore, less battery time.

NEOAir All Season
  New to the Cascade Designs lineup for 2011, this is a true 4 season sleeping pad! It's lighter than my prolite and warmer. I love when that happens. I love that this new pad comes with a repair kit, air pump and stuff sack INCLUDED. For reference, all of those odds and ends were previously sold separately and would cost about $35 on top of the cost of the pad itself. The price point for this wasn't too bad either...at least it's in line with previous models. And for those of you who care (like me), these pads are Made in the USA. Nice!

I'm picking up on a color scheme here

 So, if you had all of this new gear, where would you take it? I'll let you know where I'm planning on heading this fall but am always open to new ideas. Also, any thought or feedback you have on any of these specific items is welcome and appreciated.