How to Build
a Campfire
Most people can build a campfire and roast marshmallows. But not everyone can
build a respectable fire in the midst of a rainstorm, nor can they build one
with "artistic flair". I am going to teach you how to accomplish this.
My methods are guaranteed to work in a down pour, provided that wind velocities,
accompanying the rain, do not exceed about 20 mph.
You will need tools.
- A dry match
A small knife
And, if you must chop wood, an ax (or better yet a campers saw)
The Best Wood is Dead Wood
It's dry and . . . (newsflash) . . . if it's raining it's dry on the inside.
You're going to cut some shavings from small sticks that are lying around.
Some dry paper will help if you have it. Stick these in your pocket, near
to your skin for warmth. Remember, it's raining and you must have dry tinder to
light with your dry match. Try putting it in your shirt. You need maybe two
handfuls of 'stuff'. You can now proceed with the rest of the agenda while
the 'stuff' is drying out.
Methodology
- Find about a dozen logs18" in length and 2",3",4"
diameter (anything close is good enough)
- Arrange them in this manner: Build a square with each log on top and on
the bottom of its neighbor so that gaps for air flow are formed. (extremely
important here)
Do not, under any circumstances, stand the wood up like army rifles in a
civil war camp.
- Build up a pyramid by laying down successive layers just like the former.
Leave a hole in the top.
- Get a bunch of twigs and sticks ~18" long of varying diameters
(1/4",1/2", 1",etc.) and shove these down the hole in the
manner of the formerly banned civil war rifles. (Yeah . . . they're wet.
It's OK.)
- Now, hunch over your creation to block the rain and insert the now dry
'stuff' from your shirt inside of the tent formed by the civil war rifles.
[You should be able to get your hand past the big logs where you left big
gaps for air.]
- Finally, light those dry shavings with the match. If all goes well the
shavings will dry and ignite the smaller wet twigs, the twigs ignite the
sticks which in turn will ignite the . . . etc.
- This chain reaction should be unstoppable in even a heavy rain.
You may have to protect the fire from rain at the beginning. The big logs
shield the inside from most of it.
Back to Marketing Page