In short: On the second leg of this St. Marys trip, me and Tina paddle down, find a sandbar, and get camp set before the rain. Then I try something I made back at the house, cotton balls boiled in Vaseline. One strike and the fire was up. This is the honest test of a fire starter that a lot of folks talk about, plus a quick jambalaya supper over the coals after a long day on the water.
A while back at the house I took some cotton balls, boiled some Vaseline until it turned to liquid, and poured it into a Ziploc bag with the cotton balls. That bag had been sitting for a month by the time I pulled it out on the sandbar. The petroleum jelly soaks all the way into the cotton fibers, and it keeps. That is the whole trick, and it costs about nothing to make a batch that will last you a season.
Out here I set a soaked cotton ball down in the fire lay and put a spark to it. Man, look at that, it started right up, one strike. That was a lot better than the night before. I laid birch bark on it while it burned, and that cotton ball and Vaseline gives you a flame that lasts long enough to catch your kindling. Then I fed in the fat lighter we cut earlier and stacked it up. Soak a cotton ball in Vaseline, and you have a fire starter that catches on the first try even when things are damp. Pretty impressive for something out of the medicine cabinet.
Supper was jambalaya we had cooked the other night at home and froze, warmed up on the griddle with some black eyed peas stirred in. After you canoe all day, quick and simple is the key. If you drive right up to a campsite you can cook an elaborate meal, but when you have to paddle every pound of it in, one more push on that paddle for a heavy cooler adds up. Cook ahead, freeze it, and let camp cooking be a warm up instead of a chore. That deer sausage in the jambalaya made it, and we were fed and in the hammocks before dark.
A reliable homemade fire starter, building a fire from a single spark, and planning meals that travel light. It is all in the Survival Masterclass.
Read the Survival MasterclassBoil petroleum jelly until it turns to liquid, pour it over cotton balls in a zip top bag, and work it in so each is soaked through. When you need a fire, fluff one open, put a spark to it, and it catches fast and burns for several minutes.
The cotton fibers take a spark easily and the petroleum jelly is a slow, steady fuel. Together they give you a flame that lasts long enough to catch your kindling, even when it is damp. Fluffing the ball exposes more fiber so it lights on the first strike.
Something you cooked ahead and froze. Here it was jambalaya warmed on a griddle over the coals with black eyed peas stirred in. Quick and simple wins after a long day, and prepping ahead makes camp cooking easy.
Trip plans, gear systems, and a community of people who actually go. Free to join.
Join THE CAMPFIRE, free