[pct-l] Weather conditions August/Sept Oregon & Washington

[griffin at u.washington.edu (Tom Griffin)]

>From: Slyatpct@aol.com
>To: griffin@u.washington.edu ; pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net
>Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2004 1:14 PM
>Subject: Re: [pct-l] Weather conditions August/Sept Oregon & Washington
>
>In a message dated 1/29/2004 4:03:29 PM Eastern Standard Time,
griffin@u.washington.edu writes:
>
>>For a picture of the sometimes miserable conditions, here is a shot of me
trying to start a fire
>>in the downpour:
>
>LOL....
>
>I have to ask, why would you even attempt to start a fire in a downpour?
By the looks of it, you must have used up most of your fuel.  Or if not,
what's your secret?
>
>Sly

It was our third day of rain . We were cold and wet and hoping to dry off a
few of our soaking garmets. I used dry pine needles and twigs from the
underside of huge trees. This tinder was protected from the rain. I also
used Mautz firestarter (it comes in a tube like toothpaste). Once I got a
small fir going I'd "bake" the wet branches we collected before adding them
to the fire. It worked and we had a real bonfire eventually. It also helped
that we had umbrellas to shield the fire when it was first starting up.

Tom Griffin
Seattle, WA
PCT Pages http://staff.washington.edu/griffin/pct.html