If you are in an area that is traditionally damp or it has recently rained in your area it may be a good idea to take some form of tinder with you on your camping trip. Most camping and outdoors stores sell small single use fire starting kits. These are generally good for any situation where you are going to have trouble finding enough dry brush to start a fire. Once you have your tinder you should find enough small twigs and tiny branches to surround the tinder. These should be small and as dry as possible. You will want to then find wood in ascending size to go above the twigs. Finally you are going to want to find logs, this is going to be the fuel for your fire for the bulk of the night so you should stock up most heavily on this type of wood. If you have ever chopped firewood it might not be a bad idea to pack an axe with your camping gear. Often times one large log can be split into firewood and will be enough to last the whole night and part of the next day. Be sure to build your wood pile a safe distance from the fire site.

In the very center of your fire pit you want to place your tinder material. Don't pack it to tightly or it won't burn fully. You want to place the dried brush in a small pile making sure to leave enough room for oxygen to pass through it and fuel the fire. Around the tinder you small twigs and sticks are going to be the first pieces of wood to catch fire. In a square build a small log cabin with its four walls surrounding the tinder. Lay two sticks on the right and left of the tinder.

Continued in Part 3