IN GOLD COUNTRY

#43 - Pre Fire

Chaps – 1, 2 

- Pre Fire - 

I found a good spot off to the side and pulled out my gear. I put some water on to boil and began to set up my tent. The potluck was certainly more appealing than the packaged chicken teriyaki and rice I was planning on. I was hungry. I settled into a cup of coffee as I finished my set up. 

Longino made his way over the clear cut past the fire ring and down to the creek with his squirrels.

Looking out over the camp area, I could see everyone was well provided for with mostly modern gear. Longino appeared to be a bit of a throwback. His gear was older. A canvas tent rather than the newer tech material. His tent poles, chair, stool, and bed stand were made of wood and lashed together with rope. Even his cooking fire pit, a trench, just a good step away from the front of his tent, with a logged backstop to reflect heat back into his tent during colder weather, was well thought-out. Not sure how he handled the fire ban. He did seem at home in the woods and set up for a comfortable, extended stay. 

It had become twilight in our canyon, and lanterns came on as the daylight faded. A few stars above the canyon walls caught my eye. I walked over to the fire pit. 

Down on the gravel bar, Longino had skinned the squirrels, and they were on the grill. He was talking to Jim and Robert.  

Alex came up alongside and called down "Hey, Gino, I'm gonna get the fire started!" 

“All set up?” Alex asked me, as he started moving wood from the wood stack to the fireside.  

“Yeah, didn’t take long.” I thought I'd lend a hand and headed over. I used the stack axe to split more wood and moved it to a smaller stack fireside. The smell of cooking meat, and pine trees, and split wood filled the air. I could smell smoke from the fire before it was even started.  

“Say, Alex, I saw the end of your set last summer at I Bar. I wish I had heard it all.” 

“Thanks, James. It was a treat to play with ‘Red Blues,’ they were good. Makes it easy.” 

He had set up the kindling tepee and I started to ask him about the songs he did, but then, from a bag, he pulled out a handful of bark fiber and dried grass. He pulled out a stick, about a foot and a half long, and a thin flat piece of wood, picked up a sliver of bark and placed it under a notch carved into the edge of the flat wood.  

I said, "What!?"  

"This is a kick. I'm gonna get it, yet. Gino showed me." 

He placed his foot on the wood, the stick end in the notch and commenced spinning it. 

I was standing there smiling with the novelty of it, and sure enough a wisp of smoke rose off of the board. He looked in the notch at the gathering dust and resumed the spinning. And a few times more, each time with the rising smoke. 

"Dang, I can get it to smoke but I can't get an ember." 

"Get it, yet?" Longino inquired, having come up from the creek. He handed me a squirrel leg.  

"No. Smoke, but no fire." 

"You'll get it. It's tricky but easy once you get the hang of it. Want me to do it?"    

"Yeah, man. Let's get it going. It’s wore me out. My hands are blistering." 

"Can't muscle it. It's technique. Let’s see." 

“Hey, this is tasty, thanks. Tastes like chicken,” I added. Longino smiled. 

A young boy and two girls came over.

Longino kneeled over the hearth board, cleaned out the notch, roughed up the stick end a bit on a stone, set the piece of bark under the board, set his foot on it, set the stick in the notch, and began to spin it. A short time later, he had smoke. A few seconds more, a coal came to life in the dust. He tapped the ember away from the board, leaving it to smolder on the bark while he shaped a ball-like nest from the material. "Don't need to hurry," he said. He lifted the bark and dropped the ember into the nest cavity, closed it up some, and began blowing into it, waving it in the air slowly ever so often. Smoke built up and then the nest burst into flame. He placed the nest under the kindling. We had a fire shortly thereafter. Alex shook his head and smiled. So did I. 

“Wow!” said the youngsters. Then, they were gone. 

"Keep practicing, it'll happen. I had a difficult time of it at first." 

"How did you learn to do that," I asked? 

"It was that survival show. I saw it and wondered if I could do it. Saw demos on YouTube, and read up on it. I finally got it when I found mullein to use as the spindle. Has to be dry, but not decayed. Some woods are better than others for the spindle and hearth board. This board is cedar. The bow drill was easier.” 

A flashlight beam caught our attention, and "Alright, fire's on!" 

                       End Chapter 3 

----------------------------- 

Thank you for reading!     

Please take a moment to like this post by clicking the heart icon below as this will allow others on Substack to more easily discover my content.    

Consider supporting my writing. Buy me a cup of coffee, or purchase some of my music! :)  

Image by Me 

See you next week.