Spring moves along...

Before I start a little apology for the poor quality pictures: My real camera got wet during a ski trip in 2007 and died a slow months long death afterward. Given that I had quit work to go back to school I decided not to buy a replacement until I finished my masters and had an income again. For now I'm just using a phone cam!!

I went for a quick walk along the local creek today just to see how spring is coming along in the forest. It's been raining again and the creek itself is well swollen and running much higher than summer levels, but it should be even higher still when the spring runoff from the mountains really kicks in.

The neat thing about this creek is that it stays cool all summer long AND I've actually seen salmon fry in it! Because there are so many salmon species on the west coast, and I'm not entirely familiar with them all I'm not sure what kind of salmon fry I was looking at, but they had clear Parr marks. With a little more reading and research I should be able to figure out just what they are this summer after water levels fall.

It was nice to see that there were quite a few budding trees along the trail. Apparently the flowers and trees here, at just 130 metres in elevation, are about 3 weeks behind those just down the hill at sea level.

With all the rain and wet, soggy weather it's interesting to think of how one could go about lighting a fire if you were wet and cold, or just wanted one for cooking or a little cheer. At first glance it may seem impossible, everything is just so wet. But the inside of dead wood, well off the ground is quite dry and ready to burn.

With a knife this wood can be split into smaller pieces which burn much hotter and faster than larger chunks. The dry wood can also be shaved with a knife to produce fuzz sticks which easily light with a match, or I am told, by a spark if you get the shavings fine enough. I've never lit fuzz sticks with a spark and I imagine it takes a lot of practice. I've always used finer tinder when igniting with a spark; the kind of tinder which, when collected on a day like today would seem to be completely useless because it is so wet! Closer inspection pays off however, as bone dry cedar bark can be found on some trees. The cedar in the picture below was soaking wet on one side but dry on the other.




Cedar bark can be pulled of and pounded with a stick or a rock until it becomes a mass of fine fibres which catch a spark well and produce a flame. I've had mixed results though! Sometimes when you pound the bark it just turns into a fine powdery mess, which doesn't seem to work at all! I'm not yet sure why this would happen, but I suspect that it has something to do with the species of cedar used. In any case, dry tinder can usually be found if you can look long and/or hard enough. Bark from cedar or birch trees I find can often be found and used to produce tinder even in very wet conditions. Still, the best option is to bring along tinder that you've prepared ahead of time!!!

Next time I'll be heading down to the river where I can actually practice some fire lighting skills without alarming other trail users or local homeowners! On the other hand, there's a decent chance of actually encountering a bear...