gettin turned around! lost if you will

[ICEMAN]

Sneekee, what a hard story to write. Sad to hear of the results. Thanks alot for sharing. I bet your grandfather is with...

[Machias]

Thanks for sharing that Sneekee!

[Rick]

Its easy for panic to set in when you get "turned around".

I was probably 14-15 and elk hunting over near Taneum Creek. There are roads everywhere,and its almost impossible to get truly lost. I was going to go on a short hike and be right back to the truck. I had walked about 5 yds into the woods and jumped a spike. I took off in hot pursuit,not paying a bit of attention to where I was going.

I'm not sure how long I chased that spike before I realized I had no clue where I was. Looked around and thought to myself "uh,oh"

I found my way out to a road and before too long a truck drove by. He was just about as lost as I was so he wasn't any help.

A few minutes later another truck drove by and he was able to tell me where I was. My short hike turned into a couple hours of stumbling around trying to figure out where the truck was.

Like I said,that first few minutes of realizing you don't know where you are,is not a good feeling.

[Cylvertip]

Fire requires practice.  It's a skill.  practice it often.

Exactly.  As a logger, I built a LOT of fires in the worst weather our area can dish out. 

I've been... let's call it "misplaced" (I knew where I was but nobody else did), up on Kodiak Island one December in between crab seasons and if it wouldn't have been for knowing how to build a fire in some really, really bad weather, I wouldn't be typing this right now.  Long story.

I always carry three completely unrelated means of building a fire in my pack, but I also practice building actual fires with them.  THAT I think is the key.  Practice!

Castlerocker - what are your three    I carry an all weather lighter, a flint and steel, a magnesium fire block, and sometimes  a blast match ( another type of flint/ steel)  - I will be adding the cotton ball/ vaseline combo in for auto tinder - I do have some commercial ones in the pack, but what's one more thing  - it could save your life and or others.  Any tricks for wet cold conditions?