Pathfinder Challenge Day 2

Start a fire with wet tinder, and soaking wet fire implement.

Boil 32oz of water to purify it.

Part 1
The first challenge (build a fire) was harder than I expected it to be. I've started fires in the rain all summer, but without petroleum jelly cotton balls, it was tough.

I soaked my ferro-rod in a bucket of water for 2 mins:




My first try was using cat tail heads, which i dosed with water. My thought was that the outer layer would get wet, but protect the soft fluffy inside.


This didn't work out, as the tinder would take a spark but not hold a flame since the moisture sucked out the heat.



With it too late to make another trek to find wood, I had to substitute and use a piece of pine lumber which I soaked in water (I hope this is acceptable Dave). This was to simulate finding dead pine trees, which are common in my area (Ontario, Canada). I combined it with some pine resin that I had originally collected to use with the cat tails.


I made shavings for tinder which i mixed with the resin and laid thin pieces of kindling on top.


SUCCESS!


Part 2
Boiling water was going to be more tricky since I didn't have a metal container. As it got dark, I went into the house to continue the challenge, since I already proved I could start a fire.

I made a watertight "basket" out of high visibility Duct Tape and added cold rocks to the bottom to insult it from the heat of the hot stones I was going to put in.



I filled it with cold water and began adding my hot rocks. I couldn't catch a picture of it while it was on the boil, but hopefully you can see some small bubbles coming off the rocks on the right.