Another brisk January Morning with rain in the near forecast. I knew as I stepped into the forest and felt the air that I needed to be pro-active by gathering enough dry resources for the day if I was going to have any chance at fire.
As I was walking, I gathered enough dried grass of varying size for a birds nest and found some downed bark to make shavings from.
Having this gatherer mindset as you move along in the forest saves a lot of time and energy once you reach camp. Chances are, you will pass by a lot of valuable resources as you’re walking…Resources that might already be picked over once you get to your camp spot.
With this said, I would recommend carrying a simple cache bag to store your gathered materials, as you walk.
Once I reached my spot to hunker down for the day, I established a quick lean-to shelter with my tarp. As soon as the last stake went into the ground I placed my backpack under the shelter and went out to gather some final kindling and larger fuel.
In a matter of minutes, the rain had begun. So I quickly moved all of my final materials under the tarp to start processing them.
The beauty of the Stöker Flat Pack Stove lies within how easy it is to use. A simple hit from the Zünden Pro Fire Starter on the dried bird's nest allowed it to quickly go up into flames. Then I simply placed some smaller twigs over the flames before adding larger fuel to establish my coals for cooking.
Just inside of my shelter I had a warm fire roaring at this point. Not only was it providing a bit of warmth, but it allowed me to have a cooking fire on a day that wouldn’t have afforded one otherwise.
In no time, I had established a nice coal base in the bottom of the Stöker Stove. I tossed my skillet on top of the stove, heated it up and added my breakfast. As I was cooking and “sampling” some food along the way, I spent a bit of time busting up small kindling and fuel to feed the fire.
Tip: Be mindful to stoke the stove with more fuel along the way. This is a necessity for keeping the fire alive and hot enough for cooking purposes.
Bacon over a fire is always an easy and enjoyable thing to cook on an outdoor trip. But my mornings don’t truly get started until I’ve had my preferred morning drink, Tea. So I kept the fire hot as I finished eating the last of my food and added a container of water to heat up.
As soon as the water began to boil I quickly tossed on one of my leather gloves to remove the hot cup from the flames. I reached for my Kuksa, added my tea bag and had some time to relax as the tea steeped.
Nothing is quite as satisfying as keeping things simple and slow-paced in the outdoors. With only a few pieces of gear, I was able to take something as ordinary as making breakfast and make it an experience.
These type of times are increasingly valuable in today’s fast-paced society. They allow us time to slow our minds and escape from the things that add stress to our daily lives. #OptOutside
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