Birch bark torn into strips and layers makes good kindling. Sticks with little strips cut out and frayed to the side makes good tinder. Cotton balls covered in vaseline are my firestarters of choice. Drier lint is also good. If you’re using charcoal, the bag is great for that as well.
Wool socks. And for the love of all that is holy bring some seasonings. Salt and Pepper are great, but they even sell little seasoning bottles for backpacking that screw together. Trust me.
In general, the rule for tinder is that you want things that are dry and have lots of surface area and puffiness. A high surface area to mass ratio allows the tinder to heat up faster and reach it’s ignition point, but it needs enough structure to ensure there is oxygen around all the exposed surfaces. So a folded or rolled up newspaper isn’t great, but crumpled balls of newspaper go up instantly.
Birch bark torn into strips and layers makes good kindling. Sticks with little strips cut out and frayed to the side makes good tinder. Cotton balls covered in vaseline are my firestarters of choice. Drier lint is also good. If you’re using charcoal, the bag is great for that as well.
Wool socks. And for the love of all that is holy bring some seasonings. Salt and Pepper are great, but they even sell little seasoning bottles for backpacking that screw together. Trust me.
My favorite fire starter is a butane torch.
In general, the rule for tinder is that you want things that are dry and have lots of surface area and puffiness. A high surface area to mass ratio allows the tinder to heat up faster and reach it’s ignition point, but it needs enough structure to ensure there is oxygen around all the exposed surfaces. So a folded or rolled up newspaper isn’t great, but crumpled balls of newspaper go up instantly.