What a powerful skill to learn early in the season, particularly in this forever dripping, wet, cold that gets into your bones, northwest. We spent a whole day on primitive fire making. For a few of us this was a review, but for the vast majority it was one of those skills that seemed to make sense in theory as an archaic skill known only to long dead people. The fact of seeing it done before our eyes and believing we too could learn this skill was nothing less than extraordinary. Making fire is doing magic, and we were to become magicians. We did a bit of watching, listened to a bit of explaining, did a lot of gathering and creating tools, and a whole lot of practicing with our newly created bow drill fire kits. The sound of thirty people attempting to draw fire from the friction of wood on wood is something akin to a squirrel mating ritual of gargantuan proportions. But few of us really noticed the sound amidst the intensity of effort and intention, each of us set on creating our very own viable coal. From the energy of aching arms first came smoke, then a glowing ember, then, when added to a tinder bundle and gentle, steady breath, a burst of flame. Finally, then, total exhilaration accompanied by wide grins, cheers and not a few tears of joy. I will certainly remember my first fire making and the way it made me feel for, well, forever. If this all sounds a bit cheesy, you try doing magic you didn’t know you could do, and see if you don’t get all choked up. Fire is powerful, powerful stuff; that’s really the best I can do to explain it.

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