Light a one-match fire

Step-by-step

1. 1

   Clear a dry patch of ground down to mineral soil or lay a bark platform.

2. 2

   Prepare three graded piles: fine tinder (dry grass, birch bark, fatwood shavings), pencil-thick kindling, and thumb-thick sticks.

3. 3

   Build a small teepee of the finest tinder with a pencil-lead-thin gap to insert the match.

4. 4

   Strike the match toward the ground, cup it, and touch it to the lowest point of the tinder.

5. 5

   Feed pencil-thick kindling on as the flame climbs; only add thumb-thick sticks once flames stand on their own.

Tip: Split a wet stick — the inside is almost always dry. Shave that inside into a pile of curls.