And continuing, I hiked him back out 17 miles, slept in the van for 3 hours, and hiked back in the 17 miles <img src="images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> Pitched camp @ 1700hrs, and it's pouring buckets, no fire, cold carry chow, sack out for a few hours before going looking. I get up around 2300hrs, it's not raining, so I decide to get some hot food in me, seeing as how it feels about 50 out. I whip out my fire kit, and get the whole tepee up and .....nothing <img src="images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> Ok, the first 3 matches I figured I blew it not covering 'em from the wind. But then the next 7 don't stay lit, what gives? Too much to deal with, eat cold carry, and grab my gear and go. Any of you who know FL backcountry know it's a mixed bag going into it, bugs, scorpions, snakes, 'gators, spiny plants that make you go OUCH! Well i hiked a good 5 miles Saturday night, no sign, sound of the cat around, plus it's raining,again <img src="images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> Back to camp. Ok Sun's cracking, 0545hrs, Sunday morning, i figure today the fire's cooking breakfast. Nope! it's the matches. Finally I can see why they don't stay lit. They have such teeny heads, that just striking them makes them fail straight off! The brand is 'ROSEBUD' put out by Diamond Brand; which surprised me, since Diamond usually work. I made a mistake just bringing in the 3 boxes of them. What I ended up doing is piling up some unlit matches in the 'tepee', then flinging a lit one into them, FIRE! Food, Hot food! Hey, there's only excitement if you SEE the cat! Moral of this story, try the matches before bringing them to the field, I ususally never ASSUME anything, but got caught hard by this. As it were, it rained HARD for the remainder of Sunday, and Monday, so bad, that Last NIGHT, I hiked out under the Full Moon the whole 17 miles, and saw or heard just about ever darn critter in the woods here! At one point I thought I heard the cat call, but dismissed it as hallucinations due to intermittent sleep over 3 days! LOL! I used to carry a mag block w/striker, but the weight was a factor, as I have to keep my pack to 25 pds for a week, or I can't manage to stay out in the backcountry. I like to practice 'campcraft' as much as possible, so as to be able to utilize it wherever I go. I'm just not a lighter type guy. Thanks, Gene