So my family and some friends went backpacking the weekend before last. We went up Hurricane Creek which is in the Wallowa Mountains in northeastern Oregon. I brought my tinder box with me which has lint, birch bark, cedar sticks, saw dust etc. I didn't touch that thing. I'm getting ahead of myself. We had some heavy-duty thunderstorms. Early on Saturday we had some light thunderstorms. Nothing too bad. Well my wife and I went up the side of the canyon and I noticed some clouds spilling over a saddle and some dark ones coming down on us. We got into camp and were feeding our baby when the thunder started. We got the baby in the tent and were placing the tarp over the whole tent and backpacks because the tarp had collected water. This moisture seeped through the floor and got some things wet. We were buttoning everything down when the deluge hit. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> They don't call it Hurricane Creek for nothin'! I was soaked in a matter of seconds. I had brought a little water resistant wind breaker <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/doh.gif" alt="" /> We were camped by the creek, which filled up in minutes.

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The sandbar area was covered in water. As soon as the rain started I threw a large log on the fire to at least cover the coals a bit.

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The camp got flooded! The ground around the fire pit was flooded and I had to dig a trench to drain it. The fire was steaming and the area where the orange tent is got flooded also. The water was up to the bottom of the vestibule.

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Once the rain calmed down, we needed to dry out. This wasn't a survival situation, but we were worried we were going to have to pack out then and there. The water had risen so much that we were worried about it overflowing.
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Anyway, we stayed and I needed to get the fire going again. There was some heat left in the coals, but they were soggy! There was no way I was going to be able to get too much dry wood and there was no way I was about to use my magnesium and flint. I split some dry wood from a standing snag and broke off a bunch of dead branches. I made sure I had plenty of wood around and proceeded to dump denatured alcohol (from my stove) all over the wood and lit it with a lighter.

I am so glad I had that stuff. Trying to start that fire any other way would have taken a long time, and I was already cold and tired. So the lessons I learned:

Always take at least 2 lighters. Why? I brought one and couldn't find it. Luckily my buddy had one.

Always give yourself the advantage against mother nature. If it means bringing some napalm to start a fire, go for it.

When you think things are going to get bad, be ready. I had an emergency poncho, but I didn't have time to dig it out of my backpack. I should have had that thing on when the thunder started.

If you guys have tips and lessons you have learned, POST 'EM!

That's the snag I SNAGGED some dry wood from. Sorry, I couldn't resist.

It's real easy to misjudge how high you should pitch camp in an area like that. Most of the time flooding won't be a factor, but if there is any chance of heavy rain especially, anywhere that may drain into steam where you are you should look around and see where previous high water marks are and camp above that point.

glad you are okay man.

Wow... thanks for sharing