how to start a campfire

We couldn't find the lake and it was getting dark. The girl with bug bites on her arms about to hike down to the waterfalls we planned to visit the next morning said we could join her for a beer at the falls but she had no idea what lake we were talking about and she'd grown up in the area. If we never found it, she said, we could go to her mom's house in the valley tomorrow morning and eat pancakes with the family. We said thanks but we wanted to find the lake.

But then, driving and driving, we were down to one more hour of daylight so we gave up for the night and pulled into an old quarry where Alder trees and blackberry bushes were taking over. Someone had put together targets in the belly of the quarry, and there were empty shells all over the ground. We kept to the far edge, almost under the tree branches and pitched tents. I wandered into the trees with a hatchet to gather wood. There was a sound of water all around me, but no stream in sight in the thick forest that fell steeply away in to cliff sides and canyons. My feet sank ankle-deep into moss.

We built our fire inside a circle of stones already established by previous sharpshooters and campers, and we listened for passing cars. It was a forest shot through with old logging roads, barely maintained, and anyone might be passing by, hikers decked out in gear wanting only to experience some fresh air and quiet, or meth monsters reeling like zombies and seeking out human flesh and wallets. That's the problem with the outdoors, people are looking for quiet and an escape for all kinds of reasons.

The sun was gone and our fire made us feel safe. We watched it in silence and the night noises became familiar. That's when the live rounds started to go off. There was a firework bang and wood exploded. Sparks flew out sideways. I jumped about fifteen feet backwards. Then the forest silence closed in again while the campfire flickered and flamed innocently. We watched it. A fluke, maybe. Then it happened again. And thirty seconds later, again.

It took us about a minute to stamp out the fire and smother it with dirt and water.

The next morning showed us what the twilight and the approaching dark had hidden. The sun, already hot enough to make me sweat when I stepped from the shadows, picked out hundreds of unspent tiny bullets, glinting silver in the dust.