Fire in the Hole

I got a text from Jake's phone number last night that said "Made 60 miles today.  Marker 585.  Cold front came through.  93 today.  Made Dakota fire hole to cook again.  Storms forecast, none so far. Near Rosedale, Mississippi."

There are several things I can "read" into this text. 1.  The text came from Jake so I am assuming Aaron's phone battery is dead  2.  The fact that they had to make a Dakota fire hole to cook again leads me to believe they are either out of cooking fuel or close to it and they are trying to ration what is left.  I also assume they were not able to cook last night.  I got a second text that said they had 9 gallons of water left and they will be in Greenville, Mississippi today where they can resupply.  All of this illustrates how rural and remote this section of the river is.  Luckily this next stretch of the river they will encounter towns of significant size every day or every other day at most.

Dakota Fire Hole - This is one of the most efficient types of fire that a person can make when trying to survive.  To make a Dakota Fire Hole, one digs a 10-12 inch diameter hole about 10-12 inches deep.  Then you dig a vent tunnel on the up wind side of the fire hole that will serve as a way to feed the fire with oxygen.  This fire hole takes a bit of energy to build but once complete it will burn very efficiently using little fire wood.

Posted by Aaron's dad