oh you just wait, sir.

i hope you got your sun fix in back in colorado, and again while you've been here, cuz that's the last you're going to see of it for quite a while. sounds like you arrived at the single month and a half time out of the year when the northwest is sunny and warm.

there will be rain. then there will be more rain. then it will sprinkle. after that it may mist for a few days. following that trend will be a long stint of drizzle. next come the showers. and at various points intermittently throughout all of this, watch out for falling cats and dogs.

trust me, its going to rain. a lot.

and keep raining

This reminds of a milly vanilly song, you know the one. Blaim it on the rain. It doesn't rain that much here. If it is raining drive an hourand a half and find some sun or snow to get in. If you get home and it's still raining scream haliluya grab your paddle gear and get on the river. Rain is good but sence it ain't raining today I think I'll get myself wet on some left over rain and snow that is trickling down the skykomish as we speak.. Later sun lover's....Rainhater's...or is it the other way around ??? I dunno, you pick !!

Well, now-- lighting a fire in the Great Northwest can be another matter entirely, and not one to take lightly! sure, if you have lots of flammables with you that's one thing, maybe lots of dry paper, ect.

But lighting a fire during the colder, rainy months WITH ONLY A LIGHTER AND/OR MATCHES can be quite a feat. I mean, the wood and kindling you find can be not only soggy but down right saturated. Keep it in mind as it could become an important task if you're ever stuck in a canyon after something goes terribly wrong.

Not that I do it enough, but I try to build fires using as little extra help as possible (like no fuel or paper). For example, it helps to get as much of the tiniest kindling (like 1/16th" diameter, not 1/8th")
you can find, and get it going in a bundle so make a minnie-torch, before moving on to the bigger stuff.

this is a funny post.....

One thing I have learned trying to light fires in the winter rain is that it is imperative to have a dry base.  A firepan/hubcap would be ideal but you can always use some of your larger dry pieces as the base for making your fire.  Another trick is to take a knife or ax and make shavings of wood for your kindling.

I one time famously got very upset with a group of guide trainees at a campground on the Cispus because we couldn't get  a fire started.   We had dry bundles of wood and a phone book full of paper and couldn't get the damn fire to light.  The trainees were considering driving back to Morton and getting a motel room.  This upset me very much!  It was raining very hard but we were under a tarp.  A dry base and wood shavings finally got the thing started.  With a warm fire in place I was able to convince the trainees that they should damn camp-out and not take the wimpy route of getting a motel...I famously asked "what kind of outdoor's people are we if we can't start a fire in the rain?"  and "I will not let this stand!"...  "we call ourselves guides??!"  it took over an hour to get a nice fire stoked!!

tarps?   a burlap sack is the best thing....   It lets moisture through and doesn't really keep any out.  Hells yeah!!!   By the way....Chuck...  the answer for your statement was what sells for too much money and really doesn't seem to light a fire...  right?

Oh yes...it's gonna be a wonderful, miserable, wet winter.  yeeeeehaaw!!!!

not sure we're going to have to wait much longer....nwrfc has some promising predictions!

I find it much easier to camp at home with high speed cable, big screen tv and food in the fridge.
The way things are going we will all be camping out in the wilderness soon, so why rush into it now? Better enjoy being indoors while you can.

Yes......

hellz gueah ..!!