Campground Review: 

Lake Kegonsa is located in Stoughten, slightly off the beaten path. As long as you have a state sticker or are a resident, the cost of the campground is $27. A little steep, especially since you really can't enjoy being outside due to the mosquitos. However, if you can build up enough mosquito spray and get extra adventurous, there are tons of trails, all well groomed, meandering through woods, prairies and even down by the lake. Maybe take a map along, as I did get lost while geocaching. There are several geocaches in the park, which adds a little fun, but they are in the woods, and the mosquitos are oblivious to the bug spray!  I managed to find a few caches before calling it quits and retreating back to my campsite. Realizing I was fighting a loosing battle with the mosquitos, I retreated to my tent where it was quite comfortable to nap. The park did not seem full, nor do I think it filled up. I think many of the locals know the bugs are bad and leave it for those of us from out of state to get eaten alive. There were plenty of nature sounds and the park really is beautiful! The roads are narrow, but surrounded by trees. You can't beat the views at this place, really spectacular. There were free showers, flush toilets and running water in the bathrooms. This was nice, however, the mosquitos were in there too!  While I was lost, I found some magnificent group sites, they were huge, many had covered picnic areas and a communal park in the area that had volleyball and horseshoes. There were vault toilets in those areas. They weren't far from the groomed paths either so a walk around was easily accessible. I also noticed that once the snow flies, they appear to keep those trails groomed for cross country skiing. At that point I don't think you can walk on them anymore though. It was really pretty quiet outside of nature sounds, so that is definitely appreciated. This was a short overnight for me to avoid a much longer drive after a late night but with as pretty as it is, I'm not sure I'll go back. The mosquitos are just too much.

Product Review:

As a Ranger for The Dyrt, I get products to test from time to time- today I am testing products from Outdoor Element. This was a fun company to shop with. I wanted to try out several of their items and some of the items that compliment their firebiner as well. So I took along the firebiner, the Hero Clip, the Packrat AK for Firebiner, Fiber Light tinder, Spartan Fire tinder, as well as Tinder Quik. Everything except the Hero Clip goes hand in hand with the Firebiner. So lets start with that Hero Clip, first off, I threw it in my bags for a long trip and it proved it's value on the very first day. Similar to a caribiner, it has so many uses, but it has a tad bit of an advantage. You can fold out an additional hook and that really is a great selling point. I used to hook my water bottle to my luggage, which was fabulous since my hands were very full. I also went to a public restroom that didn't have bag hooks, oh no, not the gross floor. Well, Hero Clip came to the rescue. Just throw that hook over the door and your bag can stay clean above the floor. It also worked great for hanging my bath items while showering. The uses are endless and it definitely proved it's worth! 

Now, on to the fun with fire. I was bikepacking and didn't have a lot of space so I threw in my firebiner with my bike lock key attached, along with three of their tinders and the little storage container for more tinder and the extra Ferro Rods. All of it took up very little space, even the tin with the Fiber Light really didn't bother me space wise and that particular tinder is a handy one. My wood was wet, it had been raining for three days and I only had what was available. The Fiber Light started easily with the spark that the firebiner threw off and burned for a good bit, allowing the wet wood to catch. I wasn't expecting a long enough burn for it to actually catch. Later I got some dry wood and did a little video showing the three tinders and how well they caught. I found that the Tinder Quik and the Fiber Light were the best two. I was actually unable to get the Spartan Fire to catch. That one boasts a nice compact tinder that you can keep in  your pocket in case of emergency and I expect it would work great with a match, as it appears to be a paper coated in wax, which I have had good experience with before, but the spark that the Firebiner threw was just not enough in my case. The Tinder Quik is really simple, you just pull apart the fibers and light, it catches pretty good and has a pretty good length of burn. But like I said before, the Fiber Light seemed to be the hero. It lit pretty easily (although in my video it appears not to, there was a bigger chunk that was interfering with my spark, once moved, it lit pretty easy) and burned the longest of the three, with Spartan fire not catching at all.

Ok, the firebiner is a really cool little gadget. It has features like a small knife, perfect for fishing and retying your lures on, it has a bottle opener, a screwdriver, a couple spots to attach your keys and lastly that wonderful ferro rod with a wheel to spark it. No need to find a rock to bang it on, it sparks like a lighter, there isn't any fuel so it doesn't stay lit but it throws a spark. This little guy, which is smaller then most caribiners and lighter too, is perfect to throw in to your camping bag or survival kit. Don't forget some of the tinder to take along so that you have something to get a fire going.