Three Wet Matches and a Bad Decision
A lesson from Field Journal No. 1.
A few lines from Field Journal No. 1 hint at a lesson Rusty Pickett learned the hard way. Sometimes the smallest entries tell the biggest stories.
Rusty wrote quite a bit more about that day, but those four lines capture it better than any summary I could write. It was, by all accounts, a miserable afternoon.
Most survival books teach skills.
A Wild Guide doesn't.
At least, not directly.
Instead, the reader follows along with the handwritten field journals of a wilderness traveler named Rusty Pickett. Every journal entry comes wrapped inside a real day in the woods. Some days are quiet. Others don't quite go according to plan. Not every day is a lesson.
One of the earliest journal entries is called "Three Wet Matches and a Bad Decision."
It isn't about surviving a raging blizzard or escaping a charging bear.
It's about something much more ordinary.
Cold rain.
A campfire that doesn't want to burn.
And the realization that experience doesn't make someone immune to mistakes. It simply changes the kinds of mistakes they make.
Rusty doesn't write to teach anyone. He writes because he wants to remember. The reader just happens to be looking over his shoulder years later.
As I continue through this journey, I've found myself asking a simple question before every journal entry:
"Would someone believe this page came from a notebook that actually spent years riding around in a backpack?"
If the answer isn't yes, it gets rewritten.
I'm excited to share more of Rusty's world in the months ahead. I have a feeling his journal may become one of my favorite things I've ever written.
Continue the Journey
For the story of how Rusty’s individual field journals became part of a larger plan, read The Book That Became Many Journals.
For more about why Rusty records experiences like this while they are still fresh, read Before Memory Changes It.
Rusty's field sketch showing one way to set up a small camp in steady rain. Not pretty. Just practical.
