A lot of Brandt Firecraft is built with a little help from our friends.
I’m shamelessly mining my friends, family and neighbors to help us build the content and visual world around it.
Fortunately, my people are cool and already spend a fair amount of their lives gathered around the warmth and glow of a fire. Telling the stories of people I know making fires — and what happens once they get them going — is the fun part of this project.
They send me photographs, stories, opinions and, occasionally, some fairly blunt product feedback.
Shannon helped start the whole thing.
He was one of my earliest product testers. I handed him cedar kindling and beeswax fire starters before Brandt Firecraft had much of a world built around it and asked him to take them camping, use them hard and tell me what happened.
You’ll see Wildwood Grilling packaging throughout these photos. These trips happened before Brandt Firecraft officially became Brandt Firecraft. We’re not trying to scrub our association with our big sister brand. We’re related, and it’s okay that you know it.
Shannon took the assignment perhaps more seriously than anticipated.
Over two family camping trips, he sent me dates, weather reports, fire-building experiments, hiking reports, mosquito updates, lake conditions and detailed notes on what worked and what didn’t.
His dispatches gave me the idea for this outdoor corner of Field Notes: Stories From Around the Fire.
I’ve taken Shannon’s notes and arranged them here, with a formatting edit for readability. The adventures, observations and opinions are all his.
Kintla Lake, Glacier National Park
July 9, 2026
First fire started very easily. Five minutes to get good coals. Easy start, no extra flammable material.
The kindling pieces are squared, so they’re easy to stack into a log-cabin structure.
The honeycomb fire starter broke at the seams and took a little flame to get started. It may need some elevation instead of sitting directly on the ground.
July 10, 2026
Cold night in the hammock.
Starting the morning with a cup of Joe and some farm-fresh eggs and potatoes.
Tyler and I are paddling to the upper Kintla trailhead. This place is incredible. Two-hour paddle on glassy turquoise water.
Hiked to the upper lake — about two hours past an amazing waterfall and snow-filled peaks.
Took a glacier-water plunge. So refreshing, but definitely cold.
Chilling on a rocky, dry creek bed soaking up the sun.
There is something I particularly enjoy about asking someone to test fire-starting products and receiving glacier-plunge conditions and breakfast reporting along with the results.
July 11, 2026
Natural beeswax hack: put the beeswax fire starter on the bottom of the log-cabin structure, stack the kindling above it, and light it up.
Shannon also sent me some very specific thoughts on the fire-starter formulation. Those went directly into the product-development pile. I did say I wanted honest feedback.
Bowman Lake, Glacier National Park
A month later, Shannon packed the products again.
August 13, 2026
We made it to Bowman Lake today. It was an easy trip. Twelve years ago I remember the road being a bit rough.
The smoke in Sandpoint was very bad. Getting here on a wing and a prayer made my month of August.
I’m back where I belong and got the family together.
Let the Wildwood roll!
“I’m back where I belong and got the family together.”
That may be my favorite line in all of Shannon’s notes.
August 14, 2026
Today we hiked up to Lower Quartz Lake. Seven miles round trip.
It’s always amazing to be able to hike right out of the campsite. The kids loved the hike and had good stamina because it’s a steep up-and-down trail.
The bridge provided some relief from the mosquito bites.
Nice to get back to another fire.
Day 3
A bit of a rainy and wet day, but we made the most of it.
We paddled our SUPs on Bowman Lake. It was really nice and glassy.
Tried my luck fishing, but not one fish caught.
The afternoon blessed us with sunshine and we warmed up in its rays.
Back to camp for another night around the campfire.
Everything was damp, but with the kindling the fire started up easy.
That last note is exactly why I wanted people like Shannon testing our cedar kindling in real camping conditions in the first place.
Not in a studio. Not under ideal conditions. On a wet camping trip, with kids and mosquitoes and damp wood and dinner coming.
And then, eventually, back around the fire.
This is what I hope Field Notes becomes: people I know going places, making fires and sending me the evidence.
Shannon has already set the bar unreasonably high.
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