Years ago I bought a neat little fire starter that I keep in my pack. It is a magnesium rod about .25" in diameter and 3" long with a flint rod attached along one side. It came with a piece of steel similar to a hack saw blade without teeth that can be used to strike the flint or to shave off slivers of magnesium to help start a fire when your kindling is damp. The magesium burns at something like 5000 degrees and will dry the kindling in a few seconds so you can get a fire going. The whole thing only weighs about 1 or 2 ounces and takes up very little room in my pack, about as much as a book of matches or less. It last for quite a while too since you only need to shave off a small amount of magnesium to get a fire going and then only when it's damp. I also carry a baggie of dryer lint to help get things going in a hurry. Strips of cedar bark rolled into a ball makes for a good medium to get a fire going in if its available in your area also.