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My Attempt to Build a Natural Shelter - Best to Leaf it to the Experts?

Submitted by Stephen Penson, Ramsbottom, UK.



It seems that everyone is playing out in the woods this summer. We have this submission from Stephen Penson. Stephen has been a friend, supporter and contributor to Outdoor Idiots.com since its inception. That alone is enough to cast serious doubt upon his character. For further proof, read on...

Preamble

Recently I was on holiday. Towards the end it was turning out to be one of those holidays where there's little to do apart from sit on a beach, soaking up the rays whilst reading and/or sleeping.

Among the pitiful amount of reading matter that I'd managed to take with me was a "pocket sized" outdoor survival book. I'd managed to pick up this little gem for a song (well, not literally...) just prior to my holiday. After thumbing through the book for the nth time... I saw it! I was inspired! There, on page 116, were three photos of an apparently simple-to-construct shelter. The description made me believe that it wouldn't be too hard to rig one up. I decided to make it my destiny to build one the next time I was out "in the wilderness".

Amble

So here we are, back from holiday, and in the wilderness. Pull up a log and have a cup of hot tea with powdered milk. It's afternoon on a beautiful sunny summers day. A lovely time to be outdoors in woodland - but hold on - best not get too caught up in all that! I have a job to do! There's still plenty of time to rig up a shelter before dark... or so I thought. I was planning on building a stick/leaf shelter. A simple design half open to the elements and designed to be heated by an external fire. I liked the design. It shouldn't take too much in the way of time and resources, I reassured myself.

Finding a Site
I started by looking for an ideal spot to build the shelter. I wanted to make it as easy as possible, so looked for somewhere with plenty of long boughs and branches of varying thicknesses just lying around. I was also planning on building it around a "cot wall bed," so I wanted some suitable logs to contain the bough/bracken bedding. In addition to all this, I had little desire or ability to do much trimming and cutting of logs and branches. A tall order, but I found somewhere that looked okay. Here's the site as I found it...

My Attempt to Build a Natural Shelter (1)
To the untrained eye, that just looks like forest.

I ran through a mental checklist:
  1. Not too far from a water source? Check.
  2. Away from excessive insect pests? Check.
  3. Abundant in boughs, sticks and bracken? Check.
  4. Plenty of leaves nearby for thatch roofing? Check.
  5. Being beneath trees, am I safe from things falling on my head? I think so.
The site was also on a slight slope. I was hoping that would help sink cold air from the cot wall bed.

Building the Skeleton
A (de)forester had been very thoughtful. There was quite a large pile of boughs trimmed and in a rough pile. I had away with them, and used them for the foundation of the shelter, and for the base of the cot wall bed.

I started by sweeping most of the litter from the area. I gathered all suitable sized sticks and sorted them into piles. Not sure why but it seemed like an organised thing to do? I took 4 of the sturdiest looking ones and assembled them into a wonky pyramid. I was looking for curved boughs with forked ends to allow them to interlock together, with the curves facing outward to help create more inner space. It might have held as it was, but I also decided to lash them together, seeing as I had some paracord. I dug the other ends of the boughs into the ground a bit to help keep them in place while I built the shelter. Here's what happened:

My Attempt to Build a Natural Shelter (2)
To the untrained eye, that still just looks like forest.

I added more and more branches to the structure as I listened to the birdsong all around me. No doubt my feathered friends were looking down at me, wondering why this deluded, overgrown, wingless sparrow was building a nest. I was just leaning the sticks against the apex now, and also laid some of the larger boughs down to make the base insulation layer of the cot wall bed. Although the bed didn't look too comfortable at this stage, it wasn't too bad. I was convinced it would rival SlumberlandTM by the time I'd finished it! Here's the result:

My Attempt to Build a Natural Shelter (3)
Nope. Still just forest...

I carried on with smaller sticks, placing them in a diagonal criss-cross style between the larger main boughs. I felt a touch of the Sarah Beeny's coming on, but it soon passed.

[The Editor speaks: "I'd like a touch of the Sarah Beeny's coming on!"]
[Flossy speaks: "Baa - aaa - aah!"]
[The Editor speaks: "Don't lecture me! In my day, men were men and women were women! It's thanks to do-gooders like you that I can't tell the difference any more! I still haven't worked Charlie Dimmock out! Anyway, while you aren't lecturing me, put the kettle on!"]
[Flossy speaks: "Baa-aah."]

Here's what happened:

My Attempt to Build a Natural Shelter (4)
Forest, forest, forest.

As you may be able to see, by this stage I'd already started layering on old dead pine branches complete with attached fuzzy bits. I thought these would be good to layer the leaves and bracken on. I continued with that until I had nice small gaps all over:

My Attempt to Build a Natural Shelter (5)
Trees. Leaves. Branches. Forest.



Thatch
Approximately one hour had passed. I was reasonably smug and thought it was going swimmingly for a first attempt. I decided I was ready to start thatching! I started collecting my leaf roofing from the forest floor, and applying it to the shelter from the bottom upward. I was planning on adding several layers in this fashion. Then I realised, "this is going to take bloody ages!" I knew I would need a lot of materials for the recommended coverage depth of 30cm (minimum). But after 15 minutes of collecting by hand I was getting nowhere.

Phantom Menace
At this stage it's also worth noting the number of midges who had cottoned on to my sweaty game. At the start of the exercise there were about two, who probably hadn't even noticed me, as they merrily went nowhere on their random flight path. Now, there were more like two thousand! Seriously! And they knew exactly where they were flying now. Obviously word had got around of a tasty banquet and I was the main course! I could already feel bites underneath the long sleeves of my fleece and I imagined my head was looking like some kind of swollen midge-bitten balloon!

I was also having to travel further and further to get a good leaf supply, and I needed some way of transporting larger quantities than a humble armful would allow.

A New Hope
I decided to brave the midges and use my fleece as a makeshift leaf sack. I tied off the leaves, sorry sleeves, and neck. I took a couple of big sack fulls back to the shelter. Here's what happened:

My Attempt to Build a Natural Shelter (6)
Forest vomit?

That piffling amount of leaves was only a fraction of one thatching layer. And that was over half an hours work! I needed to start leaf collecting on an industrial scale.

"Aha!" I thought. "I have a tarp in my rucksack that I can use as a stretcher to carry even more leaves!"

However, after successfully covering my tarp with a good coating of thatching, I realised the bitter irony of my situation. I was using a perfectly good man-made, easy-to-erect shelter to help construct a leak-ridden, insect-infested dump of a non-essential shelter that had so far taken well over an hour and a half!

"Why do the Gods mock me so?" I screamed (inside my head). With that thought still resonating in my mind, and peppered with itchy midge bites, I decided to pack it all in. I rigged up my tarp somewhere nice and gave myself a rest from "bushcraft" and my new dining friends!

I'd failed on my quest but I'd learned the hard way that it wasn't as straightforward as I'd first thought. The moral of this story? If at first you don't succeed, use a tarp.

But if you're out and willing to give it a try, good luck!

Here's my advice:
  1. Take a tarp or an old tent to help collect thatching, and to use as shelter.
  2. Pick a site that will cause minimal disruption to environment and wildlife. Except midges - they don't count.
Anyway, I think I've learned my lesson! Five days later and I still have the bites to remind me.








If you've been inspired by this tale, why not take refuge in our forums, and discuss it there?

If you can't be bothered to enter the forums, then shame on you! But you can still leave a comment below. Please try to avoid the profane ramblings of a madman. That's our job.

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Your Comments

On 21 January 2007, Claire Ellis said:
My first response is Why? There are shops that sell tents! Whole episode similiar to going to B&Q and wasting a whole day fitting a tap washer when there are lots of plumbers in the Yellow Pages... However, the pictures were so funny.
The Outdoor Idiots.com Emergency Response Team says:
We've put this searching question to Stephen. He assures us that on the day he needed a shelter, B&Q was closed and none of the plumbers were answering their phones.

On 1 August 2006, Forest Gump said:
building a leaf shelter in a pine (needles) forest is about as sound as building a raft from marshmallows ^^ actually, now i think about it....

On 27 June 2006, Marvin the Midge said:
I remember you!

We've got your number, mate! You'd better think twice before you try setting up in our patch again!




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