by Les Stroud
Exactly what type of shelter you should build depends on your surroundings, the time of year, the climate, and the expected length of your ordeal. You’re not going to make an A-frame, small-log shelter in the sand dunes of a desert, and you can’t build an igloo in the jungle. The ability to make a successful shelter is not about memorizing methods thrown at you in a book. It’s about understanding the basic characteristics of a good survival shelter, and then using your abilities to improvise and invent.
One of my first survival teachers, Dave Arama, says, “Most lost persons become lost very late in the day…therefore, the ability to improvise and build quickly, and have shelter items in a survival kit, are critical.”
The first order of business is to look around at your supplies and what the surroundings provide and decide what you can use, break, cut, make, or put together that will give you shelter. Sometimes you just get lucky. In Africa, I landed on the ground in a hot-air balloon in a mixed forest and plains area. The parachute material from the balloon provided plenty of waterproof roofing for a shelter that I made with the balloon’s basket. I was even able to design a hammock from the fabric to keep me off the ground at night, and a blanket to keep me warm.
Take stock of all the man-made materials you have on hand, and don’t be squeamish about destroying what you have if you can use it to make something that will keep you alive.
The Importance of Site Selection
THE FIRST DECISION YOU’LL MAKE with regard to a shelter—no matter how long you think you’ll need it—is where to put it. Even if you have all the right materials, building your shelter in the wrong place could be a fatal mistake.
The first time I made a survival film, I flew to a beautiful area in Ontario known as Wabakimi. I built my shelter in a spot I figured would work both for filming and survival: close to a smooth rock outcropping on a small remote lake. It worked great…for a few nights. Then the wind turned on me and my shelter became a wind tunnel. I spent one entire night pacing on the outcropping and doing push-ups to try to avoid hypothermia. My poor choice of shelter location was the reason I had to endure that horrible night. Well, that and the fact that I hadn’t been diligent in ensuring that my shelter was sealed off and had a tight-fitting door!
What do you need to consider in selecting a site? First, choose a spot that is relatively flat and free of loose rocks. And as my buddy and premier desert survival expert David Holladay says, always remember the five W’s: widowmakers, water, wigglies, wind, and wood.
I spent one long and miserable night in the “wind tunnel” shelter in the Wabakimi area of northern Ontario.
Widowmakers: Widowmakers are the standing dead trees just waiting to come down in the next big wind storm. It can be dangerous to build your shelter in the midst of widowmakers—though you may not have a choice.
Water: Your shelter needs to be as close as possible to a source of drinking water; the farther you have to travel for water, the more energy and precious calories you burn in doing so. That said, you shouldn’t choose an otherwise poor location—for example, the coldest or buggiest spot in the valley—just for the water source. Try to balance the proximity to water with other factors.
And while you want to be close to a source of drinking water, make sure you don’t build your shelter where the water will get to you, such as in a dry streambed that may fill the next time it rains, or in any depression that may turn into a puddle. Remember, flash floods kill more people each year than most other natural occurrences.
Wigglies: Build your shelter in a place that keeps you as far as possible from the wigglies: biting, stinging, slithering, and crawling creatures such as snakes, spiders, and ants. In the Amazon, the bullet ant—which the Waorani call the Maunyi—grows to be nearly 2 inches (5 cm) long and sports a massive pair of mandibles. Jim Yost, my guide and Waorani interpreter, describes the painful bite/sting combination of the bullet ant this way: “Imagine jamming a scorching-hot pair of pliers into your skin, squeezing and twisting them as hard as possible, and keeping them there for at least five hours.” The Waorani fear this more than a snakebite; they know that three to six stings from the Maunyi can knock a full-grown man to the ground, if not kill him. So avoid building close to anthills because ants and snakes use these as shelters.
Bullet ants live in colonies of about 60 occupants. They will attack humans if their nests are disturbed.
Weather/Wind: Protection from the wind is a critical consideration in site selection, for of all the elements, wind is the most likely to cause hypothermia. It will slice through your temporary home no matter how well-built it is. Build your shelter in a location that is as protected as possible. If you’re in hilly terrain, make sure your site is on the leeward (downwind) side of a rise.
Wood: Assuming you are surviving in a part of the world that offers wood, choose a spot that is close to it, both for building and for burning.
Beyond the five Ws, temperature is an important consideration when selecting a site. If you’re in hilly terrain and seeking warmth, it’s typically better to pick a spot about three-quarters of the way up a hill. Cold air settles in the valleys at night, and the hilltops are often windy; both will chill you in the middle of the night.
Another place to avoid putting up a shelter (in Africa especially) is under or next to a fruit tree. Fruit attracts insects and animals, and ripe fruit will fall on your shelter interfering with much-needed sleep. Bird droppings will mess up your survival area. Avoid building on or near animal trails because passing creatures might destroy your shelter and possibly hurt you.
Remember that time of year and geographic location will play a large part in determining the ideal location for your shelter. You will want to choose a location that is close to a source of drinking water, and in warm regions or in summer, as free from insects as possible. In cold regions or in the winter, seek a site that offers protection from the cold prevailing winds, is close to wood for fuel, and has direct sun exposure.
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STROUD’S TIP
Don’t get hung up on what kind of shelter to build. Anything that keeps you warm, dry, and protected is a good shelter, regardless of the design. Remember, though, that shelters made from forest materials are camouflaged and difficult to see from above—not a good thing when there’s a chance that passing planes are looking for you.
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Shelter Construction Basics
Step 1: The Bed
When you are ready to build your shelter, don’t make the mistake of starting with the frame. You’re better off creating your bed and then building your shelter around it. Why? First, with this approach you’ll have lots of room to build the bed, rather than constructing in the cramped confines of your shelter. Second, you’ll be able to correctly size your bed and, as a result, your shelter. One of the most common mistakes travelers make in building their first shelter is making it too small. More times than I can remember, people I’ve known have made the bed too small, built a terrific shelter around it, then crawled inside, only to look down and see their feet sticking out the door!
It’s also important to create distance between you and the ground, either by elevating your bed or by putting as much material as you can underneath you. This step is vital! Aside from the wind, nothing will suck the heat out of your body more quickly than sleeping on the ground.
If you have wood available, you can get yourself off the ground by starting with a layer of logs.
Your next step is to cover those logs with your insulation/bedding layer. This can be made of almost anything, as long as it’s somewhat soft and provides loft. Boughs, grass, or leaves work well in many environments. Snow and boughs work well in the winter.
You can use almost any type of material available for your insulation/bedding, but be careful not to choose a poisonous plant such as poison ivy, or anything that’s infested with insects that are likely to feast on you during the night. Be careful even when gathering materials (such as grass), as you could be di
sturbing a poisonous snake or spider. Poke long grass with a stick before reaching in with your bare hands.
Whatever you use for your insulation/bedding layer, you should use much, much more than you think necessary. You might put down 6 inches (15 cm) of spruce boughs or leaves and grass, but once you roll around on them all night, they’ll flatten down to almost nothing and you’ll be lying on the hard ground again before daylight.
Most people don’t change their bedding during a survival ordeal, although changing it may not be a bad idea (provided you’ve got the materials) if you’re stuck somewhere for a very long time. Regularly replacing your bedding gives you a sense of pride in your surroundings, a continued level of comfort, and keeps your mind occupied, satisfying the all-important psychological aspect of survival.
The Cree of northern Quebec have a weaving method for evergreen boughs that renders their floor and bedding soft. They replace it often for freshness.
Step 2: The Shelter Frame
Once your bed is built, it’s time to turn your attention to the frame of your shelter. No matter what type of shelter you decide to build, keep in mind these key points:
Don’t underestimate the importance of the roof’s pitch. A flat roof is very difficult to keep from leaking. The steeper the pitch the better.
The pitch of the roof should be steep enough to shed rain and snow easily. This is especially important if you don’t have a piece of plastic, such as a tarp, as part of your roof.
The roof should be strong enough that it will hold the weight of whatever insulation materials you’re going to use along with any snow that may fall on it. A sign of a great shelter is that it can support your weight (although that’s not always necessary).
Insulation is important as it will keep the heat where it belongs—inside the shelter. After your roof and walls are built, insulate them with anything and everything you can get your hands on, the thicker and fluffier (i.e., the “loftier”) the better.
Pay attention to your body while constructing your shelter. Building is one of the most strenuous tasks in a survival situation, so don’t wear yourself out. Stop often to rest, drink water on a regular basis, if your supply allows, and if it’s cold outside, pace yourself so that you don’t sweat too much.
The boughs of evergreen trees work well as roof insulation, as do plant fluff, grass, leaves, bark, moss, fur, or even snow.
Step 3: Windproofing and Waterproofing
Windproofing and waterproofing a survival shelter is difficult, particularly if you don’t have some sort of plastic sheeting. Increasing the pitch of the roof helps substantially, as does using whatever material you have available as shingles.
Shingling a Shelter: There are many ways to shingle a shelter, depending on the materials you have at hand.
To shingle a shelter, start at the bottom and apply each subsequent layer of roofing material (bark works best) by slightly overlapping the previous layer.
Large strips of birch bark can be very useful as roofing.
Always enclose your shelter to make it as windproof as possible.
Fire in Your Shelter
Your shelter’s primary purposes are to keep you warm and to increase your sense of well-being, and there is no better way to achieve these goals than to build a fire inside. This isn’t possible in all shelters, however, and you’ll need to be very careful even where it is possible. But should conditions permit, it’s worth the effort to use this technique in a survival situation. An inside fire takes you one step up from feeling like an animal in a hole.
If you’re planning to have a fire inside your shelter, you’ll have to create the space for it before you do anything else, even before making a bed. Clear an area for your fire pit against a boulder, sand embankment, or a few bowling-ball-sized rocks you’ve moved together, as any of these will help to reflect heat into the shelter. Create a barrier between the fire and your bed area with rocks (best option), dirt, or wet and punky logs. When building the frame for the shelter, make a smoke hole in the roof, allow for the height of the flames, and ensure that no combustible material is directly above it or close enough to catch fire. Oxygen should be able enter the shelter to get to the fire without blowing across your body. Finally, create a space to pile and protect your collected firewood. See “Fire,” Chapter 6, for more on building fires within your shelter.
The benefit of a fire in your shelter is that it will keep you warm and comforted at night or when trapped inside due to storms. Although the fire will not be big (a long, narrow fire along a rock face will keep the length of your body warm), it requires serious effort. Shelter fires need to be fed constantly with small pieces of dry wood, so you’ll sleep very little. You sleep 20 minutes; the fire dies, you get cold; you wake up and feed the fire…and so on until the first rays of sun bring you the relief you have been praying for all night.
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STROUD’S TIP
Build your shelter big enough that you fit comfortably in it without feeling claustrophobic, but to maximize your shelter’s heat retention, don’t make it so large that you have extra air space to keep warm. Also, build your door as small as possible and lower in elevation than your bed (particularly important in the cold).
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Heated Ground Shelter
An aggressive and calorie-burning (yet effective) way to keep your shelter warm without a fire inside is to build a fire in the place where your shelter will be (on a large, flat rock is perfect). While your large fire burns throughout the day, prepare the materials you will need to construct your bed, walls, and roof.
As day turns to night, let your fire die down and cover the hot coals with an inch (2.5 cm) of soil or sand. Construct your shelter and mattress directly over this spot. Heat will emanate from the coals throughout the night, keeping you toasty and warm. If you have built your shelter on a large, flat rock, push the hot coals off to the side (they will become the small fire that you keep inside your shelter all night). Then put your forest-debris mattress on the heated rock. I have often done this so efficiently that I can’t even crawl into the shelter for two or three hours because my bed is too hot!
Emergency Short-Term and Long-Term Shelters
THERE ARE A FEW BASIC SHELTER TYPES, all of which can be modified and adapted according to location, the materials offered by your surroundings, and whatever you brought with you.
An important distinction must be made between emergency short-term shelters and long-term shelters. Emergency short-term shelters are the ones you need right now, usually on your first night or two, to protect you from the elements and from any immediate dangers. These shelters tend to be crude, cramped, uncomfortable to varying degrees, leaky, drafty, and largely unable to stand up to the rigors of human occupation for any length of time. They will, however, keep you alive for a short time, and that’s why it’s critical to know how to build one.
Once you’ve spent a night or two in an emergency short-term shelter, it’s important to think about a longer-term solution to your predicament. In building a long-term shelter, you’ll pay more attention to comfort and practicality. For this reason, building a long-term shelter is generally harder, takes longer, requires more materials, and will use more of your energy. But if you have the other aspects of your survival covered, a long-term shelter will act as a tremendous psychological benefit. You’ll be warmer, more comfortable, better protected, and better rested…and more likely to survive.
Emergency Short-Term Shelters
Sleeping sitting up against a tree trunk or rock is miserable, and during a survival ordeal you must do everything you can to find shelter that will keep you warm and dry, and allow you to get some rest. To succeed at finding and successfully using an emergency short-term shelter, remember that you are, in essence, an animal. So make like an animal and toss aside your aversion to filthy clothes and grimy fingernails.
Children often do much better in these situations than adults, because they have no qualms about getting dirty and,
for example, crawling into a rotted log for shelter. As adults, on the other hand, we are burdened by our phobias. Crawling into that rotted log might protect me from the snow and wind, but it just looks so filthy, slimy, and full of insects. Insects, by the way, are a fair concern, but that rotted log may be the one thing that will keep you warm and dry that night, and save your life.
The simplest form of emergency short-term shelter is something many of us played with during the autumns of our childhoods: fallen leaves. If you find yourself lost in a deciduous forest in the autumn, it doesn’t take too much time or effort to create a big pile of leaves, into which you can slither like a worm. You’d be surprised how much warmth leaves will hold.
Natural hollows in the ground or fallen trees are another form of emergency short-term shelter, and work especially well if you can fill them (and cover yourself!) with leaves. Caves or animal dens also work, but make very sure they are no longer inhabited.
Crawling like an animal into a pile of forest debris (making a “nest”) can get you through a night or two.