2.Pour the liquid in open containers. For this purpose you can create clay bowls or use natural, hollow objects such as shells or stones.

3.Insert a wick made out of cord into the fat before it cools. This wick can be lit and will function much like a candle would.

Another material that can be burned to produce light is the resin from evergreens, such as spruce, pine and fir. However, while the light produced is relatively good, the resin burns rapidly and produces a large amount of smoke. The resin also tends to spit while burning, causing a fire hazard. For this reason, such lamps are best used in caves or in an emergency. As an aside, this resin also makes an excellent accelerant for helping you light a fire and, with a few additives, makes a reasonable water-fast glue.

Living in Primitive Shelters

Living in primitive shelters such as the ones described above is a difficult experience to describe that will depend somewhat on the circumstances.

Many people feel an immense sense of achievement and satisfaction after spending a restful night in relative comfort in a primitive shelter. I’ve always found the experience of poking at a fire inside a shelter, with stars visible through the smoke hole, to be peaceful and wholesome. The larger shelters especially can induce a sense of timelessness and homeliness with their circular forms and star-shaped roofs. Wandering outside your shelter at night for a toilet break and glancing back at the solid shape with the warm glow of the fire reflecting through the smoke hole and entrance can evoke strong emotions of well-being.

Despite these obviously positive experiences, there are also some potential challenges to consider.

Sleeping in natural shelters may be colder than you’re used to. Especially without a blanket or sleeping bag, the lack of their weight on your body may also take some getting used to, even if you are warm. When relying on a fire that must be stoked, your sleep may be interrupted and lighter than usual.

You may also have to get used to visits by the occasional insect or even larger animals. I have come back to my debris shelters in the past to find it inhabited by everything from foxes to rabbits. Once, on a longer absence, I found rabbits had dug a small series of underground tunnels right underneath, with the entrance coming above ground inside the shelter.

Ants like to enter shelters too, and don’t seem very disturbed by smoke when smoking out a shelter.

Other annoyances can be the regular trickles of debris falling into the shelter, often finding little gaps between skin and clothes or ending up in your mouth.

Your bedding may be lumpy or noninsulating, requiring a lot of fixing. Debris may be wet or damp or simply uncomfortable.

I have heard it said that if you were uncomfortable in the wilderness, it simply means your skill wasn’t good enough, and especially in the case of building shelters, I have always found this to be true. Most of the discomforts described above can be fixed by adjusting your set-up during the day. If you are staying in shelters as a learning experience, I strongly recommend spending multiple nights there in succession. This will allow you to improve your shelter day by day based on your experience during the night. The tricks you’ll pick up will prove to be invaluable.

It also means that you should not rely solely on reading a book such as this one. You have to get out there and practice with these shelters. Gain the experience that you’ll need to create a good shelter under less-than-ideal circumstances. One of the biggest lessons will be how much energy and time it actually takes to create a useful shelter.

Do not lose sight, though, of the fact that the essence of shelter is to help us survive exposure to the elements. Comfort must come secondary.

A large part of a successful shelter experiences also depends on your mental attitude. You must be content with potential bugs crawling around you in the debris, finding leaves in your underwear and having dirt in your hair. Once you can start feeling more at home in such circumstances and have adjusted your standards to take account of the reality you find yourself in, the experience will quickly improve.

Chapter 3

DIY and Modern Material Shelters

Of course, in this modern day and age, it should be very rare to get caught out in the wilderness with truly no equipment. In fact, most of us are able to practice survival skills precisely because the modern equipment we carry allows us to save enough effort and time to build fires and shelters, and learn or practice whatever other skill we wish. From my own experience, most wilderness trips require a blend of using primitive skills and modern camping equipment.

This chapter will focus on modern emergency shelters and basic tarp shelters. If you practiced any of the shelters in Chapter 2, you will have learned how much time you can save by simply bringing a portable shelter. Very often, the principles at play here can easily be morphed with the more primitive techniques described above to get the best from both worlds. I will discuss a number of ideas on combining the modern with the old.

This chapter also covers a number of low-tech shelters you can build at home and take with you wherever you go. I find these shelters particularly interesting, as they can be large and comfortable, yet still relatively lightweight without costing a fortune. Because you choose your own materials, you can make them any color you want and pick those that suit a particular climate. The cost of such mobile shelters is also often much lower than the cost of a store-bought alternative. Building shelters like these and seeing them survive the rigors of the outdoors will boost your own confidence in attempting such projects. You never know, you might even feel confident enough to create a few such shelters for friends and family.

EMERGENCY SHELTER BAG

The most common ready-made emergency shelter is a simple plastic bag, large enough to contain you, your sleeping bag and pad, and sometimes even gear. These bags are often sold in orange and are aptly marketed as “emergency shelters.”

While they pack small, are cheap and expendable, and are undoubtedly handy in an emergency, there are a few downsides you should consider. They are made of non-breathable plastic, so any moisture you generate through perspiration or breathing will be contained in the bag. This will likely leave your sleeping bag damp, if not wet, after a night’s sleep. The bag is open-ended at the head end, with no way of closing it. As there are no grommets to allow you to tie the opening to branches or shrubs, it’s impossible to set the bag up so that the entrance remains open, yet provides shelter from the rain.

If you are going to spend money, you may as well spend that little bit more and go for a breathable, Gore-Tex bivvy bag instead (more on that on page 113).

This type of emergency shelter works even better in cold weather if you crawl into one with another person, as two people generate relatively more heat than a single person.

1.Setting up your emergency shelter bag is easy: Unfold it, place it on level ground with the opening facing away from incoming weather, slip your pad, bag and gear inside, and crawl in. You can try to use your gear to hold the bag open, while still providing for rain cover for your head.