How to Build a Wood Shelter
- 1). Scout out suitable campsites. Look for a place that offers protection from the elements and from natural hazards such as animal traffic or rock slides. Once you find a location, look for a downed tree that you can use as the ridgepole for your shelter.
- 2). Gather as many large branches as you can find. The branches will constitute the sides of your lean-to shelter. As you gather wood, stay away from rotted pieces that will decrease the structural integrity of the shelter.
- 3). Lean the large branches on top of the downed tree trunk, which is now your shelter ridgepole. The branches should lean toward the ridgepole trunk at relatively the same angle.
- 4). Search for smaller branches that will form woven layers on top of the larger branches. Place the smaller branches perpendicular to the larger branches to form a thatched roof. Your design will start to take on a domed shape as you add the smaller branches.
- 5). Dump masses of leaves and other debris on top of the branch-thatched roof so that there are several inches of insulation and weather protection between the inside and outside of the shelter.
- 6). Strip some branches from nearby evergreen trees and lay them on top of the shelter so that they resemble the shingles of a roof, with the higher layers placed on top of each layer that is immediately lower on the sides of the shelter.
- 7). Place more evergreen branches near the entrance to your shelter. When you go inside the shelter to rest for the night, use these branches to seal off the doorway for maximum heat retention.
- 8). Pull up enough moss from the ground to create a comfortable bed so that the cold ground does not suck all the heat from your body. If moss is not available, then more evergreen branches will do.
