How to Build a Fast Debris Shelter

Camping in the woods? Having pure fun? OR maybe you really are stuck in the wilderness and need a shelter! Here is a quick and easy solution to your shelter building!

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Lots of sticks
• Leaves or snow in the winter

1. 
   possible bases

   So your out in the woods, and need a "home base". OR maybe you really need to survive. Either of these work. Note that this may not be the best shelter for extreme climates, just for calm environments. Like a local town park or reservation. Believe me, I've gotten lost in a reservation before.
   
   First, find a suitable structure for your base. Stone walls, while hard to find, are fast, easy, and more protected. Take advantage of old farmland walls in the woods. If you don't feel comfortable being next to walls for whatever reason, pick a tree. I have included a rough Paint sketch of possible bases-

2. 
   Ridgepole

   Now that you have your base, let's start with the shelter. I will show it to you in only #1 and #4. Find a large branch or young, recently dead tree (not decaying). Prop it up against a branch as in #1 or against the stone wall. This is called a ridgepole.

3. 

   On this, lay sturdy sticks slightly slanted against the ridgepole. You can use twigs for the bottom, or leave it open.

4. 

   Across these, start laying as many sticks as you can horizontally across these sticks, using jutting out branches and supports. For the stone wall shelter, leave a little space open in the middle for a door.

5. 

   Now cover this frame with dead leaves. If it is winter, see last step.

6. 
   finished shelter

   Cover this with pine needles, twigs, and other debris to make a nice, insulated roof. Now climb in to see how it's like!

7. 
   winter (no debris topping)

   If it's winter, you can use snow instead of dead leaves. When using a stone wall, remember to pack the wall with snow, too, to get some nice insulation. Then cover with debris.It is a good idea to use snow from inside the shelter space.

Tips & Warnings

• make use of your surrounding resources. Maybe furnish the shelter with a nice stone to keep stuff off the ground, maybe a nice bed of pine needles.
• This shelter is not perfect, and can quite possibly blow down in hard winds. It is meant for leisure, and if you were to be struggling in the extreme wilderness, you would definitely want to build a more permanent shelter.

[mlt34]

on 8/22/2009 Nice tips. Wish I had seen this before I wrote my article:

http://www.ehow.com/how_5319852_build-debris-hut-camping-shelter.html

[Wasatch]

on 11/19/2008 Good tips

[StreetBloggers]

on 11/18/2008 neat article