How To Make a Sun Shelter
If you are faced with a survival situation where you need to escape the sun, building some type of shelter may be your only defense. The sun can rob your body of much-needed energy and fluids, causing (in the worse-case scenario) heat stroke or even death. When survival is on the line, you must use whatever materials are available, whether manmade or from nature, to make a sun shelter. Protection from the intense heat will buy you time until help arrives.
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Instructions
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Survey your location and take note of weather conditions and the layout of the land. Look to see what materials and vegetation are available to make your shelter or to use as a support.
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2
Choose a spot for your shelter. You should build it with the opening facing away from the direction the wind is blowing and away from the direction of the sun.
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3
Consider the size of the item--a tarp, blanket or poncho--you will use as the roof to block out the sunlight. Your shelter will be as big as that item.
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Tie a rope between two trees, if they are available. Tie the rope only as high as the roof cover allows; the overhang from the roof cover should touch the ground. If the cover is not large enough for both sides to touch the ground, make sure the side facing the sun does.
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Place your cover over the rope, adjusting so the sides are equal, if they can touch the ground. Otherwise, drape the cover over the rope, allowing the side facing the sun to be the longest.
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Place rocks, logs or dirt onto the edge of the cover to hold it in place on the ground. You now have sun protection on two sides.
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Tips & Warnings
As an alternate shelter, dig out an area in the dirt that is deep and long enough for you to lie in. Cover the top portion with a poncho, tarp, shirt or branches to protect you.
