Emergency Shelter, Part Three©

 

Author’s note -- I hope that you enjoy learning from this resource!  To help me to continue to provide valuable free content, please consider showing your appreciation by leaving a donation HERE.  Thank you and Happy Trails!

 

Could you survive?  You’re on an open hillside, a storm is rolling in from the west, heading your way, it’s already started to rain, and your miles from camp.   You decide to stay where you are, immediately seeking shelter and making do with the available terrain. 

It is assumed in the question that you do not have a tent or a sleeping bag with you and according to the Airforce survival specialists at Fairchild AFB, choice ‘D’ is the worst possible decision you could make.  However, if that’s your answer, then how do you make it work and what do you do to survive the next couple of hours?

 

First off, you need protection from the wind, as wind will enhance heat loss from convection and combines with conduction and evaporation to further chill you.  Convection alone is responsible for about 15 percent of the body’s heat loss, and evaporation from a body at rest can add another 20 percent. 

Look for a large boulder, a natural parapet, a tree trunk, the root ball of a downed tree, anything to block the wind.  You can make a windbreak of rocks or logs, or if you are in a snow field, you can make a wall of snow blocks or kick out a snow-hole.

 

Next you need shelter from the rain.  It is important to stay dry, because wet clothing conducts heat away from your body 25 times faster than dry clothing, and moisture evaporating from wet layers of clothing also causes substantial heat loss.  Also wet clothes lose their ability to trap air, significantly lowering their insulating ability.  

 

 

If you have a plastic trash bag you can quickly make a trash-bag shelter.  If you have a space blanket, which when unfolded measure around 52” x 84, or a similarly sized piece of plastic or tarpaulin, you can either make a match-coat or any type of tarp shelter to protect yourself from the rain.

 

Trash-bag shelters are highly effective in cold, wet, or windy conditions.  They prevent hypothermia by trapping your body heat, acting as a vapor barrier and a windbreak, and can significantly increase the temperature inside the bag.  An experiment on YouTube by Alex Coker showing a trash-bag shelter raising the interior temperature from 29°F (-1.6°C) up to 90°F (32°C) in just a few minutes,

 

Use a large (55-gallon), 3-mil thick contractor bag rather than a thin household garbage bag for better durability. 

Cut a small, roughly 5-inch hole in one corner or at the top of the bag as a face hole.  The hole allows you to breathe, preventing suffocation and condensation from your breath building up inside the bag, wetting and chilling you.  Avoid making the hole too large, as this allows heat to escape and reduces the shelter's effectiveness.

 

Some authors suggest cutting two arm holes to create a “poncho”, however the more holes you put in the bag the more your body heat will escape.  

 

Place the bag over your head, pulling the bag down over your body.  Remember your shelter should only be large enough for you to sit or lie down in.  A smaller space is easier to heat.  Also tuck the bottom of the bag under your legs to prevent a “chimney-effect”, as the body-warmed air escapes up through the face hole and draws in cold air from below.

 

Don’t sit on the ground. 

Pile up dry insulation, like leaves, spruce boughs, your pack, because the ground will drain your body heat much faster than the air.  If nothing else, crouch so that only your feet touch the ground.

 

Stuff the bag for added insulation, with dry leaves, grass, or pine needles to increase its effectiveness by providing loft and actual insulation, rather than it just being a vapor barrier.

 

Black bags absorb solar energy during the day to help warm the inside but are harder for rescuers to see.  Orange bags are easier to see, but don’t absorb as much warmth from the Sun.

 

If possible, remove any wet clothes before using a trash-bag shelter, as wet clothing significantly accelerates hypothermia.  Removing wet clothing or using a vapor barrier to decrease convection and evaporation can reduce total heat loss by 19–42% 

       

Why Take Them Off?  Wet clothes against your skin will draw body heat away, even if you are out of the wind.  If you have dry spares, change into dry clothes before getting into the shelter.  If you don’t have dry spare clothing, remove your wet clothes and wring them out before putting them back and entering your shelter.  This reduces evaporative heat loss, allowing your body to warm up faster. 

 

When should you keep them on?  If stripping down to remove your wet clothing puts you in an immediate, severe danger of freezing due to extreme, gusty cold, leave them on to provide a small amount of insulation and use the shelter bag as a wind and vapor barrier.  However, your priority is to get dry as soon as possible.

 

For more information on trash-bag shelters read “Using your poncho or a trash bag as an Emergency Shelter ©”, HERE.

 

Don’t forget to come back next week and read “Tea Candles can Save Your Life!©”, where we will talk how tea candles can save your life.

 

I hope that you enjoy learning from this resource!  To help me to continue to provide valuable free content, please consider showing your appreciation by leaving a donation HERE.  Thank you and Happy Trails!

 

I hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me on YouTube at BandanaMan Productions for other related videos, HERE.  Don’t forget to follow me on both The Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE, and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube.  If you have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either site.  I announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.

 

That is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!

 

 

Sources

 

Associated Press; “Lejeune Marines learning to cope with cold weather”, Wilmington Morning Star, March 3, 1981 page 2B, https://books.google.com/books?id=u0dOAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA1&dq=candle+survival&article_id=2981,686314&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwicp9nzlPGTAxWohysGHYpzGXUQ6AF6BAgMEAM#v=onepage&q=candle%20survival&f=false, accessed April 18, 2026

 

Auerbach, Paul S. Ed.; Auerbach's Wilderness Medicine E-Book, 7^th Edition, Elsevier, page 1333, https://www.google.com/books/edition/Auerbach_s_Wilderness_Medicine_E_Book/O2EgDQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=survival+wind+barrier+%22plastic+bag%22+wilderness&pg=PA1333&printsec=frontcover, April 18, 2026

 

Hagen LT, Brattebø G, Dipl-Math JA, Wiggen Ø, Østerås Ø, Mydske S, Thomassen Ø.; “Effect of wet clothing removal on skin temperature in subjects exposed to cold and wrapped in a vapor barrier: a human, randomized, crossover field study”, BMC Emergency Medicine, January 25, 2024, Vol. 24, No. 1, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10809790/pdf/12873_2024_Article_937.pdf, accessed April 18, 2026

 

Henriksson, Otto; Lundgren, Peter; Kuklane, Kalev; Holmér, Ingvar; Naredi, Peter and Björnstig, Ulf; “Protection against Cold in Prehospital Care: Evaporative Heat Loss Reduction by Wet Clothing Removal or the Addition of a Vapor Barrier—A Thermal Manikin Study”, Prehospital and Disaster Medicine, March 2012, Vol. 57, paged 53 to 58, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/221973839_Protection_against_Cold_in_Prehospital_Care_Evaporative_Heat_Loss_Reduction_by_Wet_Clothing_Removal_or_the_Addition_of_a_Vapor_Barrier-A_Thermal_Manikin_Study, access April 18, 2026

 

OpenStax CNX; “Anatomy and Physiology II: Module 8: Metabolism and Nutrition”, https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-ap2/chapter/energy-and-heat-balance/#:~:text=When%20the%20environment%20is%20not,be%20replaced%20by%20cooler%20water, accessed April 18, 2026

 

Emergency Shelter, Part Two©

 

Author’s note -- I hope that you enjoy learning from this resource!  To help me to continue to provide valuable free content, please consider showing your appreciation by leaving a donation HERE.  Thank you and Happy Trails!

 

Could you survive?  You’re on an open hillside, miles from camp and a storm is rolling in from the west, heading your way, it’s already started to rain.  You decide to head a short way downhill to an area of rocky outcrops to look for shelter in a cave or rock overhang. 

 

This is choice ‘C’ and it isn’t the answer that the Airforce survival specialists at Fairchild AFB suggested as the most correct answer.

However, if you know of a rocky outcropping with a large boulder field, like you will find in most areas of the Appalachian Mountains, then the survival experts said this would be an ideal choice.  

Rock Shelters

 

A shallow cave at the base of the cliff is a rock shelter.  Rock shelters are also sometimes called slant-rocks, overhangs, rock-houses, or half-caves; and are different from true caves.  True caves often have extensive “dark zones”, generally though, rock shelters are wider than they are deep, and caves are deeper than they are wide.  And while caves are different from rock shelters, cave mouths or ‘vestibules’, as they are sometimes known, offer similar advantages for shelter as do rock shelters. 

 

Staying Safe...

 

What do you look for to stay safe when overnighting or waiting out a storm in a rock shelter?

Knock, knock, is anybody home?  Rock shelters are valuable real estate, so always check for inhabitants: study the inside of the shelter and look and listen carefully before you go inside.

        

Check to make sure that the overhanging roof is stable and not going to come crashing down on you.  Bang on the ceiling with a heavy branch or a walking stick and listen for a hollow or dull sound.  If you hear one, it means that the ceiling might have a crack or a loose section.

Lightning can be a risk.  Rock shelters that are at the base of a low cliff or outcrop of rock or are in a heavily wooded area are relatively safe from lightning.

Look for drips of water, or icicles in the winter.  A few drips or icicles are to be expected, but if the shelter is very wet, then during a storm you might get washed out.

If you light a fire, build it near the opening of the rock shelter, under the dripline.  This keeps it at a safe distance from both the roof of the overhang and the backwall.    

 

Just like with any shelter, always sit between your fire and the back wall of the shelter, and build a reflector.  The reflector will help to channel the smoke upwards and away from you and will reflect heat into your shelter that would otherwise be wasted.  Also, always keep your fire small and sit close to it

 

I hope you are never “misplaced” and have to overnight in a rock shelter like this, but if you do I hope that you remember these tips and stay safe and warm.  For more information on rock shelters read “Rock Shelters or Half-Caves, That Home Away From Home, Part One ©”, HERE, and “Rock Shelters or Half-Caves, That Home Away From Home, Part Two ©”, HERE.

 

Don’t forget to come back next week and read “Emergency Shelter, Part Three ©”, where we will talk about how to shelter if you are caught in the open, and why you should always carry a trash bag.

 

I hope that you enjoy learning from this resource!  To help me to continue to provide valuable free content, please consider showing your appreciation by leaving a donation HERE.  Thank you and Happy Trails!

 

I hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me on YouTube at BandanaMan Productions for other related videos, HERE.  Don’t forget to follow me on both The Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE, and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube.  If you have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either site.  I announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.

 

That is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!

 

Sources

 

Airforce Survival School, Fairchild AFB; “Could You Survive”, Spokane Daily Chronicle, September  13, 1977, page 22, https://books.google.com/books?id=__lLAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA12&dq=%22could+you+survive%22&article_id=3746,2800258&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiqisikv6eTAxU1mokEHfm0NbUQ6AF6BAgKEAM#v=onepage&q=%22could%20you%20survive%22&f=false, accessed March 28, 2026

 

Burns, Allen Joseph; “Prehistoric Rockshelters Of Pennsylvania: Revitalizing Behavioral Interpretation From Archaeological Spatial Data”, August, 2009, page 55, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.2190/NA.31.3-4.b, page 72, accessed April 11, 2026

 

Morning, Heather; “Hypothermia, And How Not To Get It”, February 17, 2015, https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/skills/hypothermia_and_how_not_to_get_it-7091, accessed April 4, 2026

 

Province of Alberta; “Winter survival in the backcountry”, https://www.albertaparks.ca/media/2161491/2008_winter_survival.pdf, accessed April 4, 2026

 

Reynolds, Eric; “Rock Shelters or Half-Caves, That Home Away From Home, Part One ©”, https://thewoodsmansjournalonline.blogspot.com/2020/11/rock-shelters-or-half-caves-that-home.html, accessed April 11, 2026

 

Reynolds, Eric; “Rock Shelters or Half-Caves, That Home Away From Home, Part Two ©”, https://thewoodsmansjournalonline.blogspot.com/search?q=rock+shelter, accessed April 11, 2026

 

Undepend; “How to build a natural shelter”, [© Undepend.com], https://undepend.com/how-to/build-a-natural-shelter/, accessed April 4, 2026

 

Emergency Shelter, Part One©

 

Author’s note -- I hope that you enjoy learning from this resource!  To help me to continue to provide valuable free content, please consider showing your appreciation by leaving a donation HERE.  Thank you and Happy Trails!

 

Last week we talked about what you would do if you found yourself on an open hillside, miles from your base camp, with a storm to your west, heading your way and it’s already started to rain.

 

Sheltering with Choice ‘B’

Ok, you’ve opted for choice ‘B’, the most correct answer according to the Airforce survival specialists at Fairchild AFB, so, and you’ve found a site that’s large enough and level enough for you to comfortably lie down, with available materials nearby for constructing a shelter.  But how do you build a shelter?

 

Before deciding a spot to build, make sure there are no dangers such as dead trees, or large hanging branches, known as “widowmakers”, which can blow down and crush you.  Also don’t build near streams, which can flood and drown you. 

 

The easiest and fastest shelter, other than a rock overhang or cave, is a is a natural lean-to, which is also known as a “fallen tree shelter”, an “A-frame” or a “debris hut”.  This is a simple survival shelter that requires no cordage and uses existing natural structures to provide immediate protection from the elements. 

 

Many times you can find a tree which is half broken and bent over and often the tree is still attached to its stump by a “hinge” of bent wood and is less likely to collapse.  If so, the trunk can become the “ridgepole” of your shelter, saving you time and the effort of finding and moving heavy logs.  You can also create your own hinged ridgepole by girdling a small conifer with a knife or axe and pushing it over.

 

If you cannot find a pre-made “ridgepole” attached to a stump, or don’t have the tools to girdle a small conifer, then wedge or lean big, long branch against a tree, or stump as the ridgepole of your shelter. 

 

This type of shelter can also be built as a lean-to, against a large fallen log, the root ball of a blown down tree or even a large boulder.  Build your shelter so that the closed side of the shelter is perpendicular to the prevailing wind.

 

Remove any rocks, damp debris, or sharp branches from the area directly underneath the trunk, or besides the trunk, depending on whether you are building an A-frame or a lean-to.  The floorplan of your shelter should be no wider than six inches, 15 cm, from either shoulder, and no more than four inches, 10 cm, from your head or feet.

 

“Build low”, your shelter should be about two feet, or 60 cm, high at its highest point, just big enough for you to be able to lie down inside.  This keeps your body heat close to you and prevents cold air from getting into your shelter, remember your shelter is just an all-natural sleeping bag, that you must warm with your body heat. 

 

Next “insulate, insulate, insulate”.  Your clothing is your first layer of insulation and protection from the wind and the elements.  Remember to remove layers if you start to sweat, because sweating leads to hypothermia, which leads to death!  

 

Your second layer of insulation is a layer of debris on the ground.  Build a mat or “sleeping pad” of dry leaves, pine needles, or grass at least four to six inches thick, 10 to 15 cm between you and the ground.  This prevents the ground from sucking the heat out of your body by conduction.

 

Your third layer of insulation is the roof of your shelter.  Survival experts recommend at least three to four feet, or about 1 meter, of insulation between you and the elements, but more is always better, if you have the time. 

 

Lean smaller sticks as “rafters” against ridgepole close together.  Make sure the ends of the rafters don’t stick out too far over the ridgepole, or they will funnel rain or melt water into your shelter.  Then add evergreen branches, or moss on top of the sticks, working from the bottom up, overlapping them like shingles on a roof to shed rain.  Pile them on, until you can’t see through the roof from inside your shelter.  Lastly add leaves, other debris, or during the winter, snow, to seal it all off.

 

Survival Pro Tip:  If you build a small fire, keep it outside the entrance and build a reflector made of logs or stones to bounce heat into the shelter.  Be extremely careful with fire near dry brush or pine boughs!

 

Don’t forget to come back next week and read “Emergency Shelter, Part Two©”, where we will talk about how to shelter in an overhang or rock shelter.

 

I hope that you enjoy learning from this resource!  To help me to continue to provide valuable free content, please consider showing your appreciation by leaving a donation HERE.  Thank you and Happy Trails!

 

I hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me on YouTube at BandanaMan Productions for other related videos, HERE.  Don’t forget to follow me on both The Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE, and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube.  If you have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either site.  I announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.

 

That is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!

 

 

Notes

 

Sources

 

Airforce Survival School, Fairchild AFB; “Could You Survive”, Spokane Daily Chronicle, September  13, 1977, page 22, https://books.google.com/books?id=__lLAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA12&dq=%22could+you+survive%22&article_id=3746,2800258&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiqisikv6eTAxU1mokEHfm0NbUQ6AF6BAgKEAM#v=onepage&q=%22could%20you%20survive%22&f=false, accessed March 28, 2026

 

Morning, Heather; “Hypothermia, And How Not To Get It”, February 17, 2015, https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/skills/hypothermia_and_how_not_to_get_it-7091, accessed April 4, 2026

 

Province of Alberta; “Winter survival in the backcountry”, https://www.albertaparks.ca/media/2161491/2008_winter_survival.pdf, accessed April 4, 2026

 

Undepend; “How to build a natural shelter”, [© Undepend.com], https://undepend.com/how-to/build-a-natural-shelter/, accessed April 4, 2026