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Photograph taken November 12, 2017 in the Allegheny Highlands, this rock shelter faces west to southwest and is within 300 feet (approximately 90 meters) of the summit of a 2,100 foot (640 meter) high hill. Note that the fire is small and built against a reflector under the “drip line” of the overhang. From the Author’s collection.
The
two articles in this series, can be used by Experimental
Archaeologists, Re-enactors or Historical Trekkers of the late 18th
and early 19th centuries, and by people who are interested in
wilderness survival. For a video, watch “Sleeping
Rough Old-School: How to Overnight in a Rock Shelter ©”, HERE.
You
can read “Part One”, HERE.
However,
first a word of caution. While I
carefully research the subjects that I write about and practice them in the
field1, and though I like to think that I know more than most, I am
not an expert. Also, adventuring in the
wilderness, in general, is an inherently dangerous and risky proposition, and
while there are ways of reducing the risks, they can never be 100%
eliminated. In the end it comes down to
reducing your risks and then weighing the risks of the choices in front of
you. The information in this article is
intended to educate and inform you.
However, the decisions that you make with this information are yours and
yours alone: the author accepts no responsibility or liability for your actions
or their outcomes – Author’s note.
Maybe
you are a re-enactor enjoying a trek through the woods, maybe you have been out
for a day hike. But either way, you realize
that you are “misplaced” and evening and a storm are fast approaching. It looks like you are going to have an “unexpected
overnight” – you need a shelter and a fire, NOW! In the distance you spot a shallow cave or
rock shelter2
at the base of a small cliff.
Should you shelter in that rock
shelter for the night? Is it safe, what
should you look for and what should you do?
Remember,
one of the first rules of survival is “Do Not Waste Precious Energy”. And remember, even if there are a few wet
spots or drips in the rock shelter, it is better being under shelter than being
out in the rain. So, always look for a
natural shelter, rather than spending time and energy making one.
 |
A
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service notice,
photograph by the author |
Before we go any further,
many rock shelters are archeological sites that have been used as shelters by
wanderers for thousands of years. You
should not overnight in them unless it is an emergency, or you have permission
from the landowner. In any case, while
sheltering in one you must NOT disturb, deface, or dig up anything! Digging up or looting arrowheads or pottery,
disturbs the seeds, pollen grains, animal bones and soil stratigraphy that
allows us to study of the past and it steals from the future – SO DON’T DO
IT! If you see someone or find evidence
that someone has been digging, disturbing, or defacing a rock shelter, contact
the landowner. Also, if you find
something on the ground underneath a rock shelter, that seems to be archaeologically
important, leave it where it is and contact the landowner to report it.
 |
Photograph taken November 12, 2017 in the Allegheny Highlands, this rock shelter faces west to southwest and is within 300 feet (approximately 90 meters) of the summit of a 2,100 foot (640 meter) high hill. From the Author’s collection.
I would like to say that
there is a lot that has been written about how to overnight in a rock shelter,
but unfortunately there isn’t, and much of what is written is both half right
and half wrong. To my knowledge, very
few modern wilderness and survival writers have bothered to review the
archaeological reports, which detail prehistoric and historic occupancy of
these shelters, to find out how they were actually used in the past. In my mind this is a problem because our
ancestors were pretty smart and could definitely teach us a thing or two about
surviving in the wilderness.
There are two questions
that you need to answer before you decide to spend a night in a rock shelter. The first question is, is it already
occupied?
Rock shelters are valuable real estate, so always
check for inhabitants: study the inside of the shelter carefully and look and
listen carefully before you go inside. Shelter
dwellers can include, depending on where you are, wild cats, bears, bats, rodents
of all types, snakes, scorpions, and wasps.
In the spring and summer listen for the sounds of young animals. During the fall and winter, beware of denning
or hibernating animals.
Shine a flashlight into the shelter but beware
because bats and most snakes won’t react to a flashlight beam. If you can, use a flaming torch instead,
since snakes and bats will react to the heat and flames of the torch. Look for scat or bat guano on the floor of
the rock shelter, it is a sure sign that it is already occupied. Throw some rocks or sticks into the rock
shelter, snakes are sensitive to vibrations and it should bring them out.
Once you have determined that the shelter is unoccupied, then the second question is, is it safe?
 |
Photograph taken October 12, 2020 in Minister Valley, in the Allegheny Highlands. Note the large boulders, which have fallen from the roof of this overhang, at some point in the past. From the Author’s collection.
You
should always check to make sure that the overhanging roof is stable and not
going to come crashing down on you while you sleep. Start by looking at the floor of the shelter,
if there are large boulders or stones on the floor, then the roof might be
unstable. Next 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. Also,
look for trickles or piles of small stones or sand, these are signs of an
unstable roof.
Look
to see if your rock shelter is at the base of a small cliff or is in a heavily
wooded area Rock shelters formed at the bottom
of tall cliff can be dangerous during a thunderstorm, because lightning
travelling down the cliff face, past the cave opening, and can travel through
the air where you are sitting. Rock
shelters that are at the base of a small cliffs or low outcroppings of rock or
are in a heavily wooded area are relatively safe from lightning.
However,
remember that while you can reduce your risk from falling rocks or lightning
strikes, you can never totally eliminate it, and you are never 100% safe.
 |
A few icicles are okay. Photograph taken November 12, 2017 in the Allegheny Highlands, from the Author’s collection.
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, even when the weather is dry, or if there is a lot of ice inside the
shelter in the winter, then a spring might be leaking through the rocks. Don’t camp in a very wet rock shelter,
because if there is a storm you might get washed out.
 |
Photograph
taken November 23, 2016 in Minister Valley, in the Allegheny Highlands. From the Author’s collection.
Every
so often, newspaper articles report that someone is killed when they build a
bonfire in a rock shelter3, so you must be careful if you build a
fire in a rock shelter.
Building
a fire in a rock shelter can be dangerous.
As your fire warms up the rock shelter and the rock of the ceiling, the
heat can cause the rock to expand, crack and collapse down onto you.
 |
A simplified version of Figure 4-2, from “Prehistoric Rockshelters Of Pennsylvania: Revitalizing Behavioral Interpretation From Archaeological Spatial Data”, by Joseph Allen Burns, page 127. Note that the cooking and hearth use area are under the dashed line, which indicates the “dripline” of the shelter.
Always,
keep your fire at a safe distance from the roof of the overhang and the backwall,
by building your fire near the opening of the rock shelter. Look for the overhang’s dripline and build
your fire under it, just like the Native Americans who used these shelters
before the Euro-Americans came to these shores, did. In fact, archaeologists Dena Dincauze and R.
Michael Gramly, noted when writing about the Powisett Rock shelter in
Massachusetts that “...by situating the hearth toward the open side of the
rockshelter, the firebuilders in effect created half a small wigwam at the
site...This arrangement is the most efficient one possible in respect to smoke
dispersal, heat reflection...and the exclusion of outside drafts...”4. Dincauze and Gramly
weren’t the only archaeologists to notice that prehistoric and historic Native
Americans routinely placed their hearths under the dripline.
Doctoral
Candidate, Jonathan Allen Burns writing in “Prehistoric
Rockshelters Of Pennsylvania: Revitalizing Behavioral Interpretation From
Archaeological Spatial Data”, noted that while there is evidence for small
sleeping hearths in some shelters, the preponderance of sites and the evidence
shows that Native Americans usually put the main cooking hearth under the
dripline, particularly in the smaller rock shelters. He cited, as one example, W. Strohmeir, who
wrote “The Unami Creek Rockshelter”, in 1980, that the “greatest
concentration of charcoal and wood ash appeared beneath the drip line at the
front of the shelter” 5.
If our ancestors did it for thousands
of years, then maybe we should as well, today.
While
it is hard to determine this archaeologically, particularly in smaller rock
shelters, the rock free areas along the backwall offer the greatest protection
from the weather and make the best sleeping areas. Archaeologists and ethno-archaeologists have
suggested that these areas were used as sleeping areas by the Native Americans
and Euro-American travelers in the wilderness, during both the prehistoric and
historic eras.
 |
Photograph taken November 23, 2016 in Minister Valley, in the Allegheny Highlands. From the Author’s collection.
 |
Graphic by the author
Just
like in any survival shelter, you should always sit between your fire and the
back wall of the rock shelter, and you should always build a reflector. If you put the fire between you and the
backwall, your backside will be cold.
Instead, sit between your fire and the backwall of the rock shelter,
that way the heat from your fire will reflect off the backwall, warming up your
backside as well as your front. It will
also ensure that there is enough space between the fire and the roof and
backwall of the shelter, thereby reducing the chance of a cave-in or a roof
collapse.
As
an aside, the reflector will also help to channel the smoke upwards and away
from you. Also, always keep your fire
small and sit close to it. A big hot
bonfire wastes wood and you can’t sit near it, and in a rock shelter a large
fire can be dangerous, literally “bringing the roof down on you”.
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
 |
Graphic
by the Author.
 |
Photograph taken November 12, 2017 in the Allegheny Highlands, from the Author’s collection.
Don’t forget to come back next week and read “Remember
This If You Want to be Warm ©”, where we will talk about how and why you should
always build a fire reflector, whenever you build a survival shelter.
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
1 For more information on my promise to you, the reader, read “The End
of 2018 and the Beginning of 2019 ©”, HERE
 |
Figure 3-1, from “Prehistoric Rockshelters Of Pennsylvania: Revitalizing Behavioral Interpretation From Archaeological Spatial Data”, by Joseph Allen Burns, page 72.
A rock shelter is a sheltered space formed,
typically, from a rock ledge which has been carved out by flowing water or by
frost wedging of the freeze-thaw cycle and are formed where harder rock
overlays less-resistant rock. For more
information on how they are formed read “Rock Shelters or Half-Caves, That Home
Away From Home, Part One ©”, HERE.
3 Two recent newspaper articles which report on rock shelters and
campfires
November 24, 2015, “WHARTON, W.Va. - West Virginia State
Police say a hunter was killed after he and a fellow hunter built a fire and
the heat broke apart an overhanging boulder, tumbling on the hunter... the men had started the
fire under the boulder to seek heat.”
From AP, “W. Va. Hunter
killed in unusual campsite accident”
November 26, 2017, “With deer season nearly here, these
last-minute tips are key: ...Pick a spot for your fire where you have a
comfortable seat. Building the fire by a boulder will reflect more of the
warmth of the fire back to you. Deer hunters on the Allegheny Highlands have
long built fires at rock overhangs where they have good downhill views. At some
of these overhangs an astute observer may see signs of ancient hunters who
camped there.”
From Mike Bleech, “With deer season nearly
here, these last-minute tips are key”
4 This quote was originally printed in Dincauze, Dena F.;
and Gramly, R. Michael; “Powisett Rockshelter: Alternate Behavior Patterns in a
Simple Situation”, Pennsylvania Archaeologist, 1973, Journal 43, Volume 1,
pages 43-61.
From Elizabeth S. Chilton, “Archaeological
Investigations at the Goat Island Rockshelter: New Light from Old Legacies”,
page 16
5 Allen Joseph Burns, “Prehistoric Rockshelters Of Pennsylvania:
Revitalizing Behavioral Interpretation From Archaeological Spatial Data”
Sources
AP, “W. Va. Hunter
killed in unusual campsite accident”, November 24, 2015, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/west-virginia-hunter-killed-when-fire-breaks-apart-boulder-police-say/, accessed April 14,
2018
Bleech, Mike; “With deer
season nearly here, these last-minute tips are key”, Ellwood City Ledger, November
26, 2017, http://www.ellwoodcityledger.com/sports/20171126/mike-bleech-with-deer-season-nearly-here-these-last-minute-tips-are-key, April 5, 2018
Burns, Allen Joseph; “Prehistoric Rockshelters Of Pennsylvania:
Revitalizing Behavioral Interpretation From Archaeological Spatial Data”,
August, 2009, https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1OKWM_enUS921US921&ei=da6FX5vbD72JytMP0JCMkAM&q=rock+shelter+drip+line+hearth&oq=rock+shelter+drip+line+hearth&gs_lcp=CgZwc3ktYWIQAzIFCCEQoAE6BAgAEEc6BQghEKsCOggIIRAWEB0QHjoHCCEQChCgAVC9R1ipU2DiWGgAcAJ4AIABVogBxgOSAQE3mAEAoAEBqgEHZ3dzLXdpesgBBcABAQ&sclient=psy-ab&ved=0ahUKEwjb6ZKK2bHsAhW9hHIEHVAIAzIQ4dUDCA0&uact=5, page 72, accessed October 13, 2020
Chilton, Elizabeth S.; “Archaeological
Investigations at the Goat Island Rockshelter: New Light from Old Legacies”, http://www.hudsonrivervalley.org/review/pdfs/hvrr_9pt1_chilton.pdf, accessed April 9, 2018, page 16
Pinkerton, Paul; “Natural Shelters – Identifying And
Adapting A Survival Shelter”, Outdoor Revival, January 18, 2017 [© 2020 Outdoor
Revival], https://m.outdoorrevival.com/instant-articles/natural-shelters-identifying-and-adapting-a-survival-shelter.html, accessed November 2, 2020
Wildwood
Survival, “Caves”, [© by Walter Muma], http://www.wildwoodsurvival.com/survival/shelter/cave/index.html,
accessed November 2, 2020
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