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