Shelter

I thought this was a nice fire ring.  This is a six foot diameter water Culver thingie.  The bad part is getting a fire started in it (without excelerants) is tricky but once lit the fire ring is nice.  I was thinking how you could add a grill on top or even some sort of kitchen.  Maybe down the road I can do something like this on my land.

Here I am surviving the Texas winter.  Yeah right it was a good high 40's to low 50's that night.  More of an inconvenient nights sleep in our shelter.  Have you ever seen a happier diabetic than me?

This is a two man shelter that we started with some wood we found in a pile.  While we were digging in the pile of wood I came across some barb wire and used it to tie the support beams up.  Then once we had the frame up and sturdy (the barb wire was a little rusty so we went back and double wrapped everything) we put down wood to frame out the shelter. 

Here is our door we compromised since our fire was at the front.  The first thing I always do when building a survival shelter is to see where the wind is coming so that you can make sure you are protected from it.  Well this might not have been the best place for the door because the wind shifted on us and started coming in through our door.  At night I put my poncho over the hole to stop the wind.  We built the wall about two feet tall and in a more severe climate the wall would be taller.  I used my Gerber axe and made some stakes then layed the logs on it.  No one says you have to survive at the minimum.  I want to survive in style.

To protect us from moisture I cut down a couple of pine trees and used the branches with the needles to act like shingles.  Then later we cut a bunch of palm style yucca that actually if we had more time would have been great to use instead of the pine branches.  The location of our shelter is at the opening of the woods and a couple of feet down a hill.  We wanted to use the woods and the hill as a wind break. 

I always get people who tell me we are crazy for spending a night in the winter with no sleeping bag and just our survival pack.  Then I hear stories like the one below and I thank god for all the things people have taught me how to survive.  If I am ever in a survival situation I want to be prepared as possible.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2017435084_missingmushroomhunters06.html