It Was My Last Resort: Cover Option and EDC Kit Packed Away

Last week we talked about the second characteristic of a good EDC kit, as well as added a 17 oz. stainless steel water bottle and 60 ft. of bank line. If you would rather use paracord, I added two other options for paracord, so definitely check out last week’s blog to learn more about those. Our EDC kit is currently valued at about $40. This week we will be talking about the last characteristic as well as adding cover to our kit and packing it away. Lastly we will do a grand total value of our kit and I’ll tell you what I actually spent on it.

The third and final characteristic is re-usability. Re-usability is important for any piece of gear in your EDC kit as well anything you use and like the other two characteristics, gives you two distinct advantages. The first is that reusable items are going to be cost effective. In a world where we have emergency tents and disposable ponchos that are great when you need them and have them, once they are used that piece of gear is gone and has to be replaced. I would rather have a good, higher quality item that I pay more money for and be able to reuse it, This does not just apply to cover options. Matches are one and done while lighters can be reused over and over again. Sure, a single match costs less than a penny, but lighters are a onetime purchase, are compact, and even after they run out of fuel you can still cast sparks off of it. The magnifying glass is easily the most cost effective item in my kit because I use the power of the sun to start a fire.

The second distinct advantage is that these items can be used outside of an emergency. I know this goes against what I said. This is an emergency kit, not a camping kit, however, if you’re going to have this kit on you all day you would be foolish not to use it in your daily routine. I usually have some sort of situation every day that involves a knife. You may use your lighter to light a cigarette for a friend, use you magnifying glass to read a restaurant menu, use your 11-in-1 Card to open bottles or cans, or even use your bottle to provide your own drinking glass at a friend’s house.

Now for our cover option. This item like everything else was chosen because it is familiar to me, it is compact, and it is reusable. My cover option is going to be a reusable poncho that I’ve had for about a year. It has stood up to a lot of rain and a lot of football games, but still has a lot of life left in it. The poncho covers most of my body and I like that the sides unbutton turning it into a serape. Having my ends open leads me to believe that I can them off and fly the poncho like a tarp. On the other hand I can wear it with the sides buttoned up and bring my arms in. The poncho will keep out the rain and cold and help me to retain body heat. If it gets too bad, I can draw string the hood and cover my face more.

The poncho alone is not enough for me in the way of cover, I still need some kind of moisture barrier. I am also going to add some black contractor bags to my kit. You may remember them from my three day camp. I actually chose to pack two. The second can be used as a spare, but can also serves several other purposes. I can fill it with water which will save energy from going back and forth to collect water for my water bottle. I can fill it with leaves to make a bed, I can use it like a sleeping bag, and I can even cut the sides and fly it like a tarp if my poncho were to fail. We also talked about re-usability outside of an emergency situation. The poncho is obvious, but with some careful cutting the contractor bags can be come two more ponchos for two more friends.

Now where will we be storing this gear? I considered using a backpack, but it was too bulky. I thought a haversack might be nice, but I couldn’t get my hands on one. So after looking for an option I found a water-resistant, neutral colored, low key pack to store my EDC kit. I chose…a fanny pack.

 Now, it’s not my favorite option, but it does everything I need it to. It easily stores all of my gear and even has a pouch in the front so I can get to the gear I need the fastest. I have considered using something more military that would appear more like a tactical fanny pack that would cost between $20-$40. However I was trying to be cheap. Once I set up camp I will even have room in the fanny pack to carry my tinder or anything else I collect.

Now it’s time to value out the kit. The poncho cost me $5. The garbage bags came in a pack of 10 for $10. With two in my pack that adds another $2 making our cover value a total of $7. The fanny pack cost $10 and was the only item I actually purchased for my EDC kit. All other items I had or was already using. This brings our total value up to $57. Again the only item I purchased was the fanny pack so its more accurately $10 spent and $47 collected.

Next week we will be testing the EDC kit I put together against the store bought EDC kit. I know I’m excited and you won’t want to miss it! As always feel free to comment, hit the follow button in the top right corner, share this blog, and check back next week for a new one on Sunday 10pm (est). If you want to keep up with me and what I’m doing, Follow me on Facebook: @BPackBushcraft and on Twitter @BPackBushCraft. Lastly if video is more your style check out my YouTube Channel backpack bushcraft where there is a video version of this with the same title. Until next time, keep those fires burning and put another log on for me.

Homeward Bound: Day 3 of the 3 Day Camp and Review

At last we have arrived at Day 3 of the 3 Day camp. Last week we talked about basic camp hygiene and we packed up as much as we possibly could on Day 2 so when it was time to go in, the only thing we really needed to pack up was the bedroll. After breakfast, that will be the plan to pack up and go in, but the day doesn’t end there. Once we get inside we will need to do some maintenance on our gear to keep it from becoming ruined. Let’s get into it.

Packing up our bedroll is as simple as packing everything up the way we took it out. First I lay my tarp out flat, layer in my wool blanket, garbage bags, and inflatables, and roll it up into a bedroll and secure it with paracord. Easy. Now all I have to do is pick up my pack which should already be ready to go and head inside. The first order of business is to take a well-deserved shower and check for ticks.

The first gear item I am going to turn my attention to is my

mess kit. I used my garden hose to wash out as much as I could but there are still some problem spots on the inside. I am just going to wash them in the sink with a sponge, soap and water. After cleaning them up they are not sparkling and shiny new, but there is a big improvement. Overall I am happy with how they cleaned up and I anticipate being able to get many more uses out of this mess kit.

It is important to note that you should deal with these items 24-48 hours after your camp. With that being said I am now going to work on my bedroll. It did rain during the camp so I know that at least my tarp is wet. My wool blanket being a cloth item could mildew if any moisture gets into it so what I did was drape it over my bathroom door and let it air dry. It didn’t appear to be wet when I got it out of the bedroll, but I hung it up as a precaution. The trash bags that I had used a moisture barrier were wet, but they are also easily replaceable so I chose to toss the ones I had used. The large inflatable that was supposed to serve as my mattress was a failure on this trip so I decided to dispose of it as well. Now to dry my tarp. What I decided to do was stake my tarp out over the large bush in my yard. A quick note, one of my tent stakes became bent during the camp and will need to be replaced. I actually had planned on replacing the whole set, but for the time being this is what I have. All I did was drape the tarp over the bush and used the stakes to pull it tight. This allows it to air dry in the sun. An alternative method to drying the tarp would be to wipe it down with some clean, dry towels, but I chose this method because I didn’t have to fool with it any more once it was staked out.

Now I would like to take this time to review the camp itself. I think overall it was a success. I also learned a lot from my experience during the camp and we are going to talk about some of those things now. I’m going to talk about my gear that falls under the category of the 5 C’s. My cutting tools did their job and did it well. I was impressed by how they maintained their edge throughout the camp. When I inspected them after coming in I found that none of them needed sharpened which was nice. My combustion kit worked the way it was supposed to as well and I know I will need to replace the charcloth I used for the next time I go out. However, I know this is an expendable resource that I will need to continuously replace. I never needed the cordage that I packed, however I did have some there if I needed it. I would like to add another container to my pack. The purpose of this being that I can have water boiling on the fire and water that I have already boiled cooling down to drink. This gives me more purified water to work with during my camp.

I would like to talk about my cover more in depth since this item did the most work and took the most hits throughout the camp. The tarp did its job well, the only issue I had was from a failure in one of my tent stakes. I do want to replace my metal stakes with plastic stakes because I think they will be more robust, so that will be something to look for in the future. The wool blanket was also very helpful. I don’t think I could have stood it out there as long as I did without it so I will definitely be using that item again. I was really surprised by how well the contractor garbage bags worked out in my camp and I think next time I will pack four instead of two. My inflatable mattress as I stated earlier was thrown away. The next camp I am going to try and use a yoga mat as my cushion between myself and the ground. The downside to this is that it may make my bedroll bulkier, but it is much more reliable than the inflatable. Speaking of inflatable I had much success with the smaller floaties in the pillow case and I will definitely be using those again as well.

Now for the personal items. The insect repellent spray easily earns the MVP for the camp. Without it I would not have made it. The mosquitoes were absolutely awful when they would hit, but spraying that spray got them off my case. I was very happy I chose to bring my washcloths along, they helped when it came to cleaning my gear and myself. The medicine kit helped out a lot too. Every time I have been camping I have always slept in a tent. This was actually the first time I have slept on the ground in a Bushcraft setting so the sleeping pills were very helpful in getting me to fall asleep and getting a good night’s rest. Another thing that I never would have thought would help me get a good night’s rest were my boots. By using them as a place to rest my head, I was much more comfortable and well rested the next day. That just leaves my food items. Overall the items I chose to pack with me were very good for the setting I was in. The bread was even good, however I did not have a good enough control over my fire to get it to cook properly so I will definitely need to work more with that. I packed enough food to have 6 meals, two per day, one for one afternoon, and one at night, plus my Slim-Jims. Next time I think I am going to pack enough food for four meals per day plus an extra day’s worth of food because frankly, I was still hungry. This could be attributed to a few things, but it is definitely something to change about my pack in the future.

I hope you have enjoyed this camping adventure as much as I have. I would like to add that next week there will not be a blog or a video, I will be taking a week’s break, but I will be back the week after with a whole new series. As always feel free to comment, hit the follow button in the top right corner, share this blog, and check back next week for a new one. Follow me on Facebook: @BPackBushcraft and on Twitter @BPackBushCraft. If video is more your thing, check out my YouTube channel Backpack Bushcraft or just click here to watch now. Until next time, keep those fires burning and put another log on for me.

Rub-a-Dub-Dub the Bushcraft Tub: Day 2 of the 3 Day Camp

Last week we talked about day 1 of the 3 day camp where we set up the tarp, did some cooking, and went to sleep for the night. Today we will be talking about Day 2 of the 3 Day camp. A couple of things I want to talk about first; during the night my mattress deflated. I continued to sleep on it as it served as a secondary moisture barrier. I also used my boots as sort of a headboard and place to rest my head and it actually helped make me much more comfortable and give me a better night’s sleep.

To start the day I enjoy a breakfast of canned fruit cocktail and some water that I had purified the night before. The fruit can has a pull tab, however if it were to fail, I have my Camillus Trench to open the can with. The goals for day 2 are to collect more firewood to make another good fire tonight, and also to go over some basic camp hygiene.

I checked the nearby trees for dead, dry branches that I could use for firewood. I can tell how dry they are by how easily they snap. Once I found a good bough, I took it from the tree and brought it back to my camp to be processed.

For lunch I ate the bread that I had made on the campfire the night before as well as some Slim-Jims. I would like to add that if you are taking Slim-Jims, or any other kind of jerky with you into your camp, have water. These food items are cured and quite salty and can make you very thirsty. This is why I didn’t have any Slim-Jims the night before. My water was still too hot to drink and I could have easily become dehydrated.

At this point during the camp it begins to rain. I decided to take advantage of this in a few ways. I have a large bough that I took down from a tree that needs to processed into firewood and kept dry so I decided to use this time to do that. The smaller kindling pieces I broke down and stored in my large bowl from my mess kit and the larger pieces that would be used as fuel I sat to the side near the back of the tent. Another way I took advantage of the weather is trying to harvest rain water. I used my empty fruit can to collect the water in. I took my bandana and set it on top of my tarp. Once it became saturated with water, it dripped into the can. I didn’t collect much, but it was something.

Once the rain stopped I started my campfire. There is no need to make more bread tonight since I will be going in after breakfast in the morning so I am going to do something a little different with my fire tonight. For starters I decided to try cooking my soup out of the can rather than in my mess kit. Next I also took some water and placed it in my large bowl and began to heat it over the fire to wash myself down with. Once the water is heated I get one of my washcloths wet and when it has cooled to a tolerable temperature, I wipe myself down with the cloth. It’s no shower, but it is refreshing after being in the hot, humid weather all day.

My fire is burning out and there is not much left for me to do. I figure now it is best to pack up as much as possible so when it is time to go home in the morning, I really only need to take down my tarp and pack up my bedroll. I make sure that I wash out the pieces of my mess kit and dry it as best as I can before I pack it and put it away. When I get home, I can actually put it in the sink and wash it a bit more thoroughly.

Well that’s about it for day 2. I hope you have enjoyed this blog. Next week we will be packing up the camp and talking about how to take care of our gear after we come in from the outdoors, as well as what I might do differently next time. As always feel free to comment, hit the follow button in the top right corner, share this blog, and check back next week for a new one. Follow me on Facebook: @BPackBushcraft and on Twitter @BPackBushCraft. If video is more your thing, check out my YouTube channel Backpack Bushcraft or just click here to watch now. Until next time, keep those fires burning and put another log on for me.

All Packed Up and Ready to Go: Packing For the 3 Day Camp

We’ve spent the past few months talking about all different types of gear that fall under the category of David Canterbury’s 5 C’s of survivability, why they are important, what options you have, and comparing and contrasting those options. This week I am going to pack a backpack full of some of that gear we’ve discussed and go out on a 3 day camp using only the items I’ve packed. 

Now I have set up some rules for this camp and they are as follows: 

1. Once I have left the house I am not allowed to go back inside for any reason whatsoever. (No going back for forgotten or broken gear, restroom needs are an exception to the rule.) 
2. I will be treating all of my water which I will obtain from a garden hose as if it is an unsafe source and follow all of the necessary steps for purifying it. 
3. I will only be using gear that we have talked about in the last six months of blogs with the exception of one item.

Now, let’s get into what is actually going into the backpack. First I want to talk about food items. I have packed with me canned goods such as soup, which I can heat over my fire in my mess kit or in the can itself, and fruit cocktail which is quick and easy for breakfast and does not need to be cooked. Both of these canned items have a pull tab on top for convenience. I also have with me a flour kit with flour, sugar, salt, and coffee, which I can use to bake bread over my fire. Lastly I have brought some Slim-Jims along as a snack or to be paired with my other meals.

I have chosen these items because if I work strategically I can get most of my cooking done over one fire and that is less work for me. For example, once I have set up camp and started a campfire, I can boil my water, cook my soup for dinner, and bake some bread for lunch the next day. In the morning I will have my fruit, lunch will be premade, and I will have no further need for a fire until dinner time the next day. This way I get the most out of my resources.

The next personal item I will be talking about is a medicine kit that I have put together. I purchased a medicine organizer and sorted out allergy medication, ibuprofen, multivitamins, and sleeping pills. I chose these as I figured they would be what I would most likely need outside. Honestly, the sleeping pills will likely be the most useful to me on this trip as I will likely have trouble falling asleep on the ground so I anticipate needing them at least for the first night.

The last two personal items I will be taking are some simple dish cloths and some insect repellent. The cloths will be used for cleaning or drying out my mess kit, cleaning my gear, other hygiene needs, and maybe even to wrap my bread in to keep bugs out. The insect repellent is for the mosquitos which are awful this time of year. I purchased the sportsman max and have been left completely alone by these little pests after using it.

Now that we’ve gotten the personal items out of the way, we will talk about the gear I have chosen to take with me, starting with my backpack. I have chosen the Arrowhead bucket pack from Outdoor products. It has two side compartments, a compartment in the front, a larger and smaller compartment on top and the inside is one large compartment large enough for a bucket which I have inside. I chose this pack for the simplicity and how easy it is to pack, which I will show you how to do now.

First is the bucket in the main compartment. Truthfully this is more useful for an extended stay in the bush with such uses as a seat, latrine, or washing bucket, but for my purposes it will just make my pack sturdier.

Now a good rule of thumb for packing a bucket pack is to place the items you will need sooner than later on the top. My food items I won’t need until after camp has been set up and I have a campfire going so it will go on the bottom. This includes my canned goods, flour kit, and Slim-Jims. Next I will add my medicine kit and dish towels.

These next items which will be closer to the top of my pack fall under the category of the 5 C’s. I have chosen the mess kit that I put together myself that we talked about in a previous blog as well as a water bottle that I can boil water in. The mess kit consists of two large bowls, one with a rounded bottom and one with a flat bottom that can be used for frying. There is also a smaller bowl that I can use as either a cup or a mixing bowl. I also have included a tripod to cook over my campfire, a vice grip for taking my bowls on and off the fire without burning myself, and lastly, a fork and a spoon to eat with.

Next is my cordage. I have about 10’ of 555 paracord and a large roll of 36

bank line. Now, I have other cordage with specific purposes spread throughout my kit. This is more for backup in case I have forgotten something or something goes wrong. If needed I could use either of these items to set up my tarp or for my tent stakes.

I have several options in the way of cutting tools. I have my hatchet for processing wood, the Camillus Bushcrafter which I have as my fixed blade knife, a folding saw, and the Camillus Trench for my pocket knife. Now typically these items would go on my belt and they will in the field, but for now they can be stored in the pack. The folding saw is used for processing wood with a larger diameter down to a manageable size to be split with my hatchet. The Trench has various uses such as a can opener in case the pull tabs on my canned goods fail, or any fine carving tasks such as making feather sticks. Finally the Bushcrafter will fill in for any equipment for tasks such as splitting or carving.

I want to take a second to talk about the combustion kit I will be taking with me as well. The container for my fire-starting items is a chocolate covered pretzel can that I have spray painted and drilled a hole in so I can make charcloth. Its content are a piece of flint, some charcloth, a ferro rod, two bic lighters, and a magnifying glass. The magnifying glass comes with a simple cover with cloth on the inside so you are wiping away debris when you put it away.

Lastly is my bedroll which we made in a previous blog. This will serve as my cover. It consists of an 8x8 tarp that we had made, a wool blanket, and other essentials. I will be placing my bug repellant in the top of the pack so when I step outside I can spray myself down and I will be ready to get started. I hope you are as excited as I am to see what these items can do over a three day span. As always feel free to comment, hit the follow button in the top right corner, share this blog, and check back next week for a new one. Follow me on Facebook: @BPackBushcraft and on Twitter @BPackBushCraft. If video is more your thing, check out my YouTube channel Backpack Bushcraft or just click here to watch now. Until next time, keep those fires burning and put another log on for me.

Survival Tent Reflections: A Review of the Survival Reflect Tent

The worst thing about the outdoors is that at any moment, a simplistic serenity can turn into an urgent emergency. While most of us who brave the outdoors can make a fire, collect water, and maybe find something to eat, it’s the making of shelter that is often the most crucial. However, with large, bulky tents, hammocks that take up an entire backpack, and the park rangers frowning upon the practice of making natural shelters in their own backyard, what’s a woodsman to do? How about a survival tent?

Ultimate survival technologies (UST) have a product known as the Survival Reflect Tent. For the low price of $9 at my local Walmart, I was given a box about the size of a typical sandwich. Before I go any further I would just like to say, “I am not being paid to endorse this item. I paid for it with my own money under my own volition. My review is genuine and accounts are from my, and mine alone, experiences with this item.” With that being said, let’s continue with the review.

From the box, it shows the tent being set up in a typical pup tent fashion, similar to an A-frame, but with a floor. You can clearly see a ridge line being strung through the top of the tent. It also says “all weather emergence protection” and the individual using the tent is on a lightly snowed ground. On the back, it says that it has enough room to accommodate one person, plus gear, or, two medium sized adults. It refers to itself as a tube tent, however, it mentions other uses such as a water-proof ground cloth, tarp, or a signaling device. It also mentions that the reflective material helps conserve body heat in cold weather conditions. You should also be able to infer that the reflective material would be ideal to signal with due to its unnatural appearance.

The box also gives you a "WARNING: KEEP ALL FLAME AND HEAT SOURCES AWAY FROM THIS TENT FABRIC" This does put a heavy mark against its usefulness. Even though it is not warned, I would also assume that this tent only has a life span of a few weeks of constant use due to the materials used. Though the material is reflective and light, this would promote both burns and tears in the fabric without effort.

Out of the box, you get a plastic package that contains the approximately 5’ x 8’ tube tent folded up, and a coil of cordage, 14’ in length. Not a bad set up, however, during my test, I found that the cordage was not long enough, nor do I think it would be able to compete with either bank line or paracord. Instead, I would pair this with 25’ of paracord, uncut, that would have multiple uses.

Not having two trees 14’ apart, I was forced to use my 25’ of paracord. I started with a simple knot, just something that would form an anchor point in my ridge line. Next I unfolded to the best of my ability the tube tent and found both openings. I fed my paracord through it and tied it off to the other end again using a variation of a trucker’s hitch. Nothing legit, just something anyone would be able to come up with on their own. Quick note, there are yellow pieces of tape that look like they hold part of the tent together. I believe these can be used to pull apart and change the tent’s shape. I do not know if you pull these apart if your tent will go back together. I would be careful when setting up your tent not to pull these apart. When setting mine up, I made sure that what laid upon the ridge line was one piece that would not split apart.

During my test I was a little nervous due to claustrophobia. The tent creates a very tight, confined space. I have never, ever, had that fear before and I think it was sparked due to the reflective material making it appear that the space was smaller than it actually was. However, when I crawled in, all those fears left me. The first thing I noticed while lying on my back was that I could see a hazy version of everything outside of my tent through the transparency of the material. This giving the impression of open sky, helped alleviate the tightness. It didn't take long for me to understood what it meant about keeping my warmth in, as it didn’t seem as cold as it should have while lying on the ground.

 Problems that I encountered was that the tent seemed to cling to me, and didn’t seem to have any structure. Without any grommets, there was no way for me to stake out the corners to make it sturdy easily. If the material had been present, I would have placed two smooth limbs, 8’ long each, in the tent to push the corners of the tent apart which would create a bit more space. However, a problem that could occur would be puncturing of the light material if the limbs were not perfectly smooth.

After my initial test, I did attempt to fly the material. This worked pretty well being that it held on to the ridge line. The problem was that the material just seemed to blow in the breeze with nothing to stake the corners down with. Once

again, some sticks or stones would be a makeshift way to hold the material down with, however, I was attempting to use only what the tent came with. On the bright side, and I do mean bright, the reflective material was blinding and I do believe someone would have noticed me if signaling was my intended purpose. With it flying in the wind, it did immediately draw the eye to it no matter how you faced it.

Finally, I attempted to fold and place the tent back into the plastic pack with its cordage, and place it back into the box. The material had no tears or rips into it, which is a good sign as I was sure it would, but it held on pretty well. However, folding it back into its original shape was more of a challenge than I bargained for. I ended up with an 18-20” cylinder about

2” in diameter, wrapped in the cordage provided. I will admit that this is more likely user error and not necessarily a strike against the product.

My conclusion, after my field testing and further study of shelters during these last few weeks, this product becomes the first product that I cannot recommend. Due to the fact that a fire cannot be near the material and that the cordage provided is in my opinion, not a suitable option. I believe that this shelter would not be an item that would be worth your money. The only advantages it has is its size, its light weight, and reflective natures would make it something to invest in at a reduced price. My main thought, is that I would not trust my life to this product, which I believe is how it is intended to be marketed. UST has many other products on the market such as their survival blanket and the survival blanket 2.0 which I believe you can get a lot more use out of. Even the first blog of this series, that tarp costs less than $9, even with cordage for it.

In closing I believe putting together your own shelter with a tarp is a safer option than this product. There are more options with a tarp, and it is sturdier than this material. In the future, I will be picking up other emergency tents and testing them out to see if it is simply a flaw in their design, or if it is just the quality of this product. Next week we will be going over what cordage is and which you should take. Don't miss out next Tuesday, it's gonna be a BLAST!!!As always feel free to comment, share this blog, and check back next week for a new one. Follow me on Facebook: @BPackBushcraft and on Twitter @BPackBushCraft. Until next time, keep those fires burning and put another log on for me.

Getting Cozy Outdoors: Common Items for Sleeping in Nature

When going out to bushcraft for a night or two, I am often asked. “What do I need to bring?” To me this is too open ended. Different people like different things, and people have different needs to be met. Sometime even the environment could make a difference or the climate. Instead of asking, "What do I need to bring?" ask “What do I need to fight?” The two biggest enemies to getting a good night’s sleep outdoors is the cold ground and maintaining your core body temperature.

When talking about ground cover, David Canterbury says in Bushcraft 101 on page 106, “Any ground pad must be thick enough when compressed to battle the effects of conduction (equalization of ground temperature to the body, causing heat loss)”

If you’ve ever noticed, heat tends to disperse to try and warm everything around it. You can see this when you put a hot pot on a counter top or a trivet. The heat from the pot disperses into whatever it is sitting on. The same goes for your body temperature when you lie on the cold ground. Anything that you cover your body with will trap your body heat. This is why you wear long johns in the field or long sleeves in the winter. These clothing items keep your body heat trapped in. On the contrary, this is why we wear short sleeved clothing items in warmer weather so our body heat can escape and we don’t become overheated. Your body also needs to be inclined. There are a couple of ways you can accomplish this such as resting your head on your pack or on your arms. In other words, your head needs to be going uphill, not downhill, or lying at 180 degrees. Another important factor in maintaining body temperature is a good shelter. We talked in a previous blog about pitching a tarp as a shelter, and if pitched a particular way, it will protect from the elements as well as trap your radiating body heat inside.

In nature you can make debris beds made of leaves and straw. The material compressed should be about 4’’ thick (or the size of your fist) to prevent your body heat from seeping into the ground. You could use a pile of rocks or a bundle of sticks to incline your head. The main thing is you want it to be as smooth as possible. You could even take the rocks or sticks and place leaves or straw over top of them to make it more comfortable to rest your head on. Debris shelters are built so small and compact. The smaller the area that is on the inside of your shelter, the better it catches your body heat. Another way you could build a raised bed, is by using long branches or a hammock to get your body off of the ground. It is also important to build a big enough fire to heat your shelter and prevent loss of your core body temperature. However, since we know that we are going outdoors, we can prepare ourselves by bringing some items along so we don’t have to worry about trying to do this the natural way.

The first item that I like to take into the field is a simple inflatable pool float. I like these because they can be packed completely flat, can provide you with a pillow, can be inflated manually and there is no need to carry a pump, I purchased mine at Walmart for about $5. David Canterbury also said on the same page as the quote above, that he does not approve of these as they are susceptible to punctures. However, I believe that if you take the time to clear your site, then you won’t have any issues with setting these up.

Last week I talked about one of the only advantages tents have over tarps is that they have a floor. Not a great floor, but a floor. However, while you are camping with a tarp you can also have a floor. By using the 55 gallon contractor black garbage bags. These are about 8’ x 4’ and can serve as an extra moisture barrier so you do not have to lie on the cold ground or ruin your wool blanket. These can also be used to store debris in to make a browse bag bed. I like to carry two; this gives me 64 square feet of flooring for my tarp. These cost $10 for a pack of 17 bags. These can be purchased at Walmart where you typically find your garbage bags.

The best way to maintain your heat in the field is to use a wool blanket. They hold insulation better and are even somewhat water resistant. They could even be used as an emergency shelter, but wrapping up in them works best. The biggest downside to wool blankets is that they can overheat you if you are not careful. You can often find U.S. army and military blankets at military surplus stores; either the brick and mortar or online stores. Amazon often carries these items as well, although it is hard to find one that is over 70/30 (meaning 70% wool). I purchases both of mine on Amazon

for about $30 each.

As we talked about earlier, keeping your head inclined is very important. In the field I always bring a pillow case. This can be used as a haversack, kindling pouch, or just a dump bag, and of course you can just use it as a pillow. In case I can’t find a suitable debris in the wild, I like to use a child’s arm floaties as an inflatable pillow. You can find one pack of two floaties is only $1 at Walmart and I simply inflate them and pile them into the pillowcase to be used as a pillow.

Finally, my 8’x8’ tarp, along with 6 tent stakes and a 12’ section of paracord folded in half with me. With all of these materials I will be able to erect a tarp shelter with any setup that I choose. For this blog we will continue to use the plow point setup that we talked about in the last blog. Click here to check it out.

One of the first challenges I found in Bushcraft when I was first starting out was finding a way to carry out all of my sleeping materials. There are many different ways to organize your gear, but for this blog we will be talking about the bedroll. Bedrolls can be tricky so following these steps should help. David Caterbury talks about it in Bushcraft 101 on page 22. To begin I lay my tarp out as flat as possible and section it out into thirds; this will be important later. Next, I lay my blanket into the middle third of the tarp.

 I had to fold my blanket in half to get it to fit as well as folding in the sides. Next, I layered in my pool inflatable, my two contractor bags, my pillow and all four of the arm floats. I also added at one end the 6 tent stakes. Now fold in the other two thirds of the tarp into the middle so they overlap the gear in the center. Next lay your 12’ of rope folded in half on one end of the tarp. You will then begin to roll the tarp with this in the middle; make sure it does not come out. Once you get close to the other side, fold the open end in on itself to prevent moisture from getting in to the precious gear on the inside. Once you have your bedroll completed, you want to take the loop end of the bedroll, and have the other end on the opposite side loop through it. Pulling it together and tying a simple knot will suffice. You’re almost done! What I like to do is to take a piece of paracord about 3’ long and tie a loop into one end, then, pulling the other in through the loop and cinch down the tarp to prevent it from becoming unraveled.

In the field I basically reverse the processes. Untie everything and make sure you keep up with your cordage. Pull the wool blanket off the tarp and onto the ground and set up your tarp in any configuration you choose. Use your 12’ of paracord as a ridge line or anything else you might need to complete your setup. Next, unfold the two contractor bags and place them as the floor of your tarp. Next, it may take you a little time, but you can begin to set up your bedding by inflating your inflatable pool float. Place the wool blanket on it and fold it in half. This will allow you to wrap up in the wool blanket later when you need to. After this you can address the pillows by either filling your pillow case with debris or inflating your arm floaties. This took me about 30 minutes to get everything set up how I wanted, the longest part being inflating the floats.

That is the end for this blog. In a variety of Dave Canterbury videos he talks about how, "A sign of a great woodsmen is their ability to sleep good in the woods." I hope that this blog can help you achieve that. Next week we will be ending this series with a review of a pocket tent. You wont want to miss it. As always feel free to comment, share this blog, and check back next week for a new one. Follow me on Facebook: @BPackBushcraft and on Twitter @BPackBushCraft. Until next time, keep those fires burning and put another log on for me.

Pitch the Tent and Use a Tarp: Easy Tarp Set Ups for Beginners

I’m going to let everyone in on a little secret. I don’t like tents. The only advantage I can see they provide is bug proofing, and there are other ways around that. The water proof floor does more harm than good during the rain, because the tent leaks onto the floor. The head height is awful, and I just feel smothered in a tent, even with the door flap open, which defeats the bug proof barrier. Since my last disaster in a tent, long story; another blog, I have chosen to use tarps. Setting up a tarp is like setting up a tent. A tent goes up one way and most are the same. A tarp can have a variety of different set ups and each can require specific resources or settings to do, and some are better than other depending on the circumstances (weather, hammocks, fires etc). Now before you try to go and crawl back into that tent let me show you some of these set ups, and prove to you it isn’t that bad. Now that we have our squared up tarps, it’s time to learn some set ups. A tarp set up is just that, a way in which your tarp is to be set up. But they become a little more than that if you know more than one set up.

Today I am going to show you 4 different set ups and explain what each one would be the best suited for, but before I get to that I want to show you what we will be working with today. Besides your square 8x8 tarp that we made last week, click here if you missed out, we will also be working with 6 tent stakes with 3’ of bank line on each. The stakes will secure my tarp to the ground making a ridge, helping it sheet off the water and give me more room inside. Choose black or metal stakes. Don’t get those ultra-light ones; they bend easily. Dave Canterbury has stated that the plastics are more durable, and I would agree however Walmart doesn’t carry them so neither do I.

When cordage is mentioned during shelter making, it typically refers to ridge lines. Ridge lines, are a cordage running between 2 points, typically trees, by being tied off. A ridge line’s job is to give the tarp support in making a peak. Most tarp set ups use a ridge line, which leads us into the two knots I used with my ridge line. The Siberian hitch (or witch) knot and the Trucker’s Hitch. The Siberian Hitch Knot, SHK, is a mooring knot, meaning that it will hold around the tree truck and not let go until undone. The Trucker’s Hitch is a tightening knot, used to make my ridge line tauter. I will explain about how to do these knots later but I recommend you watch someone do them. Cordage to use could be bank line or Para cord.

Now let’s start with my favorite. This set up is known as the “Plow” or “Plow Point”, the name comes from its resemblance to a plow once the shelter has be made. This shelter is one of my favorites for the amount of floor space, head and height clearance, but most importantly no ridge line.  As you start with tarp shelters, ridge lines can become a tiring chore to accomplish due to finding trees adequately spaced apart. However for the “Plow” all that is need is 1 tree, preferably with a fork. To start you want to place one tent stake through any corner grommet and place that into the fork in the tree. If you don’t have one, like in my yard, then tying a loop onto the tree will work fine as well. Just something that will hold the tent stake in place. Next you want to take the diagonal grommet in the corner and pull it taut. Place a tent stake into this garment and then into the ground. Remember to place the tent stake at a 45 degree angle instead of 90. The other two corners are to also be pulled taut then staked the same way as the last. Once done, you can crawl in and start putting your sleeping system into place. It is also great for surprise rainstorms. I can put this configuration up in in about 1 min. This is a great first set up to know. The disadvantages would be that you may not have a floor, which can be a pain if the ground is damp. Also it can only be done with a square tarp, although I would bet that using a rectangle wouldn’t affect it too much, but I haven’t tried.

Moving on to the next set up, this one is known as a “fly”. A fly is when then tarp is raised off the ground. This can be good for hammocks or used as a sunshade. The advantages for this one are nice and breezy, can adjust the amount of head room to almost standing height if you wanted, and is as simple as working with a clothes line. First you will need to set up a ridge line, like I described earlier. Next you want to take the tarp and place it over the ridge line until it is equal on both sides. Next you want to stake out each corner, you will have to use the cordage on the tent stakes to get it taut enough. It may take a few minutes and adjustments to be constructed properly. However, once completed you have a nice place to work out of either the sun or rain. Disadvantages would be lack of floor, and the breeze if you were trying to stay warm.

 Now working off this design we can make another set up. Similar to a pup tent, you can lower the ridge line and instead of stakes place large rocks on the corners and middle grommets to hold your tarp in place. This will get you a more contained space making it easier to heat up and maintain that body heat. Also if you forget, lose, or break your tent stakes you aren’t completely up the creek. You can use a rectangle tarp in this configuration as well. Also you could turn it diagonal and stake out two opposite corners, tie off the other
two and make a diamond. Great for hammocks, especially when it rains. Disadvantages are no floor and very little head room. Remember anywhere you sleep outside, with or without a floor needs some kind of spacing object to get your body 4 inches off the ground when compressed. This will prevent your body heat from leaving you and going into the ground. Leaves would work the best if you didn’t bring anything else. I have other ideas too, but that’s another blog

Last one is the “Open C” It is called this due to when looking at the finished product from the side it resembles a C. I know, crazy stuff. However, it can be a great set up to learn. It has 3 parts, the floor, the ceiling, and the wall. Each part uses lengths of the tarp differently and can change depending on the circumstances. To start though, you’ll want to make a ridge line, and throw about 1/3 over it. Make sure that you have about 1/3 flat on the ground. Stake in right underneath the ridge line or as close to that as you can. Next go to a side grommet and stake it where your floor stops and wall begins, again or close to that. Finally you will want to use a little extra cordage and stake off the two corner grommets and pull them out until the roof is taut and has the pitch you want. Adjustments can make this shelter really powerful. For instance bringing the roof in more can help hold in heat from a fire or lowering the ridge line allows you to make a “Pup Tent” with the floor. The disadvantages are that it can have a bad draft depending on the set up and rain can come in also with a bad set up.

This blog was a joy to write and I hope you enjoyed it too. Tarps cost less that 10 bucks, even for a
good one, and if you modify it the way I showed you in my last blog you can use even more set ups. In the future I’ll show you all some more, but this is a good start. Next week we will be going over items to make your shelter better, plus an easy way to store it all. As always feel free to comment, share this blog, and check back next week for a new one. Follow me on Facebook: @BPackBushcraft and on Twitter @BPackBushCraft. Until next time, keep those fires burning and put another log on for me.