Shelter Building
With a few tools and basic knot-tying skills, you can build a simple shelter to help protect yourself from the elements when you are in the outdoors.
Simple Steps for a Simple Shelter
- Pick an area with 2 good trees or objects to tie a line to
- Check the area for dead trees that could fall on you
- Clear the area of sticks and small rocks that could make sleeping uncomfortable
- Tie your Taught line with your paracord
- First tie your static hitch
- Then tie your movable truckers hitch
- Drape tarp over the taught line
- Tie a double hitch to rocks and then to the corners of your tarp to hold down the ends (if you do not have eyelets on your tarp you can use a ghost hitch — see below)
- Move the rocks until the walls of your shelter are tight
- If needed, add more rocks to the corners to make sure they don’t move even in high winds
Equipment Needed
- Tarp
- Paracord
- Knife, if your paracord needs to be cut to length
- YOUR BIG BRAIN!!!
Two Important Knots to Know
- Single Half Hitch and Double Half Hitch. Half hitches are quick easy knots that work great to tie one thing to another.
- Truckers Hitch. A truckers hitch is a great knot for setting up a very tight line. Great for making a shelter or tying down kayaks.
How to Make a Ghost Hitch
Fig. 1. First, fill the corner of your tarp with gravel or a small rock.
Fig. 2. Then tie it together with a hitch.
Different Shelters for Different Occasions
Some shelters work better than others for certain situations.
Shelters like the arrowhead are great in the wind and can be set up against a tree to prevent any wind from making it in.
Greenbelly.co is a great site to view some more information on these shelters.