Wilderness Survival Priority 3: Seek Shelter

Seeking shelter is the third priority in any wilderness survival situation

Hypothermia, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke. All of these affect not only your health but also your ability to think clearly—and therefore your ability to survive.

The best way to avoid these medical problems is to be someplace safe and protected from the elements, which means staying warm and dry and out of the wind and rain.

That means you need shelter.

The clothes on your back

Shelter is all about insulation.

That means "shelter" includes what you are wearing.

Be sure to wear layers for warmth, dry clothes, nothing cotton, and some protection from wind and rain (rain jacket and pants or, at worse, a trash bag).

Rigging a shelter

The whole point of a shelter is insulation, and the two big enemies of you keeping warm are the wind and the ground—both of which will suck the heat right from your body—so remember, no matter what form of shelter you use:
Keep it out of the wind. Use natural wind-blocks, like the leeward side of hills, large boulders, or at least a tree (a live one; not a dead one, which can tip over in a storm).
Insulate the floor. Use sleeping pads if you have them, but put them on top of a bed of evergreen branches, pine needles, or dry leaves (all of which can substitute for a pad). The more insulation between you and the ground, the better off you'll be.
Keep your shelter as small as possible. Freeze-out veterans know all about this one. The smaller your shelter, the warmer it will be, since you will waste less collective body heat warming the air inside.

If you have a tent, you already have your shelter. Congratulations. Set it up somewhere out of the wind.

No tent? Use your emergency shelter—a ground cloth, poncho, or emergency blanket—along with rope and sticks for support (and stones as anchors to weigh down corners and edges) to make a simple A-frame or lean-to.

(You should have some form of emergency shelter, as it is on the 10 Essentials list, but if you do not, use layers of evergreen or leafy branches to make an old-school lean-to. Drafty, but better than nothing.)

Keep it close to the ground—and, again, somewhere out of the wind.

A gently sloping site with good drainage is important so you won't get as wet.

Near a water source is good for getting water—but be high enough above it that you won't get caught in a flash flood.

Mark the shelter with bright, unnatural colors (hopefully, Stew packed one of his loud Hawaiian shirts) so rescuers can more easily see it—from the air or the ground.

In winter, the best insulator around is the snow itself. Build a snow cave (essentially a lean-to packed all around with snow with a tiny opening and some air vents). If you don't know how, come on on the annual freeze-out trip (in Jan or Feb) and you will learn.

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