BC Crew Shelter Building

6

6shooter

Joined
Sep 12, 2009
Messages
1,268
A couple of weeks ago Munky88, Switchblade61, Bushman5, and myself got together for a hike and some kicks in the bush. We decided to do some bushwacking and build a shelter at our usual stomping grounds in North Vancouver. Pictures are courtesy of Switchblade61.

The basic frame
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Getting the waterproofing on. We used a couple of different types of bark(mostly cedar, Munky stripped a ton of bark off of a downed cedar nearby), skunk cabbage leaves, moss, and dirt:
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Switchblade61's Kabar Johnson Adventure Potbelly was the hit of the day. A super cool blade, awesome chopper, and comfortable to use, it was making the rounds throughout the day:
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A couple more shots of the waterproofing, with Munky88 and myself in the background
:EDIT: Who wants to play spot the Bushman in the second pic?:D:
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A shot of the inside. It was a pretty decent sized shelter, enough room for two:
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Bushman5 getting a little fire going with some fatwood he found on the hike in:
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And a team knife shot:
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All in all a fun day in the bush. The weather was nice, and we got plenty o' knife time in:thumbup:
 
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awesome pics man, looks like a great time out there. Next time im out that way I'll have to hit you guys up. :thumbup:
 
Looks like a nice shelter. Nice to have one in the area you regularely hike at in case you really need it.
 
Fonly said:
awesome pics man, looks like a great time out there. Next time im out that way I'll have to hit you guys up. :thumbup:
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For sure dude. There was talk of a big meet up some time earlier this year. Nothing ever came of it, but it'd be cool to get something going close to the border and have an inter-provincial gathering:thumbup:

LMT66 said:
Looks like a nice shelter. Nice to have one in the area you regularely hike at in case you really need it.
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It's not too far of a hike in to get to the shelter, so it likely won't see any emergency use, but it'd be cool to do an overnighter in it. It'd also be cool to get a whole network of shelter built in the area:D
 
6shooter said:
For sure dude. There was talk of a big meet up some time earlier this year. Nothing ever came of it, but it'd be cool to get something going close to the border and have an inter-provincial gathering:thumbup:
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This Sir sounds like a fantastic plan, would Tumbler Ridge area be pushing it for you guys?
 
Awesome. Woodsmen getting out in the woods and having some fun. Way to goes you guys.

Bryan
 
The Peace region is definitely a hike from the lower mainland, but I've been thinking about taking a road trip next summer high enough up to see the Northern lights. Can you guys see em from where you are? I'm taking a British Columbia geography course right now, and it just makes me want to explore the places I haven't been.
 
6shooter said:
The Peace region is definitely a hike from the lower mainland, but I've been thinking about taking a road trip next summer high enough up to see the Northern lights. Can you guys see em from where you are? I'm taking a British Columbia geography course right now, and it just makes me want to explore the places I haven't been.
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Ohhh yeah:thumbup:


Vibrant greens my friend, its certainly something. We will have to figure something out, its not fair for you guys to travel too far, but if its something you guys can get out of it, it would certainly be cool.

That said, there are some great spots to go in Northern Alberta, I have a few favorites where no-one really bugs ya, which is nice.
 
Can't speak for anyone else obviously, but I'd love to get up and see the Northern Lights next summer. We'll get a discussion going some time closer to next spring/summer and see who we can get in and work out the details :thumbup:
 
Very cool guys. I love the pic with all the blades. It really gives me some perspective on the size of the Potbelly ! It's nice to see a hawk, I have a few of those in the closet also. Nice shelter.
:thumbup::)
 
Great pics by switchblade61! thanks for posting 6shooter! :thumbup:

GREAT gathering that day......the TIME and ENERGY it took to build that one man shelter REALLY highlights why debris type shelters ARE NOT suitable for emergency shelters here in the WET COAST of BC.

In an emergency or unexpected situ here in BC, the TARP rules. Its quick to set up (takes seconds), is 100% waterproof, and uses little energy to set up. Combine it with a little fire or candle and you can warm up quickly.

I did revisit the shelter last week, after they 300mm of rain we had....the shelter, while dry in most of it, does need MUCH more work.........more bark layers to keep rain out.......

I will say this though, a tiny little fire, and i was sweating under that shelter, and thats with the massive opening.......
 
I love how whenever someone posts pictures of BC, you can really see the water soaking through everything. Freakin' rain... freakin' flooded basement. Argh. I love BC... but seriously. Stop being so wet.

Nice pics.
 
6shooter said:
A couple more shots of the waterproofing, with Munky88 and myself in the background
:EDIT: Who wants to play spot the Bushman in the second pic?:D:
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Waterproofing! thats the shelter I put together a year ago for the Rat cutlery A-frame contest.
A west coast varriant with bark instead of leafs.
you people clearly have little respect for fine architecture. Philistines.

And damn it again Bushman, preaching on and on about tarps being the savior.
Blasphemy, real men go into the woods unprepared and construct everything entirely of natural foraged materials.
During construction we simply repel the rain with awesome, and shiney black spandex shirts.
now back into exile with you before you make somebody mad!
 
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Bushman5 said:
GREAT gathering that day......the TIME and ENERGY it took to build that one man shelter REALLY highlights why debris type shelters ARE NOT suitable for emergency shelters here in the WET COAST of BC.

In an emergency or unexpected situ here in BC, the TARP rules. Its quick to set up (takes seconds), is 100% waterproof, and uses little energy to set up. Combine it with a little fire or candle and you can warm up quickly.
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True that. While it was a pretty decent sized shelter, way bigger than necessary for one person, the amount of time necessary for a single person to construct something like that would be huge. Right now it'd be a little bit easier, at least at lower elevations, as the large leaf maples around here are dumping massive leaves that would be great for waterproofing, but any other time if year, there isn't a whole lot of stuff like that available. Always good to have some sort of ready-made waterproofing available, I almost always have an AMK heatsheet and the thicker emergency blankets with the grommets on the side. Set one up as a tarp, and use the other as a groundsheet/blanket, and get a small fire going and it'll generate a huge amount of heat.
 
I know of some outstanding remote areas in and around McBride B.C. that my crew and I usually hike/camp/hunt in..I dont know how remote you guys would want to be but the option is there.
 
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