Lean To in the Cohutta Wilderness

n2wilderness · Jan 25, 2011

I went out with a friend to the Cohutta Wilderness in Georgia this past weekend. Ended up staying out from Friday night to Monday morning. Temperatures ranged from the 40s to high 20s. The goal was to build my first lean to and it was mostly a success.

The only issue I had with the shelter was the temperature in the back of the shelter. The temperature was really warm toward the front but the back was chilly with a draft. It was still warmer than it was outside but the shelter didn't seem to trap the warmth from the fire like I expected it to. Is that normal?

The fire was built about 3 feet from the front of shelter so I wonder if that is typical in order to get warmth in the entire shelter??

Tools used: Fat Bastard Knife (aka- The Woodchuck), Sawvivor, Paracord

Tim the Slugman · Jan 25, 2011

Cool pics !!!! I camp in the Cohutta wma all the time. my favorite place to practice bushcraft.

H-Minus · Jan 26, 2011

Maybe a fire reflector behind the fireplace would reflect the heat more efficiently back towards the shelter. Not essential during the warmer months, but should be standard procedure during the winter.Just my humble 2 cents.

n2wilderness · Jan 26, 2011

H-Minus said:
Maybe a fire reflector behind the fireplace would reflect the heat more efficiently back towards the shelter. Not essential during the warmer months, but should be standard procedure during the winter.Just my humble 2 cents.

There were quite a few large/thin rocks from a nearby creek that we used...

H-Minus · Jan 26, 2011

My bad!! I think your venture was a total success due to the fact that you know that despite the nights being less than confortable they were not life threatening. I think that constitutes "survival". Thanks for sharing your cool project and picks!! H-minus

rdgarbo · Jan 26, 2011

Cohutta is a great place to hike and for bushcraft. Did you see any bears?

kgd · Jan 26, 2011

Great looking shelter. My first though was that you probably could have beefed up the ground padding by several fold over what is shown in the second and third pics but then I noticed later you were using a ground pad so its all good. Looks like a fun outing and great exercise in shelter building.

Kismet · Jan 26, 2011

You could have put much more browse in the back INSIDE the lean-to to contain your body heat, and as pointed out, some more on the ground and then on the outside back of the shelter. Really, there's no way to get an even heat distribution from a heat source outside one side of a lean-to. The best you can do is to insulate the unheated side to help you and your body retain the heat you generate as your body burns calories.

Nice set up.

n2wilderness · Jan 26, 2011

No bears! We didn't see any wildlife with the exception of the damage the wild pigs have done to the trail. It was a great time and we expect to frequent our off the trail destination again in a couple months.

n2wilderness · Jan 26, 2011

Kismet said:
You could have put much more browse in the back INSIDE the lean-to to contain your body heat, and as pointed out, some more on the ground and then on the outside back of the shelter. Really, there's no way to get an even heat distribution from a heat source outside one side of a lean-to. The best you can do is to insulate the unheated side to help you and your body retain the heat you generate as your body burns calories.

Nice set up.

I think one of the weakest areas of the shelter was the sides. It was not part of the initial structure but more of an after thought. We did put up some branches, shrub and leaves but it wasn't as good as the back.

Thank you all for the great feedback. It was a fun experience but it definitely took a lot more time and calories than I expected.