- Joined
- Feb 28, 2007
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RangerJoe and I did a little overnighter to make reflector fire shelters last night. It was pretty balmy out all night at 10oC. It did rain for short little periods.
The reflector shelters, orientated length-ways parallel to the predominate wind direction, were working perfectly for most of the night. I made mine from a grabbit-brand emergency blanket (the thicker ones) and then extended it a bit with a heat sheet tied to the grommets of the blanket & sealed with some duct tape. It was very toasty and warm. In fact, I couldn't get into the 'pizza oven' until my long fire had settled down after just getting it going.
Then at 3:00 am a bout of light rain came on and the shelter did a good job of protecting me. However, after the rain stopped, the wind shifted completely driving the smoke into the shelter. I sort of skooted to the back of my shelter, abandoning the raised platform I build and sliding my pad and the very end. I then had to poke my head out the side and turn my back away from the front to keep the smoke away. Ha ha....Thats when the trouble started. When I moved my pad and blanket to the back, my body weight caused the debris to shift forward. After about 15minutes, the leaves caught on fire. It sure wakes you up in a hurry when you shelter lights on fire! I used to agonize about this in the past, but Rick always maintained that when you are sleeping in a fire-based shelter at night you'll know quick enough when something goes awry. I was able to skoot out and stamp out the leaves but not before it rent a nice big hole in my front of my emergency blanket. Ah well, they are cheap.
After sweeping any stray leaves out, I went back to sleep and managed to get a few more hours of decent shut eye before packing out in the morning. I didn't include the "drama" on the video because I get tired of the safety-police remarks on gets from youtube.
All in all it was fun and a good learning experience. Next time I do an overnighter, I'm going the old fashion route and taking a tarp and sleeping bag with me!
[youtube]gZxdea1ycDQ[/youtube]
We had a communal dinner located away from our shelters.
Then at 7:30 am this morning we packed up and headed out. My wife had dropped us off the previous night and picked us up at the parking lot at 8:30 am.
The reflector shelters, orientated length-ways parallel to the predominate wind direction, were working perfectly for most of the night. I made mine from a grabbit-brand emergency blanket (the thicker ones) and then extended it a bit with a heat sheet tied to the grommets of the blanket & sealed with some duct tape. It was very toasty and warm. In fact, I couldn't get into the 'pizza oven' until my long fire had settled down after just getting it going.
Then at 3:00 am a bout of light rain came on and the shelter did a good job of protecting me. However, after the rain stopped, the wind shifted completely driving the smoke into the shelter. I sort of skooted to the back of my shelter, abandoning the raised platform I build and sliding my pad and the very end. I then had to poke my head out the side and turn my back away from the front to keep the smoke away. Ha ha....Thats when the trouble started. When I moved my pad and blanket to the back, my body weight caused the debris to shift forward. After about 15minutes, the leaves caught on fire. It sure wakes you up in a hurry when you shelter lights on fire! I used to agonize about this in the past, but Rick always maintained that when you are sleeping in a fire-based shelter at night you'll know quick enough when something goes awry. I was able to skoot out and stamp out the leaves but not before it rent a nice big hole in my front of my emergency blanket. Ah well, they are cheap.
After sweeping any stray leaves out, I went back to sleep and managed to get a few more hours of decent shut eye before packing out in the morning. I didn't include the "drama" on the video because I get tired of the safety-police remarks on gets from youtube.
All in all it was fun and a good learning experience. Next time I do an overnighter, I'm going the old fashion route and taking a tarp and sleeping bag with me!
[youtube]gZxdea1ycDQ[/youtube]
We had a communal dinner located away from our shelters.
Then at 7:30 am this morning we packed up and headed out. My wife had dropped us off the previous night and picked us up at the parking lot at 8:30 am.
:thumbup: