Shelter in a deciduous forest

[xxguitarist]

Well, assuming you have plenty of pine type trees is nice, but in this area it is not always the case, as I realized while mountain biking today.
I'm looking for some input on two scinereos-

-Spring/summer/early fall, where the leaves are still green & on the branches

-fall/ early spring/ maybe even a warm winter night, leaves are on the ground, probably somewhat rotten.

What would you use to construct a weathertight shelter here, assuming you had a solid knife, but no materials such as a tarp?

Thanks!

 

[ironraven]

Build a debris shelter exactly as you would with conifers. Build your tripod and add vertical supports down the sides. You need to find enough branch ends that you can interlace them to make something solid enough to start putting leaves on. If have something like cattails, the greenery from them will work well; so does laying down raspberry canes. Bark works to. Once you have a layer that is able to hold the leaves and other debris, start adding it on.

It shoudl be fairly weather proof. Not as watertight as you might hope, but light rain and wind you'll be ok.

 

[DaleW]

Build a debris shelter exactly as you would with conifers. ....

...It shoudl be fairly weather proof. Not as watertight as you might hope, but light rain and wind you'll be ok.

That's where the garbage bag or space blanet in your PSK comes in handy-- put it on the bottom where it will reflect the heat of the fire back to you and pile the debris on top.

 

[hollowdweller]

I'd look for a rock ledge or some other sort of natural shelter.

Not finding that if you could find a tree toppled over and it was high enough just remove enough bottom branches to where you could get under it. (make sure you don't destabilize it) and then stack branches on one side and then cover with leaf litter.

 

[Guntotin_fool]

carry some sort of ltwt tarp or sheeting.

 

[Stryker D]

It's pretty destructive and time consuming but you could build a wagwam and cover it with either live or dead bark.

 

[xxguitarist]

Thanks guys, obviously one would hope to have a space blanket or similar with them, and if this mountain biking location was far from trails that get walked (very)frequently, i'd have one.. as is, i bring a knife, whistle, cell phone, and some basic stuff to fix my bike/tires.
anyways, input was valuable.. i just needed some reassurance that leaves would be useful enough on top of some framing!

 

[zman308]

Leaves on top of or in between some framing. Also mud or sod on top of some framing. Great for snow not so great for heavy rain.