In this episode of the Primitive Camping and Bushcraft Podcast, host Chris Speir dives deep into the importance of shelter while in the wild, emphasizing the versatility of tarps and hammocks in creating effective microclimates. Chris shares personal experiences and practical tips on using various tarp configurations, hammock setups, and shelter considerations for different weather conditions, particularly in South Mississippi's unpredictable climate.
Overview:
This episode focuses on shelter as a critical component of outdoor survival and comfort, particularly when camping in primitive conditions. Chris walks listeners through various shelter-building methods, highlighting the flexibility of tarps and hammocks. He explains how these essential tools can be used to create shelters that provide protection from rain, wind, and extreme temperatures. The episode also explores personal experiences, including camping trips and testing lay-flat hammocks, as well as practical advice on shelter setups for different climates. Chris also discusses the value of proper clothing as the first layer of shelter and shares insights from his book Primitive Camping & Bushcraft, with a focus on tarp versatility and multi-functional uses.
Key Points:
Resources Mentioned:
Welcome back to the Primitive Camping and Bushcraft Podcast. My name is Chris Speir, and I'm gonna be your guide to enjoying the great outdoors.
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When you head out into the woods, besides a knife or a pot or some kind of metal container or water filter or anything like that, what is one of the considerations that you're always gonna have with you?(...) For me, it's gonna be a tarp. I'm always gonna have like a double D or DD three by three tarp or some variation of that kind of tarp.(...) And all that's gonna do is allow you to make a real quick expedient shelter in the event that the weather turns bad real quick. And in South Mississippi, it rains all the time. And it can be, you can go from a blistering hot day to a soaking wet afternoon. And you know, if you're out in the woods or you're out about hiking or anything like that, you're gonna want some kind of shelter.
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A lot of folks will take like a emergency poncho or something of that effect, like a military poncho or a emergency poncho. You know, the real cheap, the real lightweight, you can bring them with you. But that's not really the extent of what we're talking about here today. Today, we're gonna be discussing and diving into shelter.
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And so while there's an entire chapter dedicated to this shelter thing, starting on page 76 of the book, it's crucial to note the importance of carrying some items for coverage or protection from the elements. So shelter is all about making a microclimate. And the first stage of shelter is the clothing that you have on. And people just really don't get that. They really don't understand that clothing is your first layer of shelter. And whatever you wear out into the woods with you, that is your first layer of shelter. So if you go out in a cold environment,
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the clothing that you are wearing is usually gonna be what? Long sleeve shirts, long sleeve pants, long jackets or heavy jackets, you know, you're gonna layer it on. So that is gonna be the first step in your environment, your micro environment or your microclimate.
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So from that point, you know, you're gonna build another kind of shelter system around you. And you've seen all these survival shows where they go out and they build these, you know, what gets me is that, about the, we're going on a tangent real quick, but about all these survival shows, they go out there and they build these debris huts and they show off their massive survival skills.(...) And then whenever they get out there and they're actually doing their survival, ain't nobody living in a debris hut, they make these elaborate cabins and these big tarp systems and stuff like that. And nobody makes a debris hut. Nobody lives in one.
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But anyway, that was my rant. But so if you got the appropriate clothing for the situation in which you are going to participate in outdoor activities, let's put it that way.
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If you're wearing the appropriate clothing, then you should be able to make a shelter that is appropriate to the environment that you're gonna be in.(...) It's common sense. It really is common sense, guys. I mean, there's no ifs, or buts about it, but shelter is something that you need to have with you, some form of shelter to go along with your clothing. And in my case, I use the double D three by three tarp. And I take that with me all the time. And if I have a backpack and I'm heading through the woods, I have a tarp with me. The reason why is because one,(...) you can collect rainwater off of it. You can drink rainwater. Two, it creates an environment of shade. And down here in South Mississippi, it's hot. You can create some shade.(...) And then you can also create a cover for you so that you can block the wind and you can also block the rain. And then once again, circle it back to collect water. So it's a multi-talented tool, or a multifaceted tool that you can use to go with you in the woods. Now, the tarp, I take the tarp with me all the time, but what I also put in here is that you can even use a contractor gray garbage bag. And that can be used as an emergency poncho. And it can also double up your shelter, your first layer shelter, your clothing. You can put a garbage bag on and it'll actually help you stay warm. It'll help you retain the warmth.
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And if you got a black plastic garbage bag and you're out in the sun, it's actually going to warm you up faster. So you can actually, you know, multi-purpose that shelter right there. But during all the way, you know, in South Mississippi, I use a hammock. A hammock is gonna be my shelter. It's gonna be my form of shelter combined with a tarp throughout all four seasons in South Mississippi.(...) Now, I know in a lot of places in the country, in the world, you're not gonna use a hammock all year round. I get it. I understand that, but you can if you have like under quilts and stuff like that, but that's a whole topic. We'll do a whole episode just on hammocks and tents and stuff like that. But I prefer hammocks. And I just went on a recent trip here in the past couple of weeks about down the river, kayaking down the river. The video is gonna be posted later on about that on my spare outdoors YouTube page. But the kayaking trip was awesome. It was in the middle of August. We were testing out, me and my friend, Dave, we were testing out these lay flat hammocks from Nightcat. I don't know if y'all have ever seen the brand Nightcat or anything, or you ever seen lay flat hammocks. It was my first time, my first experience actually getting to use a lay flat hammock. And it was actually pretty cool. But I can tell you this right now, in the middle of August in South Mississippi, it's hot. It is very hot. It was miserable that night. There was no airflow. We didn't have a breeze. No wind was blowing whatsoever. And all I could think about all night was going down and laying in the creek and sleeping in the creek because it was so hot. And I mean, there's certain places in the world you don't do that, but Mississippi you can.
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So back to the hammocks,
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depending on where you are in the world, you can use an under quilt. Under quilts, they prevent warmth from escaping via convective cooling.
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And it's the same concept. If you were sleeping on the ground, you have to have some kind of mad or something like that with an R value in it to keep you from getting zapped from the cold. The dirt, the earth will actually zap all the warmth out of your body.
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It's the same concept with a hammock. It's gonna take out all your body heat if you just lay there without some kind of under quilt or anything like that in a hammock. But hammocks are amazing.
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You can,(...) with these lay flat hammocks, you can actually use it as a tent. You can actually use it as a hammock. It lays flat, man. It was my first time, like I said, well ago, but it was actually a pretty good experience with the hammock. I can't wait till it cools off to use it again.(...) But that brings up the next one of shelters, a tent.
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A lot of people use tents. A lot of people don't.
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I am one that I do not personally, I do not like sleeping on the ground.
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And the reason for that is whenever I get out there camping and without a ground pad or anything, to that effect, to sleep on, I can't, it kills me. It hurts my hips and my back, and I mean, it just hurts everything. So that's why I choose to use a hammock. And I don't wake up with any kind of back pain or hip pain or anything like that. But also, tents, sorry,(...) tents, they do provide an excellent shelter. And if you have to, and you choose that way, you choose that route, then tents will provide an excellent shelter for you. And there's no doubt about it. And the Arctic and stuff like that, people use tents. I get it, I understand. You ain't gonna use a hammock in the middle of the Arctic or in the snow or the very cold stuff. But the problem with tents is that
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condensation will start to build up. The more you're in your tent, the more you're breathing in your tent and it's cold, and the warmness of your breath,(...) combined with the coldness of the actual air, it will start to condensate on your tent and start building up humidity in your tent. So with me, I have a lot of camera gear that I usually take with me whenever I go out to the woods filming, stuff like that, that it will actually, it will start dripping and stuff will start getting wet and stuff like that. Now, it typically don't do it a lot, but I mean, it does do it. And if you have more than one person in the tent, that is going to double the amount, the speed at which it does do that.
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Tents do tend to weigh more than hammocks though.
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And I find that I've never had a tent that weighed less than a hammock that I was carrying. And I've used one man bivvy tents. I've used tunnel tents. I've used just a little pop-up tents. All kinds of tents. I've used them all guys. And these things are never lighter than a hammock.(...) And so, and I know some of you is like, come on, dude, get off the hammock thing. And I'm telling you, man, in South Mississippi, the hammocks are the best option. They are the best option. Now, a lot of people don't do it. Some people do.
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And like I was saying, one of the biggest downfalls to a tent is the condensation buildup. When you exhale inside a zipped up tent, the warm moisture meets the cool air around it and it condenses on the walls.(...) And it actually inhibits or encourages the growth of mold. And so if you're gonna be there over several days, heating up during the day, cooling off at night, and all this moisture getting in your tent, heating up during the day, cooling off, it's gonna actually increase the possibility that mold grows into your tent.
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So, but down here in South Mississippi, and I can't say this enough, that a tarp is usually all you need for a shelter. And a lot of people, when I'm talking, I wanna talk about primitive camping and bushcraft in the book. Now, I'm not talking about just going out into the woods and practicing survival. I'm talking about this whole book is geared towards going out into the woods and enjoying your time. And it's talking about what kind of gear, it's just trying to get you the creative juices of your brain flowing so you can go out into the woods,
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spend several days, enjoy your time, pack up and come back out of the woods.
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You don't have to carry 14 million different things and you don't have to have the latest and greatest gadgets. In this book, I've got products that I bought from Walmart all the way up to products I bought from Amazon to different high-end stores, sports ones, outdoors, bass pro shops, stuff like Cabela's. I mean, I've got products that I've bought all over the world in here. And just to show that you don't have to have all these things or you can pick anything that you want.(...) But when it comes to shelter,(...) to be honest with you, a tarp is going to be one of your best options(...) when it comes to shelter. It really is because they're so versatile. You can change them, you can configure them in so many different ways. And I mean, look on the TV show alone.
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Let's be realistic here. Every person brings a tarp. You ever notice that? If you watch the TV show alone, everybody has a tarp and their shelter is based off of having a tarp. So they will build some kind of a shelter, but their tarp is always going to be the roof. Their tarp is always going to be the centerpiece of their A-frame or whatever. And they build the frame, they build all this stuff, but then they put that tarp on there. And it's always, always, always going to have a tarp. And so that right there should tell you how important a tarp is as far as shelter. Now, let's get into this.(...) You could go down to Harbor Freight.
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You can go down to the hardware store. You can go to Walmart. You can go to any of the big box stores or these bargain stores. It doesn't matter. You can buy a tarp.
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Not all tarps are created equal. Not all tarps are the same. A tarp that is created like the double D tarp is created to be lightweight. It's created to have several attachment points. It's created to have tie outs for guidelines. It's created to have tie outs for ridgelines.(...) And that tarp has like 15 attachment points to it that allows you to set it up in so many different configurations. It's crazy. And that's what makes that tarp so versatile.
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I've done a video, and I discussed it here in the book as well, where I set my tarp up in five different configurations.
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I set it up as an A-frame. I set it up as a diamond fly. I set it up as a plow point. I set it up as an Adirondack shelter. I've set it up as--
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what was the other one?
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I think that was five on there. Was it five?
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But anyway, you could set it up in so many different ways. It's crazy that--(...) let's go this way. Here we go. You got the A-frame, the diamond fly, the A-frame, the diamond fly, the Adirondack,(...) the--
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well,(...) heck.(...) The A-frame, the diamond fly, the Adirondack, the plow point, and-- dum-dum-dum. That's it. That's one, two, three, four.
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Oh, the lean-to. The most simple of them all. I'm seeing her looking at it on this face, the lean-to. So you got the lean-to, the Adirondack, the A-frame, the diamond fly, and here we go again. So it's just the most versatile way to start a shelter system. And you can build a shelter off of it in any compatibility, any way that you can really want to do it. And like I said, going back to the TV show alone, it's there. And it is the basis of how to make a shelter. Now, these things, the Double D has-- and there's all kinds of different lightweight tarps out there. You can make your own. I've done a video on making your own lightweight tarps out of a king-sized bed sheet. You can do it with any kind of cotton, stuff like that. It's going to cost you a little bit. You got to have some napkins, some silicone, stuff like that. But it can be done. You can do it. You can make anything waterproof.
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And you can also apply it to your gear and your shoes and stuff like that. But these tarps are not the same as the ones that you get from Harbor Freight. Harbor Freight, they're going to be bulky, heavy,(...) and cheaper(...) as far as quality, cheaper quality. Now, the Double D 3x3 is going to be extremely expensive compared to a Harbor Freight comparative-sized tarp. But this thing is niched down for a specific purpose, for specific tasks.(...) And that's why I like this tarp so much, is that it is so versatile. Now, you could do it with your own. You can make your own grommets. You can make your own tie outs. You can do whatever you want to do. You could do it. There's no rules. You could do whatever you want to do. But I think you can get these things on sale for like $60, something like that. It's just a real versatile, real versatile shelter system.
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Now, when we get back over to shelter, in the main chapter of shelter, you're going to have to learn some stuff. And we're going to go over it. We already did a 30,000 foot flyover of the whole book page by page or chapter by chapter. But now we're starting to slow down. And we're going to go in section by section, like thought by thought. And so right here is shelter. And this is called-- this is in your gear section. Now, to go along with your shelter, you're going to want some kind of-- like a mattress pad, something like that to sleep on if you prefer laying on the ground. If not, you bring a hammock.
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Another thing, too, if you're going to have a complete system for your bed, for your camp, you'll want some kind of a chair, something like that.(...) And all these things fit into your shelter system. And shelter is--(...) shelter is number one top priority. You want to get into the woods. And if something comes up, you want to have shelter to protect you from the rain, from the wind, from the snow, from the elements. And then after that, you concentrate on your food and water.(...) After that, fire to keep you warm. You get it near your shelter, where your shelter can actually be what? A microclimate.
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So your first layer of clothing is your first layer. Your first layer of shelter is your clothing. And then you have your second layer of shelter, which is a tarp or whatever you can be able to fashion or bring with you, such as a tent or something of that effect.(...) So anyway, that is shelter for today. And we talked over the shelter. We talked over hammocks and tents and stuff like that. That's just little two pages out of the book, Primitive Camping and Bushcraft. If you want to know more, and you want to spark conversation, head on over to Facebook and join the Facebook group, Primitive Camping and Bushcraft. Now this group is not for like a popularity contest. This group is about this book. It is Primitive Camping and Bushcraft. It's all about being able to talk with other like-minded individuals to compare experiences and to see how other people do the same kind of stuff that you would do whenever you go into the woods. It's a learning experience.(...) So all right, that's going to be it for this video or this podcast.
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And I will see you in the next one. God bless you.