You might find yourself outdoors with no tent or any gear to keep you sheltered from the weather. This can happen to anyone that ventures in the outdoor, you might need to make a shelter for many reason: a storm, the night or simply being lost. It isn’t hard to make a shelter that will at least protect you, shelter you from the wind to keep you warm.
Natural Shelters
There is no need to spend precious time making a hand-made shelter when nature provides some great natural shelters. Of course the catch it finding one. To make things worse, you usually need a shelter when the visibility is low because of heavy rains or darkness. Look around for a natural shelter and if there doesn’t seem to be one anywhere near, then do one of the fallowing :
Trees: with a large diameter trunk offer good protection from rain and a little bit from wind. In case of lightning do not get to close to the trunk for your safety.
Caves: These are most likely the best shelters be careful of flash floods, getting lost in the cave and also animals that might live in it.
Cliffs: Cliffs are great to block strong winds, but they rarely offer good protection against rain. Sometime there are some little holes that could protect you even more.
Making a Natural Shelter with other gear
Technically, when hiking or exploring you always have some basic equipments, having them can simplify the task dramatically:
Covers: Can block wind, keep you warm
Ropes: Allow you to attach pieces of wood together to make a shelter. I used to do that for fun when I was a kid. Ropes are really what can make a shelter a good one, and hold well together.
Poles: If you have Hiking poles, they serve for support of the shelter. But you can use wood as well, although it may be hard to find some to do this job.
Fire starter: The whole point of making a shelter is to keep you warm and protected; having a fire can help you do that. Click here to learn to make a fire effectively
Natural/man-made Shelter example
Making a V shelter is the easiest to make and is quick also.
- First think what kind of shelter you need
- Choose a location for the shelter that seems to best
- Collect anything that may help to build a shelter : Fallen tree branches, pine needles, dry leaves, small sticks and moss.
- Place all of your items in a location you choose for the shelter.
- Select a long branch to serve as your main support beam. It should be about 1-½ to 2 times your height.
- Start Building the structure of the shelter with the larger branches. Use rocks ( and ropes if you have them) to make sure the structure stays in place.
- Put some smaller branches around the core to make a solid framework with not to much holes in it.
- Place some soft materials in the shelter to lie down with a minimal comfort ( Moss, leafs)
Cover the framework with a layer of the dry leaves, pine needles, moss, sticks and everything else you found earlier.
(Optional): You can place some materials at the front of the entrance, so you can cover it once you are inside.
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Frank is a Traveler that loves nature (hiking, camping, backpacking).
You can learn more about me in the About the Author section of the site!
P-S : Make sure to leave comments to the articles! 
Hi Frank,
Thanks for the valuable information about outdoors shelter. The pictures with worthy descriptions are really stunning. It is protected from rain and storm. It a great learn to every body…….
I like the Natural/man-made Shelter example. May come in handy one day. It’s always good to have a plan C. Cheers!