on canoe trips in Northern Minnesota and the Quetico
wilderness park in Canada i have been finding more
"brush" shelters lately..this one was on a large island
on Snow Bay in the BWCA park..i assume with the new
survival shows on TV that campers are trying out their
skills.


thats the view looking down on it from the small
hill it was built against--


and a view looking into it..
someone put alot of work into this.hauling some good
size logs and cutting others to fit..there were downed
trees in the area so i was relived to see that live ones
were not cut to make a "try out" shelter..i have seen
shelters made right in the main camp from cut down
and chopped up pines..
i was windbound and had moved my tent far back into
the woods to get out of the storm that was blowing
across the point that the main camp was on..going
back farther to find wood i ran across this.....
which brings up this question..first of all i want
to be found in a survival situation..if i make a
shelter after swamping my canoe and going ashore with
just the gear in my Ditch Vest i don't think i would
do it this far back in the woods..but i don't want to
be so close to shore that i'm in the wind and rain..
i know an answer would be "in between" but sometimes
you need to get away from shore for shelter..how would
i spot and signal help??..what first came to mind was
hanging flagging tape and my flasher to attract
attention..mulling to over i thought leaving a spare
whistle and a prepaired note--" i need help-blow
whistle i am sheltered in woods"--or something like
that....any ideas--



while this may be nothing too fisherman in a powerboat
for a solo paddler it's a bad day on the water..