bacpacboy has been bugging me to camp out in our mini super shelter since day one and he's on March Break this week so he's been out there playing every day. When my day off from work rolled around, and I asked him what he wanted to do, he said "Can we go camping in the backyard?" Sure! The weatherman predicted that at least 15cm of snow and temperatures as low as -30C with sustained high winds would roll in overnight, so this bacpacmama put the kibosh on sleeping outside, but we would make a day of it, and move one step closer to that goal.

Here's a little youtube video showing our progress:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oj48psn4gxE

I wanted this to be more than just a little fun in the backyard. The idea behind this shelter has been that bacpacboy has the lead on building it, and we're using (mostly) just what he carries in his hug-a-tree day hike kit. In other words: no tools were injured during this bug-out. (He does carry a SAK in his kit, and we used it to cut our paracord and lashings. He's also fascinated with axes and hatchets right now, so we're using a hatchet to strip greenery off pine and cedar branches.) Otherwise, I'm trying to mostly only use/do what he can manage on his own - just like he'd have to if he ever has to really use that survival kit of his.

The original lean-to we built a week ago was just a simple tripod, with a juniper bush ridge beam lashed to our spruce tree, some pine and juniper bows, all covered with a plastic sheet. It held up ok, but had the plastic got some holes in it and it wasn't going make it through an impending winter storm. We've scavenged what we could from the neighbourhood, which is still recovering from December's ice storm, so we're now moving out further to find shelter building materials. Because we were in the middle of a temporary thaw that day, the big question for bacpacboy this time around, was whether to take the sled or the wagon. He chose to leave them both at home, which resulted in lots of mileage on his boots but very few new branches to work with.


Prototype backyard lean-to from a week ago

It was a gorgeous day - the first in what felt like forever that we didn't need to bundle up to go outside. Puddles were forming all over the backyard, but we were set up on the driest patch, so we repositioned a little bit to try and block a little more of the wind. Then we adjusted all the beams, retied all the lashings and reinforced the foot holds with a little ice and snow. Then we hung a thermal casualty blanket as the back wall, and covered the whole thing with the plastic sheet.

Key Gear: Paracord (and various pieces of rope), thermal casualty blanket, clear plastic painter's drop sheet, ax, SAK Camper







The Bough Bed
We started making a bough bed, and covered it with a black garbage bag, a thick fleece blanket and a wool blanket. Not good enough for sleeping, but nice for a day camp.

Key Gear: black garbage bag moisture barrier, fleece blanket padding, wool blanket/poncho for warmth