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Thanks guys,
What I really took away from the experience was that even with good skills it's going to suck if the weather is horrible. It would have been much easier with a siltarp for a shelter. We looked at the forecast and just knew it was going to be a miserable wet experience, with over 2 inches of rain in the forecast. This was a pretty good test for a minimalist outing. One of the things we wanted to do was build a good sturdy lean to shelter, which we did. Since we had no sleeping bags, pads, blankets, we knew we would be sleeping close to the fire which is why it was so long. The fire took an enormous amount of wood which was all soaking wet. So the fire upkeep was a constant chore trying to dry things out so they would burn.
We wanted to make the fire closer to the shelter, but even with it 6ft way, it dried the pine needles out. Then, every time the wind gusted the needles fell on us. We were constantly turning from side to side trying to dry out. Laying on a couple of water soaked logs for a bed. The only problem was all the hair like slivers that came off the pine, we were digging them out for days afterwords.
At one point I fell asleep so close to the fire my canteen melted. My jacket shell was to hot to touch and my buttons were burning me. I had a blister on my knee about the size of 1/2 an orange from falling asleep so close to the fire. About every 20 minutes, one of us would throw another large log on the fire which would suck the heat right out. Then as it dried out, and we nodded off, and the fire was huge again. I have no doubt with another day we would have been fine improving the shelter sides, roof, etc...
If we had a 10x10 tarp and some 550 cord we would have been golden. Plenty of outings that way and its really no big deal. The biggest thing I took away from the experience was a tarp is worth its weight to carry (1lb). We could have made a different shelter type, and it would have been easier on us. But I had never built a large shelter like that before. Even for a day hike, I throw in a means to make fire, a way to get to some dry wood, large knife or hatchet, headlamp, ramen, maybe a space blanket. It was a great experience and the best part is all my expensive gear didn't need to be cleaned. Hope to read about more experiences.
What I really took away from the experience was that even with good skills it's going to suck if the weather is horrible. It would have been much easier with a siltarp for a shelter. We looked at the forecast and just knew it was going to be a miserable wet experience, with over 2 inches of rain in the forecast. This was a pretty good test for a minimalist outing. One of the things we wanted to do was build a good sturdy lean to shelter, which we did. Since we had no sleeping bags, pads, blankets, we knew we would be sleeping close to the fire which is why it was so long. The fire took an enormous amount of wood which was all soaking wet. So the fire upkeep was a constant chore trying to dry things out so they would burn.
We wanted to make the fire closer to the shelter, but even with it 6ft way, it dried the pine needles out. Then, every time the wind gusted the needles fell on us. We were constantly turning from side to side trying to dry out. Laying on a couple of water soaked logs for a bed. The only problem was all the hair like slivers that came off the pine, we were digging them out for days afterwords.
At one point I fell asleep so close to the fire my canteen melted. My jacket shell was to hot to touch and my buttons were burning me. I had a blister on my knee about the size of 1/2 an orange from falling asleep so close to the fire. About every 20 minutes, one of us would throw another large log on the fire which would suck the heat right out. Then as it dried out, and we nodded off, and the fire was huge again. I have no doubt with another day we would have been fine improving the shelter sides, roof, etc...
If we had a 10x10 tarp and some 550 cord we would have been golden. Plenty of outings that way and its really no big deal. The biggest thing I took away from the experience was a tarp is worth its weight to carry (1lb). We could have made a different shelter type, and it would have been easier on us. But I had never built a large shelter like that before. Even for a day hike, I throw in a means to make fire, a way to get to some dry wood, large knife or hatchet, headlamp, ramen, maybe a space blanket. It was a great experience and the best part is all my expensive gear didn't need to be cleaned. Hope to read about more experiences.
