By Paul Scheiter
There is a detrimental and recurring theme I have noticed in myself as well as some of my friends that study wilderness survival. I am referring to the tendency we have to rush through the learning of any particular skill and unintentionally rob ourselves of valuable learning opportunities. I noticed this error in myself when I was thinking about my experiences building primitive shelters.
Almost every time I have slept in a debris hut, the weather conditions have been mild and extremely forgiving. Only once in the past have I stayed in a debris hut during the winter, and I recall it being an uncomfortable and sleepless night. The true mistake I made was not building a poor shelter, but rather that I didn’t get back out there to fix it, and do the process over again until it was perfect. Essentially I quit at the very moment when the best learning was about to take place. Realizing this, I decided to recreate the learning experience and share the process with you. Below you will find pictures and descriptions of my most recent debris hut. My girlfriend and I built it over the course of a day and then slept in it the night of Christmas Eve… in my opinion it was a perfect way to wake up Christmas morning. This debris hut was far more comfortable than my last, but still left some improvements to be desired. I plan to fix it shortly and then share the next phase of my learning process with you again in another article next month. Enjoy!