Building a makeshift camping site in an old bluff shelter

civil_war22 · Feb 13, 2020

We have a bluff shelter at moms house. Went this weekend with my brother, and a friend, I wasn’t able to do any of the lifting, but did use the saw to cut the timbers for the front wall. We used cane to sort of mask it from sight, it’s on a old shut down road that mom owns. The university already dug it, and about several other shelters on the same bluff line. We built a wall on the front from fresh trees, lashed them together, placed poles for stability, haven’t finished the back. We’re going to do a raised floor to keep off the bottom of the ground, and moisture. Also make a window, on the side, door up front, and a place to put a tiny wood stove with a flue out of the wall. All I’ve got to do now is bring the Rigid 20v lithium ion cordless to drill the wood together, also going to lay a pipe along the bottom for the water that leaks off the wall to run it out the outside. There’s room for two cots, stove, and a small foldable table. It’s super sturdy right now but the boards drilled to it will shore it up perfectly. We built another one on my uncles property that’s 20x20, this one is 11x 5x 8 foot tall. I planned on laying some wood up top for a roof, and put a moisture barrier on the top that we have left over from when moms house got hit by a tornado. She’s also got some 18’ long by 2’ wide cedar slats we were going to use on the inside to seal in the cracks to keep the warmth in.