The shelter must be waterproof and on a hike trip be the extreme in lightness and compactness for the sake of easy carrying. Light weight tents of clever design can now be secured from any outfitter; or tent making at home is feasible and offers so much opportunity for the expression of individual ideas that sooner or later the outdoor man will try a hand at fashioning the ideal shelter. Exclusively for the use of the hiker the simplest of tent forms will answer.
A rectangular piece of sheeting of fine texture, size 7 by 9 feet and waterproofed by the paraffine process will serve very well as a roof, pitched leanto style or stretched over rope ridge or poles as a wedge or “A” tent. Its ends may be closed by thatching with browse and a cozy fire built in front. It makes the simplest cloth shelter known and the cloth has a variety of uses such as a poncho, pack cloth, floor cloth or sleeping bag cover. Going a step farther in construction one can make the ends also of cloth and then one has a regular leanto whose principles of construction are as old as the hills whence it originated. There is no more efficient cloth shelter for all kinds of weather no matter how elaborately it may be constructed.
One must not regard the shelter feature of the leanto as its chief recommendation for its adaptability to perfect heating puts it above any other tent. The old fashioned reflecting bread baker of our forefathers which was set up near the open flames of the fire place was an efficient appliance and one which is again coming into popularity to replace the Dutch oven and ash cake methods of baking. The work is done by the reflecting surfaces--the angles of the top and bottom throwing the heat to the middle. This same principle is employed in the shelter tent however with only one reflecting surface (the slanting roof) throwing the heat from the front fire directly onto the bed. Other advantages of the tent are:--its lightness and its availability for use as a general pack cloth about camp or on the trail. It is the best tent for snow work and wintering if one is driven to a cloth contrivance at all at this time of the year without a stove.
The shelter cloth may be slung at any angle and best by means of a rope ridge thus saving pole cutting. The corners are staked out, using two-foot pegs which are pointed with a sharp axe. With the open side pitched to leeward one gets perfect ventilation and warmth. A rousing fire is required and one for all night means hard labor since many large logs are necessary for use on a chilly night. Since so much wood is necessary naturally this type is best adapted to wooded districts. In the woods dampness is nearly always present even in summer days. This probably does not always lower the temperature so much as it increases the humidity of the air. Build the fire with the back log reflector, placing it about four to six feet from the tent opening. Heat intensity lessens, the greater the distance between the fire and the tent.