Build A Lean-To

Build A Lean-To

One activity that is great to do while camping is to build a man-made shelter.  This human endeavor of building a structure together as a team results in gaining satisfaction in working with your bare hands and completing a task with others.  One structure that is tailor-made for this purpose is the building of a lean-to. 

A Lean-to is essentially is a one sided structure that is designed to keep off the rain.  It is fairly easy to create the structure although it will take the better part of a half day to complete a structure of reasonable size.  Here, are some basic tips on how to build a primitive lean-to structure: 

1.  Place a long piece of wood between the forks of two trees. 

2.  Place a number of long pieces at a 45 degree angled slope against the long piece of wood. 

3.  From here, tie or bend in and out a number of pieces of wood horizontally along the pieces in step 2.  These should go all the way from the top to the bottom. 

4.  Get large branch leaves and cover the crosswork of wood with these branches.  The idea is to create enough foliage to keep rainwater out from underneath. 

5.  Consider adding sidewalls to the structure in the same way the 45 degree wall was built, but instead build these walls fully upright. 

As you can quickly tell, the plan for creating a lean-to is fairly straight-forward.  The challenge is putting it together and trying it out.  This challenge be great to build unity with your camping group and also gives you more respect for your past ancestors who lived in similar structures.

*If you want a list of things to do when it rains, take a look at Things To Do In A Tent.