Join in the 2024 Fieldcraft Challenge

The 2024 Fieldcraft Challenge is on! The challenge is simple - one night each month for the next twelve months, sleep outdoors. You chose the date, you chose the location, and you chose the gear.

Whether you have a back yard, a patio, a deck, or even only a balcony; whether you chose a tent, a tarp shelter, a hammock, or even cowboy style, sleep outdoors.

Each month, take a photograph of your sleep shelter or tent, and post it on the Fieldcraft Academy social media platform.

What's the prize? Nothing. No prize. Just bragging rights. And knowing that you did something that very few people are willing to do. You pushed beyond your comfort zone, and re-connected with the outdoors.

Be sure to sign up for the Fieldcraft Academy quarterly newsletter "fieldnotes" to receive information on upcoming courses and presentations.

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January 2024 Fieldcraft Challenge shelter

For the first month of the 2024 Fieldcraft Challenge, I chose to use an "alpha shelter". The name "alpha shelter" is given to this set-up by Soldiers serving on Special Forces Operational Detachments - known as "A-Teams", the phonetic for the letter "A" being "alpha".
The alpha shelter is constructed from a military issue poncho, supported with two sets of collapsable poles, forming an elongated dome. It is one of the most popular shelter set-ups, mainly due to the ease of setting up, and the high degree of protection from the weather.

The Alpha Shelter
The snow was cleared from the area where the shelter is set up, with a tarp was placed directly on the ground. Next, an emergency blanket was placed with the foil side up, and a thermal pad placed o top of that, then an Army issue closed-cell foam sleeping mat. The resulting arrangement prevented any conduction of body heat away from my sleeping bag into the ground. The poncho was lined with a mylar "spaceblanket" to prevent the loss of heat thru the poncho alone, and to provide a barrier to condensation on the inside of the poncho.

The Set Up
The edge of the ground tarp was folded up under the poncho to prevent rain water and snow from running into the shelter and getting the sleep system wet. The resulting set-up remained dry and comfortable throughout the night, with the temperatures dropping into the high 20s to low 30s with a mix of rain and snow through the night. There was a small amount of condensation on the inner side of the poncho, but it ran down between the mylar blanet and the poncho, and out the edge of the poncho to the outer ground.


First night of the Fieldcraft Challenge completed 23 Jan 2024

February 2024 Fieldcraft Challenge shelter

For the second month of the 2024 Fieldcraft Challenge, I chose to set up a traditional "bushcraft" raised bed shelter constructed of 2 tripods and a tarp over a ridge pole. The conditions were predicted to be windy with scattered showers, which is exactly what the weather decided to throw at this shelter. Not only did the wind not affect the set-up, but it remained dry and warm when the ends of the tarp were secured to the legs of the tripod.

The Bushcraft Shelter

The shelter is setup with two tripods approximately six feet in height, with the legs spread to have the ridge pole at a height of about 5 feet. The bed was formed by placing two 6 mil thick "contractor grade" plastic drum liners over two poles approximately 7 feet in length, and stretching the bed section over the tripod legs.

The Set Up Gravity forces the side poles of the bedding to the lowest point of the tripods, and the width of the bags being the limiting factor on how low the bed slides down the tripod legs. Once again, I used the thermal pad and the Army issue foam sleeping mat to insulate the underside of the bed, and to prevent heat loss. In the woods, I would stuff grass and leaf material in the dead space of the bags to increase the insulation on the underside of the bed.

Once the bed section is in place, a ridge pole is placed across the top of the 2 tripods, and a 10 X 10 tarp was placed over the ridge pole. The tarp is staked down at the corners and in the middle just outside the legs of the tripods. In windy conditions, keep the tarp as close to the tripod legs as possible so that the tarp can be secured to the tripods along the length of the trap.

The open ends of the tarp stake were brought together and staked down with just enough room to get into the shelter and get comfortable in the bed. Staking the tarp down and securing the ends kept it dry inside and prevented heat loss from the wind from blowing thru. It was a warm and comfortable night of sleep.


Second night of the Fieldcraft Challenge completed 27 Feb 2024