The first task you tackle in a survival situation should be building a shelter, because it’ll offer protection from hypothermia—one of the primary threats in a wilderness emergency. A well-built shelter will provide a good night’s rest and create a hub for your camp, helping you stay in place while waiting for search-and-rescue teams.
Additionally, building a shelter allows you to remain warm, sleep well, and avoid getting sick, so you’ll have the energy to tackle wild-food-gathering activities. No matter how warm the weather is during the day, or how practiced you are in survival basics, you should first and foremost take the time to appropriately address your shelter before you do anything else.
Forms of Heat Loss
The key to wilderness survival is creating a shelter that will reduce all types of heat loss.
When our bodies are warmer than the surrounding environment, we lose heat through radiation. A good shelter will reduce this form of heat loss through insulation. You can achieve this by piling lots of dry leaves, grasses, and other debris inside the shelter, and by using lots of debris as part of the roof.
Heat loss through occurs when heat transfers from one solid to another. When you sit or lie on the ground, heat transfers from your body into the colder ground. To reduce this form of heat loss, you’ll need to create a thermal break
