The car

[Mortblanc]

When did I say that? I have forgotten!

Anyway, I was right. I'm a freekin' genius!

All it takes is several nights with no sleep on top of an open faced shelter on the Application Trail while a bear circles just below you to convince you that all those "how to deal with a bear in the woods" instructions are crap.

Critters in the woods consider humans in sleeping bags tasty burritos.

I also, through practical experience, discovered early on that building a "bushcraft shelter" in adverse conditions is a waste. It is the reason our ancestors turned their shelters into huts and their huts into houses.

Better to look for shelter than try to build a shelter. The absolute best you can hope for is to find a sheltered spot to build your hovel and hunker down and pray for daylight.

Your automobile is windproof and water proof. Automobile seats are much more comfortable that lying on the frozen ground or wallowing in the mud. A "space blanket" over the seat backs and a tea light candle in a coffee tin on the floor, while you consider the merits of the cheap sleeping bag you bought, will be more warmth for a longer period than a campfire in front of a brush lean too.

Anyone that tells you that they had a pleasant and comfortable night in a brush hut with a foot of snow on the ground under and around them is being graded by some one for their attitude!