When I attended a portion of the CRROBS Tri-Country Course, I not only enjoyed hiking through fantastic forests which offered some of the best views and most interesting plants and animals I have ever seen, I also enjoyed learning wilderness tips from our experienced instructors.

For example, Michael, our group's Tico instructor from one of the remote towns near Piedras Blancas, loved pointing out which rainforest plant was used for what. Once, while we were hiking, he plucked a plant from its roots, touched the sappy stem to his tongue, and made a face which conveyed he found what he was looking for. He then handed it to me so that I could try. The plant's sap, as I found out in this taste test, has numbing properties which can be used to treat injuries. (My tongue felt numb for about 30 minutes.)

In addition to learning about the uses of the plants in the rainforest, our instructors taught us how to set-up a tarp. This was one of our group's first lessons, in which our team was challenged to work together to build their shelter. The instructors taught us the knots that are useful in constructing an A-Frame tent shelter. Below, I share this CRROBS Tri-Country lesson so that you too can make a lightweight shelter from a plastic tarp.

How to Make an A-Frame Tarp Shelter

Equipment

• 4 pieces of strong, thin cord about 4 feet long
• 1 piece of cord as long as your tarp is lengthwise
• One 10' x 10' plastic tarp (shelter)
• One 8' x 10' plastic tarp (ground sheet)

Setup Procedure

1. Tie each of the four corners of the tarp to pieces of a cord about 4 feet long. The best way to firmly attach a tarp corner to a piece of cord is by using the following knot:
   • Locate the corner of the tarp and bunch it together so it is long and skinny.
   • Fold the corner over the cord.
   • Loop the cord around the tarp by bringing the cord under the tarp, then all the way across the tarp.
   • Pull the cord up through the loop that forms and tighten by pulling both ends of the cord.
   • Tip: Once you have the four corners of the tarp attached to the cord, you should leave them in so that you do not have to tie them again. If you need to untie the corner from the cord, simply pull the tarp ends apart from each other to loosen the knot.

2. Secure a long piece of cord between two trees, trekking poles, or branches that you have firmly planted in the ground. The tarp will be draped over this line to form an A-Frame shelter.
   • Tie one end to the tree by using the climbing knots figure-8 follow through or bowline.
   • With the other end, you should form a 2-to-1 pulley system to help make the line taught. To do this, make a simple overhand knot in the cord to serve as the "pulley". Bring the line around the tree and through the loop. Then pull out the slack easily. After several wraps around the tree, tie the end of the cord back to itself or the tree using another overhand.

3. Place your ground cover down before you drape your tarp over it. To help keep water from running into the shelter from the ground, find four long, straight branches. Place the branch on top of the tarp near the tarp edge and roll the tarp once around it.
4. Drape the tarp over the line.
5. Secure the tarp to the ground. Use the pieces of cord which you attached to the corners to secure them to the ground. You can use an overhand knot to tie the cord to logs, stones, roots, or sticks you stake into the ground.

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