Easter Longhouse.

The Adventurer, Vernon Wade

Vernon was born in the Pacific Northwest and still lives in the shadow of Mt. Hood, near the small town where he grew up. Vernon has spent decades wandering the hills, hunting mushrooms, camping and riding motorcycles into the remotest nooks and crannies to be found in the region.

We had family up for an Easter Bunny BBQ Saturday. It was the first gathering we’d hosted since The Contagion cast its shadow across the land. We had all been vaccinated but it still felt weird, invitng people, even family, into our home after two years of isolation.

It had been unseasonably cold, with rain and snow all week and more predicted, so I constructed a longhouse with room for all of us to sit around the fire, sheltered from the elements, It worked great. Here is how I did it:

First, I set up two 12′ tipis facing each other.

I peeled back the covers & removed the front poles. The 4 pole base in the middle was splayed out to drop it and the ridge poles slid into place. Then the center base was brought back up to hieght by moving the poles closer together. I needed help to do this as they need to be lifted in pairs or the poles will walk.

I used four 12′ x 15′ canvas dropcloths to cover the center section, between the tipis at the ends.

After tying a pole on each end of the dropcloths and a third in the center, we rolled them up like a scroll, lifted the panels into place and unfurled them to complete the shelter.