[PAPA G]

when i was a kid, me and other guys would make a shelter that we termed the dugout.

after finding a suitiable slope, we would dig out a large notch in the hillside, square it up, than using large branches stripped, we fashioned a frame, then covered it over with other branches and leaves for a roof.

anyone else do stuff like this as a kid???

[big shrek]

I was a Boy Scout, so the term Dugout, for me, means a canoe-type boat made from a tree.


But at Ft. Pickens National Park, at Pensacola Beach, Florida...there was once a shelter that was on top of Battery Langdon. Went out there today after it re-opened to the public (Hurricane Ivan totally jacked the place in Sep. 2004)...it had been wiped out. The concrete had separated in three places and the whole thing had fallen in. I don't know whether park officials dynamited it or the storm did it, but it's flat as a pancake now.

Originally in the early 80's it was a 5' deep space hollowed out from under a 4' thick slab of concrete (originally built as a Protective Cap for the Civil War era Fort), then up until '95 it was widened to a 20'x20' room for partying by various unmentioned locals Good times were had by all...and because it was difficult to climb to, even the Park Rangers didn't bother anyone up there as long as they were quiet.

It was also a great place to watch the two fireworks shows every Fourth of July...you'd get on top of the concrete slab and look North at 9pm for the Pensacola show in the bay...and then at 9:30 you'd turn East for the Pensacola Beach show...it was PERFECT

It's a shame, but as we get older...more & more things from our Youth go away...all that's left are the good memories.

[Metronome]

We sure did, of course had someone seen us digging a hole in the dirt we would get yelled at and grounded, but we sure had free reign over the snow piles we could make! The hillsides were (back then) still wide open and wild, and we had a few lean-to forts scattered around (because kids were allowed to go hike alone) and there was even an abandoned mine, but the entrance only went as far as our bravery held out (which was about 25 yards )

[larmus]

haha... good times of our spent youth... i lived half a mile from the ortega mountains and the coranado national forest in cali. us kids would go into the rocky hills and make forts between the boulders or under them if we could find good spots. There was that "one perfect spot" though, it was a ledge over looking our "battle feilds" it was inclosed on three sides by trees and bushes and you had to crawl into it on your bellies, it was awesome... we also had a cave about two miles or so away, but like metronomes mine, we only got about 25feet or so before we could here the errie noises... lol, its funny now to think back to then... ahhh...

[thrillbilly]

I built so many dugouts, improved caves, treehouses, and other shelters I should have been in a carpenter's union.

[SwedeSteve]

As kids we always had some kind of fort or two from which to do battle from. Dug out underground forts, tree forts, etc. What great days !! Far away from discerning parental eyes, we saved the Free Worl time after time.

[Blackrock]

My Dad built a dugout garage with a bulldozer by cutting a slot in a hill and covering it over with logs, a layer of old hay and then dirt. he then put doors in the front, power for lights and it was nice and cool in the summer and warm in the winter.

I also know of a Hippy and his wife and kid who built one back in 1974 and they lived in it for over a year while he ran a portable sawmill back in the hills.

[ArkansasHunter]

We were engineers when we were kids. Some of my fondest memorys were of building forts and tree house's.

I noticed that my son and his many little friends when they were kids did'nt have the imagination we had as kids, so I showed them how to build serveral forts, covered fox holes and 1 tree house.

I had fun doing that and I was a hero LOL I even showed them how to play Army.

[Big Dog]

During my childhood years, all the roads that had banks more than three to four feet high were riddled with dugout 'caves' that generations of kids had dug - I reckon we were all burrowing rodents in a prior life......
Sometimes we'd have a 'cave-in', but they weren't far in the bank, so little danger - just got us dirty. Those with more red clay content lasted a long time!

[Deersniper]

The old Dugout. Brings back good old times. We called them forts. We would build one in a tree

[Lobo0311]

Oh fun times, bein a kid diggin in the upper banks of the Kansas river. O f course mom wasnt to hot about the idea of havin all that mud everywhere but, "boys will be boys"..............What great ways to spend the summer days of childhood.

[sea_chicken1]

We used to build tree forts all over when I was growing up. It helped that there was alot of construction going on we could always get everything we needed from scrap piles. There was a field we used to dig in alot and we had a pretty elaberate tunnel system going with about 6 or 7 rooms.