People always come by my worksite at Camp Brotherhood and admire my Wiki-Up, so I thought I would share the construction guidelines. I would really enjoy seeing more creative work sites, so don’t be shy about trying this!

You need a sense of humor, a tarp that is 9 to10 ft. wide and up to 12 ft. long, some rope and tie-down nails, a small ax, and a conveniently located alder stand. Knowing knots helps, but is not necessary.

Find yourself some trees that meet the specifications below. You will need a total of 9 poles. Cut each to length and trim off extra branches. 

A: 2 at 14.5 feet with a crotch at one end. (Do NOT trim the crotch branch off!)

B: 2 at 13.5 feet

C: 2 at 10.25 feet

D: 3 at 13 feet for the cross beams that hold the tarp.

Bind together the B and C poles about 2 feet from the top of the C pole. These form the cross pieces that hold the peak of the roof and the center D pole. Place these two “X’s” so their feet are 10 ft. apart. Put a D pole across the top after you have raised them. Tie down one end of a rope to the ground about 4 ft. away from the X. Throw the line over one end of the X at the top, string it along the cross beam (D pole), through the other X, and down to the ground on the other side.

Pin that end down, too, and hang a bit of pink or orange tape on it so no one runs into it.

Take an A pole, put its back foot next to B’s back foot and tie it to C at about chest height, with the crotch facing up. Repeat with the other side.

Center the shorter width of the tarp on the remaining cross beams (D poles), and secure in three or four places along the length of the D poles .  Now place one cross beam, D pole, in the A crotches, fling the tarp over the top beam, and let it down the back side of the X’s. Tie the back beam, D pole, to B pole at the height you prefer.

There you go–you are now ready to decorate your Wiki-Up. Warning: the first year I had the Wiki-Up at Camp Brotherhood, I “had” to buy a 200 pound stone to hold the front end down when the wind blew hard. Bring extra bits of line to tie whatever flaps in the wind. I recommend you set this up at home first, so you look like you know what you are doing when you get to camp. I have used the same trees for three years. It seems that if you store them in a dry spot out of the wind, they don’t deteriorate too much.