You arrive at camp and the first thing you see isn't the tent: it's the gateway. Two columns of bamboo or log, a crossbar on top, the unit's name hanging from it, everything tied with sisal and not a nail in sight. It marks where your team's territory begins — and, when it's well made, there's a real pride in walking under it.
Gateway, gate, arch: they are names for the same thing. It's a pioneering project — the art of building useful structures with poles and rope alone, joining everything by means of knots and lashings (the "stitches" that fasten one pole to another). If you want the overview of every possible project, see pioneering projects; if you want to drill each lashing on its own, go to basic lashings. Here we focus on a single project, start to finish: the entrance gateway.
This guide shows what material to use, which lashings go into each joint and how to raise the structure without it wobbling or falling. Data verified on 07/22/2026 from the official sources listed at the end.
What is a gateway and why does the unit need one?
The gateway is the entrance gate of the unit's area at the camp. In practice, it's a structure shaped like a gate — two columns standing and a bar crossed on top — that you pass through to enter the team's space. In the unit camping manuals, the guidance is that the area be marked off and have a gate built with pioneering, identified with the name of the unit or the club.
Notice that the key word is pioneering. The gateway is not a carpentry structure with nails: it's made of lashed poles. That's the charm — and the challenge. The requirement of the Pioneering honor asks precisely that the Pathfinder build camp furniture and structures using only lashings, without nails, screws or wire. The gateway is the project that brings almost all of that together in one place.
It also has the symbolic role, which is no small thing. The gate is the unit's calling card. It says "this is our home for these days," carries the name, sometimes the city and the club, and is usually the first thing an inspection team looks at during a Camporee. A firm gateway, with well-made lashings and true to plumb, says more about the team than any speech.
And it's the best field exercise there is, because it demands everything at once: measuring, cutting, choosing the right lashing for each joint, distributing tasks and lifting weight as a group. Nobody builds a gateway alone — and that's the point.
What material is a gateway made of?
There are three families of material: the poles (the skeleton), the rope (what holds it all together) and the tools (what cuts and digs).
The poles. Bamboo is the favorite: light, strong and handsome. Where there's no bamboo, use straight, dry logs from the wood available in your region. You'll need thick, long pieces for the uprights (the vertical columns) and for the crossbar on top, and thinner pieces for the diagonals and the finishing touches. Choose straight poles with no cracks — a cracked pole is a risk when it's time to put weight on it.
The rope. Sisal is the classic choice: cheap, with good grip (it doesn't slip when you pull it tight) and it holds firm. For the joints that carry weight, use thicker rope; for finishing and decoration, thin colored cords help the look. Avoid smooth nylon rope for the structural lashings, because it slides more. Bring rope to spare — there's always a shortage.
The tools. The basics you can't do without: a saw or handsaw to cut the poles to size, a machete for points and adjustments, a post-hole digger or spud bar to open the holes for the uprights, and a tape measure to measure and keep everything aligned. Bring gloves if you can — sisal rope chafes the hand.
A golden rule of pioneering: no nails, screws or wire. If the temptation hits to "just reinforce it with a little nail," stop. Besides spoiling the project and scoring lower in any evaluation, it's a sign that the lashing is loose — and the right move is to redo the lashing, not to cover it up.
Which lashings go into the gateway?
A lashing is the technique of joining two poles with rope. There are several, and the magic of a firm gateway lies in using the right one at each joint. Three do almost all the work.
Square lashing. It's the most important one in the gateway. It joins two poles that cross at a right angle (90 degrees) and that need to carry weight — it's the one that fastens the crossbar on top to the uprights. The name comes from the path the rope takes: turns around the two poles, alternating, and then "frapping" turns squeezing the bundle between them. Well made, it locks the angle and won't let the bar slide down.
Diagonal lashing. It's for poles that cross but tend to spring apart, like the diagonals you add to brace the gateway and keep it from swaying forward and back (this is what's called bracing — the hand that holds the structure in place). While the square keeps the right angle, the diagonal closes the gap and gives rigidity to the piece that's still wobbling.
Round lashing (or parallel). It's for joining two poles side by side, in the same direction — to splice and extend. If your bamboo isn't tall enough for the upright, you overlap two poles and join them with two round lashings, one at each end of the overlap, forming a taller column. That's how you gain height without one giant pole.
And the knot that stitches everything: the clove hitch. Practically every lashing begins and ends with it. It's a firm knot that doesn't slide sideways and tightens even more under tension — that's why it's the standard "starting point." If you master the clove hitch and these three lashings, you hold 90% of what a gateway asks for.
| Lashing | What it does in the gateway | Where it goes |
|---|---|---|
| Square | Join poles at a right angle that carry weight | Crossbar fastened to the uprights; horizontal bars |
| Diagonal | Brace poles that cross and tend to spring apart | Bracing diagonals (firmness) |
| Round / parallel | Splice two poles in the same direction to extend | Extension of the uprights and the masts |
| Clove hitch (knot) | Start and finish each lashing | In every lashing of the project |
If any of these still tangles in your hand, drill it beforehand in the backyard, not at camp. The basic lashings page shows the step by step of each knot calmly.
Read alsoPioneering: Camp Structures Built with RopeStep by step: from model to standing gateway
Nobody gets a gateway right by improvising on the spot. The path is always the same: plan, cut, lash on the ground and only then raise it.
1. Make the model. Before camp, build a small model with skewer sticks and string. It looks like play, but it's what reveals whether the design stands up, how many poles you need and where the diagonals go. A mistake in the model costs one stick; a mistake at camp costs an afternoon.
2. Sort and cut the poles. With the model in hand, measure and cut each piece to size: the two uprights, the crossbar, the diagonals and the finishing crosspieces. Lay everything out organized on the ground, each piece in its place, like a kit. Check the measurements with the tape so the two sides come out equal — a crooked gateway leaps to the eye.
3. Lash whatever you can with the structure lying down. This is the part that separates who has built a gateway before from who never has: assemble as much as possible with the structure on the ground. Fasten the crossbar to the uprights with square lashings, place the diagonals with diagonal lashings, make the splices with round lashings — all lying down, where you work comfortably and pull it tight. Lashing up there, in the air, is hard and dangerous.
4. Dig the holes for the uprights. Open the holes where the columns will go in, aligned and at the right distance measured with the tape. Dig deep — the shallower the hole, the more fragile the base and the greater the risk of the gateway toppling. A shallow hole is the number one cause of accidents with gateways.
5. Raise it with the team. With the structure ready and lying down, call enough people and raise it all together, fitting the uprights into the holes. Someone holds, someone checks the plumb (whether it's truly straight), someone steadies the base. Never do this with just two people — a gateway is heavy and the moment of raising it is the riskiest of all.
6. Set the base and finish. With the columns in the holes, tamp soil and stone tightly all around to lock them in. Check the plumb again, make the adjustments, tighten whatever came loose and only then hang the sign with the unit's name and the finishing touches. Push the gateway gently from every side: if it wobbles, go back and reinforce before opening the passage.
How to make sure the gateway won't fall?
The gateway is handsome, but it's also a heavy structure with people passing underneath all the time. Safety here isn't a detail — it's the first priority.
The upright is everything. Most accidents with gateways don't come from the loose lashing, but from the badly planted column. Deep hole, well-tamped soil and, if possible, stones wedging the base. Before anyone passes underneath, push the structure to every side and watch: if the base gives, it's not ready.
Raise it as a team and never in a hurry. The instant of hoisting the gateway is the most dangerous. Plenty of people, each with a clear role, and a leader coordinating the lift. Nobody under the structure while it's being raised or adjusted.
Beware of height and hanging weight. The taller the gateway, the more it wants to topple — and the more reinforcement (diagonals and base) it demands. Heavy signs, banners and decorations up high make this worse; balance it. A modest, firm gateway is worth far more than a monument that sways.
Redo the loose lashing, don't improvise. If a joint has slackened, undo it and redo it. It's the moment when the tired crew tends to "rig something up" with wire or a little nail — and that's exactly where the project turns into a risk. A well-made lashing tightens under weight; a bad lashing loosens.
Always with leadership nearby. Building a gateway is not an activity for a pair of Pathfinders alone. Ask for a counselor or instructor to be present, especially during the cutting of the poles (machete and saw) and during the raising. It's the difference between a good story and an accident.
What is rule, what changes by event, and why it exists
Much of the debate about the gateway comes from mixing three different things. It's worth separating them.
1. The official written rule. The unit camping manuals guide that the area be marked off and have a gate built with pioneering, identified with the name of the unit or the club. That's the general principle: the unit camp has a gate, and the gate is pioneering. There's no single mandatory project — there's no "official gateway of the South American Division" with fixed measurements.
2. The practice that changes by event — and who decides. The concrete requirements (size, style, whether decoration counts, how the gateway is scored in inspection) appear in the Guidelines Manual of each Camporee or camp, published by the event's organization — the Conference/Mission, the Union or the Division that runs it. They change from event to event and from year to year. Who decides what your gateway needs to have at that Camporee is the organization of that Camporee, not a fixed rule nor the club's taste. Before planning, read the year's event manual.
3. The educational principle. Why insist on pioneering, no nails, done as a group? Because the gateway is an exercise, not a civil-construction job. It teaches you to measure, to choose the right technique, to trust the lashing you made yourself and, above all, to build together. The nail would be faster — and for that very reason it's forbidden: the goal is the learning, not the shortcut.
A note for whoever is going to a Camporee (those big gatherings that bring together many clubs): a Camporee's gateway rules apply to that edition. In 2026, always confirm in the Guidelines Manual of the specific event you're going to take part in, because the theme, the dates and the structure requirements are remade for each edition. Don't copy the rule from an old Camporee thinking it still applies.
Why is the gateway the best project for the whole unit?
If you could choose a single pioneering project for a unit to do together, the gateway would be a great bet — and it's not for the looks.
It's because it forces the team to use almost the entire repertoire at once. You measure and plan (field math), cut and prepare material (tools with care), choose the right lashing for each joint (technique), distribute roles and lift weight as a group (teamwork). Few projects teach so much in one afternoon.
And it teaches a lesson that goes unnoticed: the structure only stands if each part plays its role. A badly planted upright brings down a perfect crossbar. A forgotten diagonal leaves everything wobbly no matter how beautiful the lashings up top are. It's the unit in miniature — each one holding up the other.
Start small. A first gateway doesn't need to be tall or full of decoration; it needs to be firm, straight and safe. Once the crew gets the hang of the square, the diagonal and the round, then you can dream of towers, bridges and more ambitious gates — the full overview is in pioneering projects. But every real pioneer began with a simple gate that didn't fall.