We had a Boy Scout severely injured when a tree fell on his tent in the middle of the night.
A co-worker of mine many years ago was out in the woods (a neighbor’s property where he had permission to cull some dead trees for firewood) with his wife and two young kids. He spotted a tree that someone had notched to fell but it had hung up on the branches of an adjacent tree and looked dangerously precarious. He decided he should go over and properly drop it so it would not pose a danger to people in the wood lot. Just as he was a few yards from the trunk it suddenly shifted, kicked back over the notched side and fell on him, breaking his back. His tiny wife and the kids (8 and 11) managed to get the tree off him and drag him to their truck to get him to the hospital. He was in a body cast for nearly a year and lost 1.5 inches of his 6’ 4" original height. Also had to stop being a construction electrician, but was fortunately a sharp enough guy to be able to transition to a desk job as an estimator. I remember what happened to him whenever I spot a leaning tree in a forest and give it wide berth.
Willowleaf.,… That’s why they get the name “widdow maker”. Dosen’t say much for the charactor of the person that notched the tree creating the hazzard.
Not even a walk in the park is risk free. This from the Washington Post, 6/28/19:
40 miles away, at my place, it was a gently breezy day, perfect for a walk in the park. Her family may think they need to rename the park: Lucky Run, Not So Lucky Walk, Park
~~Chip
OK, who got all the trees cheesed off?
Trees are not our friends… but bushes are.
@Overstreet said:
@grayhawk said:
Trees are not our friends… but bushes are.Trees are find…it’s gravity.
As long as they don’t grow higher than our power lines…
I never thought much about them when on the water, but I will now. When choosing a campsite I always check for potential widowmakers. Once I was hiking with two others. We were about about 20 feet apart walking up a hill when a tree came down on the trail between the first and second. I was last and didn’t notice it coming down until the last second.
I run trails in the woods on Cape Cod and constantly evaluate large overhanging branches and leaning trees.
When I’m not watching for coyotes or ticks, that is…
@string said:
They aren’t called widow makers for nothing. In windy conditions , I say away from them , on land or water
Never go hiking on a real windy day in the forest, you never know what’s lurking above!
I’ve hiked in forests in every condition we have. As I tell my wife when she says be careful when I leave for a paddling trip, I’m driving I-85 to get there. Same with hiking.
The probability of checking out in either activity is tiny compared to any highway.
@string said:
I’ve hiked in forests in every condition we have. As I tell my wife when she says be careful when I leave for a paddling trip, I’m driving I-85 to get there. Same with hiking.
The probability of checking out in either activity is tiny compared to any highway.
I was just thinking along the same lines. I’d rather live and enjoy than worry about low probability accidents.
That doesn’t mean I’m careless though. Quite the opposite. Many habits I’ve formed keep me safer than average without conscious effort.
Situational awareness, not to coin a phrase.
I took my mom backpacking for her first time ( i was 31 and she was 54) on a trail in the south end of Yellowstone, where we passed along a wide river bottom with huge lodgepole pines grouped along it. We saw many that had fallen and at one point while we were stopping for a water and snack break she commented that those big trees must make quite an impressive sound when they topple. No sooner had she said that when one about 50 yards from us emitted a loud crack and crashed to the ground. Yes, it was VERY impressive.
Tempting fate?
@string said:
Tempting fate?
Just enjoying a nice shady spot to cool off and take a break. But it made me wonder how long you’d have to wait to see that tree fall. That dark hulk in the first pic below is the bottom of an even bigger tree that must be close to 5 feet thick at the base. It made me wonder what these big old trees have “seen” during their lifetimes.
That’s a beautiful spot.