Wow, that would scare the heck out of me, glad all turned out ok
Wow, that would scare the heck out of me, glad all turned out ok
Glad to hear it was only a close call!
But it brings a few questions to mind that I feel people could benefit from. Forgive me if this is common knowledge, but I'm still somewhat of a newb. The truth is though, knowledge is power and asking the right questions can garner valuable knowledge.
1. What type of tree was it that broke and are they known to rot from the inside out?
2. What was the tree diameter?
3. Where did the break occur? At the base, at the webbing, etc...
4. Any other types of trees hangers should be aware of as potential risks?
5. Warning signs for an unsafe tree? (I'm betting this has definitely been answered before...)
I'm sure I could come up with more, but this is all I have time for ATM.
As I am planning my summer hikes this made me stop and think, glad he was not seriously hurt and everyone be careful out their
Sometimes I like to hike and think, And sometimes I just like to hike.
Hiking is'ent about waiting for the storm to pass its about learning to hike in the rain.
Glad he's OK. Yikes. I will have a small knife nearby from now on.
SkunkApe
http://skunkapeblog.com/
1. Not sure of the type of tree but the gound was sort of soft and damp which may have lead to premature rot.Originally Posted by Teegs
2. The tree at the point of break was about 6 to 7 inches in diameter. I've always heard 4" diameter minimum but of course that's assuming a healthy well rooted tree.
3. It broke about two feet from the base and yes my trusty Dutch Clip was still securely fastened to the tree as it lay next to me.
4. I always look for dead limbs (widowmakers) on the tree I'm hanging from. I also usually look for other dead trees in the general area with a potential to fall on me.
5. No leaves on the tree. I need to start following my own advice on that one.
Basically It was at the end of a long day with dusk approaching. The trees were perfectly spaced and although a bit small were more than adequate in my opinion. I simply just got careless and didn't give the trees a close enough inspection. Having said that I still may have hung from them. Other than not having leaves it looked pretty solid. There were no obvious rotted spots on the tree. My benchmark after that and will always be from here forward...does it have leaves.
Miguel/ Cat in the Hat
Leaves are definitely a good sign, but not infallible. I am having this giant oak tree branch cut out later today. This branch is as big as a lot of tree. It had no signs of disease or damage that I know of.
Glad you and your equipment escaped harm and are only left with a good story.
I missed that one by a few days. It also reinforces one of the Golden Rules of the trail....never camp near a road. Most criminals/thugs are too lazy to hike a few miles in the dark to commit a crime. I rarely even camped near a shelter and never in one...even in the Smokies (they were always full).
There was also an incident when I was at Fontana although I missed it because I stayed at the Hiker Inn. Seems like there was a young hiker who stayed several days at the Fontana Hilton shelter and was hassling people....especially young women. It culminated in him becoming drunk one night and threatening people with a knife. Sometime during the episode a girl was able to hide the knife and someone also called the police. When he discovered his knife was hidden he threatened to go get a gun and kill whoever hid it. Long story short...he spent the night in the Robbinsville slammer cooling his heels. His trail name was Lazy Susan but was quickly changed to Crazy Susan by the other hikers.As far as I know he is no longer on the trail.
In the immortal words of my dear old Mother..."For God's sake be careful!"
Miguel/ Cat in the Hat
At first it's scary, then you do a (Mental?) Happy dance cause you is still ALIVE!
It matters little what kind of tree, the one that fell on my regular spot in my back yard (I was at work so wasn't hanging that night) was a Black Locust, one of the sturdiest trees I know of, it's what they made fence posts out of "back in the day" & if hiking along & you see a wood fence post that is still standing AND sturdy, it's likely locust! Anyway, it broke off 15' from the ground, right across my site. I cut the top off with a electric saw, a 4" thick piece of wood took about 15 minutes to cut through with a new blade on a contractors grade Reciprocating saw. The site of the break is somewhat rotted, at a limb (I was shocked, never seen a black locust do THAT!) & it just went snap & crash!
So the take away story from these incidents: Be Extra careful where you hang, & look at all the trees in your area CLOSELY! In hind sight, I should have seen the locust's weak point, but I thought "It's a locust, they never break!"
When you have a backpack on, no matter where you are, you’re home.
PAIN is INEVITABLE. MISERY is OPTIONAL.
We have large trees just pull up from the roots and fall over. This usually happens when the earth is saturated by several days of rain followed by some wind. I haven't figured out a way to tell which trees are going to do this, but I am leary of any that lean a bit, figuring that they are good candidates.
Good idea, but what about winter, early spring and late fall? I like to keep 'em small ( the trees ) as possible to minimize the crush force if I pull one down. But the hard part is not being in range of huge trees or huge limbs in near by trees. This is the one aspect of camping that I hate. There is no way to fully escape this risk, except to sleep on the ground in a meadow. Or maybe to find some smaller trees, 2 all by themselves and just big enough but no bigger. I just end up having to force it out of my mind.
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