How-to find a safe tree Post-Autumn?

[Rug]

A thought occurred to me today while I was driving past a wood-lot.

Now that Fall has fell, and most of the leaves are on the ground, how do you tell a widow-maker from a winter-ready tree?

Hopefully somebody smarter then me, can make this into a real how-to to help new-hangers and Winter hangers.

Things to look out for: (probably a Widow-Maker)

1) No bark/loose bark

2) lots of visible bug damage and/or no sap on bark.

3) no small twiggy branches

4) Dead wood: Dead wood looks dry and lifeless and breaks very easily. Because it's brittle and can't bend in the wind like a healthy branch, it's likely to break. For this reason, dead branches, also called widow makers, need to be removed immediately because they're very dangerous.

5) Cracks and cankers: Cracks are deep splits through the bark, and they usually indicate that a tree is failing. Cankers are holes where the bark is missing; they increase the chance of a stem breaking near the canker.

6) Weak branch unions: Weak branch unions are areas where branches aren't securely attached to the tree. This happens when two branches grow closely together and bark grows between them. The bark isn't as strong as wood, and it weakens the union of the branches.

7) Decay: Trees usually decay from the inside out, so it can be tough to notice initially. Fungi, like mushrooms, are good indicators, as is soft or crumbly wood.

8) Poor tree architecture: Poor tree architecture means an uneven growth pattern, indicated by lopsided or leans in a particular direction. This is usually caused by years of damage from storms or improper pruning.

Hopefully this will keep somebody safe this winter.


Rug.

Hang On!

[Optimus]

Thanks Rug, very informative, you should have a show "The Tree Whisperer"
But seriously, thanks for the safety tips, you may have saved some folks (myself included) a major headache.

Slopes

[Cannibal]

Nice to have some written guidelines. I generally just look for nothing in particular; just things that don't 'look' right.

I also give the tree a good shake if it's small and a few good shoves on bigger ones. Genuine Draft once tied to a tree off the Creeper Trail that looked fine. However, the moment she sat in the hammock the tree started to tip. Got her out of the hammock, untied the hammock, and pushed the tree once real hard. Fell right over and was about 25 to 30' tall. The lesson was well learned.

[gargoyle]

Nice info, not only the tree you plan to hang from, but the nearby trees need to be inspected. My backyard test hanging location had a twenty foot limb fall on it last week

[TinaLouise]

great post!!
add: night time set up (or what to do when there's no light)!! I've had to set up in the dark a couple of times and I hate it!! One time the only trees I could find that seemed safe, one was covered with poisen ivy, eeeek! I check out the upper branches as best as I can with my head lamp and I'll push on the trees too. For you guys that have done more night time set ups, are there any more hints/ideas of what to do when there's no light to see by???
TinaLouise

[Doctari]

Great post. Thanks!

ONE time, when I was still on the ground I did not check for widow makers, a (my guess) 100+ lb branch landed between my tent & my partners. My guess is it fell quite a ways. Yep, that would have left a mark had it hit one of us! Yet, even as you suggest, at that time of year, had we even looked up, it should have been obviously near falling, I just did not look up.

A year round thought to add: the Mt Collins shelter was hit by a tree a few years ago (no major damage), when I was there the year before, the NEAREST tree was at least 50' away! From what I heard the only thing that saved the shelter was the tree missed it (Mostly) but not because the tree was to short.

So don't just look up & a few feet around your selected site, take the time to be sure that 80' tree 60' away isn't likely to fall on you. Granted, I have seen healthy trees fall, seemingly without cause, but still, , , , ,

[sulman]

Thanks, Rug.

[Coffee]

This reminds me of a couple hangs I did on the AT. The trees were definitly dead and would move some with me in the hammock. I will say I did lay in bed thinking about it. Don't think I recommend that.

I usually go with what Cannibal does, things usually don't look right. I also always look up and around when chosing any site, air or ground. A lot of times you can spot the branches that are about to go. As far as the trees I usually push on them to see if they are solid (I try not to hang from any tree I can move as to not hurt the tree), I also hit it with my trekking pole to hear if it is solid.

[BillyBob58]

great post!!
add: night time set up (or what to do when there's no light)!! I've had to set up in the dark a couple of times and I hate it!! One time the only trees I could find that seemed safe, one was covered with poisen ivy, eeeek! I check out the upper branches as best as I can with my head lamp and I'll push on the trees too. For you guys that have done more night time set ups, are there any more hints/ideas of what to do when there's no light to see by???
TinaLouise

It's just tough any way you look at it, and tougher at night, especially for us poison ivy phobes.

There are some kind of trees around here ( an Oak I think ) that does not seem to loose all of it's leaves during the winter. And of course if you can find a suitable pair of evergreens, then at least you can tell if the tree is alive.

Just one more reason why I choose the smallest available trees. At least if a dead tree ( or its limbs ) comes down on me, maybe the damage will be minimal.

And maybe it won't bring down a bunch of PI on me. At least I can go by the evil vine, even when the leaves are absent. So often, the vine goes high up the tree with no "leaves of 3" evident until way up in the branches, where the PI limbs blend in and just look like part of the tree. So even if you are hanging from a PI free tree, in the fall the one just a few feet away could be dropping it's poisonous leaves from high above on you and your tarp.

The whole tree thing is always the biggest challenge to safe and convenient hammock camping. Too close, too far apart, too big/small, dead/damaged and poison ivy! And figuring out IF dead/damaged/PI in the dark or winter. Still, unless at an at least minimally developed camp ground, most often easier than finding a good tent site when on sloping/rocky/muddy/buggy ground. I appreciated that anew last weekend in the Sipsey as I sat in my hammock cooking supper on sloping ground, with a big root running under my hammock. As the rain poured down, first I saw a couple of spiders crawl by. A short time later I noticed about an inch of standing water under me. I was happy to not be down there on a ground cloth, trying to get comfy sitting in the lotus position, unless I brought a heavy pad chair. And glad to be able to stand up rather than being in a small tent. Now if we could just do something about those pesky tree problems!

[Frawg]

Great post. Thanks!

Ditto!!

... Granted, I have seen healthy trees fall, seemingly without cause, but still, , , , ,

I'll second that. I was out on the front stoop late one night enjoying an ongoing thunderstorm when I heard a not very loud 'crack'; looked to the left just in time to see a neighbor's 18+ inch diameter oak fall, blocking the road. It turns out the roots had all but rotted away and the (not very heavy) wind from the storm was enough to finally nudge it over. Afterwards we noted some rot at the base of the tree. Re Rug's point #7, I've since gotten in the habit of also looking down and "knocking on wood" just to be sure things sound solid.