Double Widowmaker

[Gresh]

you could be calling in a squatch.

...somebody's been telling my secrets.

I've never seen nor heard of a tree coming down (unless it was pushed down deliberately), but I have seen branches come down bloody close to campers who'd set up hastily.

Me? I don't check. I dig the adventure.

[fishbait]

Pushing really hard on a dead tree doesn't always work. I've setup in perfectly good trees then noticed one or two in the area that were pretty scary. On my hike in September there was a tree within crushing distance, pushed on it for a good 10 minutes to be sure it wasn't coming down. To make matters worse the wind was gusting pretty good, that was the only time I didn't sleep through the night in my hammock.

[Stone]

On Isle Royale last year we camped at S. Lake Desor which was basically a dead birch tree stand. Most of them had the tops completely blown off. Pushing hard seemed point out the ones that were unacceptable, mostly because they fell right over. We managed to find enough sets for all of us to hang from. But could hear trees droping during the wind that night. Had thoughts of packing up and getting out of there in the middle of the night. Sometimes it is hard to find a perfectly good\safe site, ang I'll bet we have all hung beneath trees that weren't even remotely safe and didn't even know it.

[FLRider]

Look at the neighboring trees, too. Not just the ones you want to put the straps on. We had some pretty good winds/gusts here a week or so ago & I found the top of a dead beech laying between the trees I usually hang from. The bottom 2/3 of the tree is 28' away! Glad I was having some noob issues with the whoopies (learned they're UCRs, not WSs) that came with my recently bought BIAS WWM, 'cuz the new kit would have been hanging there.

I hear you. On my Foothills Trail thru last month, the second night found me by the designated site at Bearcamp Creek. Fortunately, I rolled into camp before dark, as there was a smallish standing dead tree just down slope from the two best trees to hang from. Before setting up, I wandered over and pushed on it. Sure enough, it came down at a light push. Good thing, too; I sure didn't want four or six hundred pounds of tree landing in my hammock.

On the third night, when I camped just north of Laurel Valley, I almost set up on a standing dead tree. I had everything set up and was about to get into the hammock before I looked up and checked the branches. Sure enough, there weren't any on the trunk. This one wouldn't push over, so I went a good fifty yards in the other direction before setting up. It was a pain, but not as much of one as winding up injured on a solo would be.

So, moral of the story? Check your site before setting up. It might just be your behind. The extra three minutes are worth it, in my opinion, even in cold and wet and wind and dark.

[anvil440]

Especially good advice for those in Texas. The drought has hurt a lot of trees in our area. Park rangers have talked about trees dying because of drought and disease.

[dakotaross]

2 down, 7 to go?

[nyhiker50]

There has been some talk around lately about "zombie" trees. They look ok, but they are actually rotted (or hollowed out) inside and can fall without warning. I think it's a beetle that's eating it from the inside. In this case it's hard to tell. I guess a good push might help.

[Refreshing]

At the last arborist convention I attended I asked one of the mentors how to tell if a limb is dead/dying in the winter. He said all healthy limbs will have buds on them. I personally use the twig break test. If a twig cracks off easily the limb is usually dead. Same principle for small trees. If all of the twigs break off instead of bending the tree is probably not safe.