[pct-l] Watch for falling trees

[Trekker4 at aol.com]

On the AT in Georgia, in 1980, I heard that  cracking sound at night, in my 
tent, in a storm. I instinctively put my arms  over my head. The next 
morning there was a tree across a dirt road about a  hundred yards away, and 
slightly above the shelter which I was tented near (no  room in the inn).    
    Another time on the AT, I was walking along, head  down and minding my 
own business, heard that cracking sound, and looked up to  watch a 5 inch 
branch crash just off the trail, about 15 feet ahead of me. There  was no 
wind, and had been no rain; it was time for that branch to fall.
    In 2005, on the PCT, I was sitting on a break,  heard a loud cracking 
sound, and looked up to see one trunk of a two trunk,  medium size tree very 
slowly (at least ten seconds) topple to the ground,  hitting no other trees. 
Again there was no wind, and had been no rain; it was  just time - that 
last microbe ate through the last wood molecule holding the  live trunk up; the 
dead trunk was the one that remained standing. It was a  wonderful 
experience in the sense that I instantly knew it was no danger to  me; one sees 
thousands of trees across the trail, but that one just missed the  trail. Last 
summer I reported hundreds to the PCTA, including the  multi-hundred pileup 
on the N side of ?, just before Sisters Mirror Lake. One  never sees one 
fall; I had the camera up, turned on, and the lens cap off in  that ten seconds, 
but missed the photo by 2-3 more seconds. 
 
Bob  "Trekker"
Big Bend Desert Denizen, and...
Naturalized Citizen - Republic  of Texas  

 
In a message dated 5/12/2009 2:43:40 P.M. Central Daylight Time,  
asabat at 4jeffrey.net writes:

Speaking  of downed trees, one of my scariest moments was a short break 
while climbing  the snow up Baden Powell. We heard a small crack, then a small 
creak, then a  few louders ones until we noticed a large tree about al1 100 
yards away fall  to the ground. 



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