[strider]

The talk about snow bombs in the Wallace Falls TR thread got me to remembering / musing ..... Anyone else ever suffered under spruce cone bombs? On a trip up to the Brothers, we camped up-valley from the usual jump-off camp because the jump-off area was packed over-full. We went uphill for about 45 minutes, then off route into the woods, and did a virgin camp. Beautiful spruce grove next to a pretty meadow that afforded a great view of the hill. This was in early September, probably in the mid-1980's sometime.... The tree rats were harvesting cones. They were cutting them loose from the trees. The cones made no noise while enroute because the first branches on the trees had to be 100+ feet up. We're talking big sticks. The first notice of an incoming round was the loud THUMP when the cone hit the forest floor. They hit so hard, some of them were bouncing three or four feet into the air. The barrage began about 6PM and lasted into dusk. The first few THUMPS, we were looking around for the bouncing deer - no deer. Looking for the bear that had stripped some of the local tree bark - no bear. Then a bouncer happened about 10 feet from my tent and we figured out what was happening. We beat feet out into the meadow. The rats must have dropped 100 cones in about two hours before the pace of the incoming rounds lessened. After the barrage settled down, we returned to camp and found 8 or 10 cones in our camp area. A direct hit on a cook pot put a dent in the lid. The larger cones were 8" or 9" long, probably weighed one pound or more, were green and full of pitch, and hard as rocks. Not a good thing to take onna noggin at the business end of a 100+ foot drop. Anyone else ever have critters toss things at ya?

[jimmymac]

Those things are big and hefty! Earlier related discussion I've seen them on the ground and marveled at their potential for doing damage. Never had the pleasure of being caught up in the middle of a harvest though.

[Damian]

I dang near got whacked by one once. Pretty scary. Terminal velocity for one those missles is about 90 mph.

[Quark]

yeah, got smacked by one once. Damn. I thought it was a rock come hurtling offa cliff. Yet another reason I was glad to have had a hardhat on. Those things are sticky as hell, too.