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thunderhead
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thunderhead
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PostThu Sep 01, 2022 9:18 pm 
https://komonews.com/news/local/canadian-citizen-dies-at-olympic-national-park-after-tree-falls-on-his-tent RIP. This is always something that bugs me. Ive skipped so many campsites because a big tree was angled a little too close to it, or especially if there are dead trees. Around these parts...its often hard to find something that isnt threatening at least a little... we have huge trees. I know its fairly rare, especially if there is no wind... but does anyone else pay lots of attention to trees at camp?

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Joseph
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PostThu Sep 01, 2022 9:25 pm 
thunderhead wrote:
https://komonews.com/news/local/canadian-citizen-dies-at-olympic-national-park-after-tree-falls-on-his-tent RIP. This is always something that bugs me. Ive skipped so many campsites because a big tree was angled a little too close to it, or especially if there are dead trees. Around these parts...its often hard to find something that isnt threatening at least a little... we have huge trees. I know its fairly rare, especially if there is no wind... but does anyone else pay lots of attention to trees at camp?
Its always in the back of my mind when camping in forested camps. I look around and try to imagine which way they'd fall. They had closed numerous car campsites at Mt. Rainier for tree hazards last year. And I think Paradise River camp was closed for a few years while they fixed it and I think hazardous trees were one reason.

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zephyr
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zephyr
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PostThu Sep 01, 2022 10:09 pm 
I was down on the Oregon coast in 2008 and visited Oswald West State Park. There an 11' diameter old growth spruce fell across several campsites. Luckily no one was camped in those spots. Link to story here. ~z

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kiliki
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PostThu Sep 01, 2022 10:15 pm 
How sad. That could have happened to any of us. I saw a tree fall when on a hike once and couldn't believe how quickly it happened. Snap, boom.

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Pyrites
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PostThu Sep 01, 2022 11:19 pm 
Which Elk Lake was this?

Keep Calm and Carry On? Heck No. Stay Excited and Get Outside!
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Malachai Constant
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PostThu Sep 01, 2022 11:20 pm 
We were headed up the Skyline Trail above Lake Irely when a huge wind storm came in and huge firs and spruces were falling all around us. We hid under a windfall between two lumps for at least an hour when it sounded like incoming artillery. Luckily it slowed and we got back to car pell mell. Probably scariest hike or climb I have ever been on.

"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn

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gb
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PostFri Sep 02, 2022 1:52 am 
Well, Elk Lake is a commonly used campsite just past the crossing of the Hoh unless there is another Elk Lake in the Olympics.

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Scaler
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PostFri Sep 02, 2022 5:54 am 
There is an Elk Lake in the east side of the Olympics in the Olympic National Forest up the Hamma Hamma drainage. The press release for this accident came from Olympic National Park so I assume the accident happened in the Park.

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HitTheTrail
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PostFri Sep 02, 2022 7:50 am 
A year ago last spring I went to day hike some mountain biking trails up Hay Canyon near Cashmere. There is a place up there that people use for dispersed camping, but the area had burned in the past and a lot of the trees are dead. I arrived just after this tree came down on a lady's car beside her tent. She and her young child were in the tent at the time. They had already evacuated when I got there but some people nearby said she was pretty shaken emotionally. Yeah!
Tree on car beside tent.
Tree on car beside tent.

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altasnob
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PostFri Sep 02, 2022 7:52 am 
Scaler wrote:
I assume the accident happened in the Park.
Seattle Times says it was the camp on the way to Olympus

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altasnob
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PostFri Sep 02, 2022 7:54 am 
zephyr wrote:
I was down on the Oregon coast in 2008 and visited Oswald West State Park. There an 11' diameter old growth spruce fell across several campsites. Luckily no one was camped in those spots. Link to story here. ~z
Thank God we have Big Brother government to shut down the most popular campground in the state after trees fall down. Never mind you are way more likely to get killed driving to the campground than a tree falling on you.

JimmyBob
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treeswarper
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PostFri Sep 02, 2022 7:58 am 
I am in the habit of always looking at trees. Can't help it. In fact, the last campground I parked my trailer in, I wondered whether I should tell the folks about the dead maple I was parked by. Not that it was ready to break or blow over this year, but it would be a good thing to cut. I don't camp beneath snags or widow makers. The CRACK of doom is scary to hear.

What's especially fun about sock puppets is that you can make each one unique and individual, so that they each have special characters. And they don't have to be human––animals and aliens are great possibilities
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seawallrunner
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PostFri Sep 02, 2022 8:02 am 
I went snowshoeing once near Manning Park on a dirt road near a well trodden trail. We were the first ones there in the morning after a fresh snowfall. It was an out and back. When we retraced our steps, we came across a large tree that had fallen on that road, completely blocking our way. We never heard anything (it wasn’t far from our turn-around point) and it took some doing to climb over and cross it. There but for the grace of God. We continued back to the car, counting our blessings. And no, there hadn’t been anyone else on the trail while we were gone, we still counted only two sets of steps during our return to the car. I still shudder at that memory, well over a decade later.

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treeswarper
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PostFri Sep 02, 2022 8:06 am 
altasnob wrote:
zephyr wrote:
I was down on the Oregon coast in 2008 and visited Oswald West State Park. There an 11' diameter old growth spruce fell across several campsites. Luckily no one was camped in those spots. Link to story here. ~z
Thank God we have Big Brother government to shut down the most popular campground in the state after trees fall down. Never mind you are way more likely to get killed driving to the campground than a tree falling on you.
But some pesky lawyer is not as apt to file a lawsuit when a tree falls on a road and hits a car. Campgrounds usually have hazard tree surveys every couple of years, and then hazard trees are cut. The latter means closing the campground until work is completed. Not to worry if your are camping in a closed campground and workers show up to do that. They'll wake you and get you out before trees start hitting the ground smile.gif Hazard tree falling requires skill so as not to smash infrastructure.

What's especially fun about sock puppets is that you can make each one unique and individual, so that they each have special characters. And they don't have to be human––animals and aliens are great possibilities
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thunderhead
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PostFri Sep 02, 2022 9:23 am 
kiliki wrote:
That could have happened to any of us.
Yup. Thats what bugs me about falling trees! Most hiking deaths are easily avoided and I can say "we wouldnt have gotten lost like that or climbed into that storm" so it doesnt seem like something that could happen to me. Not so with falling trees.

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