Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 20
  1. #1
    Senior Member Hang Williams's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2021
    Location
    North Georgia
    Hammock
    BBXLC
    Tarp
    12' HG Journey
    Insulation
    Wooki 20*
    Posts
    325

    Deadfall and tree selection

    I wanted to ask the forum when is "too much" deadfall in an area for you to hang from otherwise healthy looking trees? Do you ever see an area that just looks like SOMETHING is wrong and think looking for widowmakers in your immediate vicinity isn't enough?

    I went on a backpacking trip this weekend in the Sawtooths. We went thru a burn area on the way in and after that, never really found our way out of areas with a large amount of deadfall that, to me, looked to be fire damage. Research after the fact shows that the burn area was small and we had exited it; however, the deadfall was shockingly abundant to the point that I ended up erring on the side of caution with being unfamiliar with how to judge lodgepole pine health and going to ground in a clearing so as to not pull over a tree on myself.

    I didn't think to take any pictures of the truly heavy deadfall near the lake we were trying to camp next to, but this picture was from one of the better areas



    This picture from some post trip reading is more indicative of the area I deemed too much deadfall.

  2. #2
    Phantom Grappler's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    Denton NC
    Hammock
    WildernessLogics 12x6
    Tarp
    HG cuben 13ridge12
    Insulation
    TopQuiltUnderQuilt
    Suspension
    S and D
    Posts
    4,925
    Phantom skeeerd. You did good to trust your gut!

  3. #3
    Senior Member Crazytown3's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2016
    Location
    Tooele County, UT, USA
    Hammock
    WB Eldorado/DIY
    Tarp
    WB MiniFly/DIY 12'
    Insulation
    WB Wooki/HG Burrow
    Suspension
    DW Spider/Beetle
    Posts
    1,448
    I always just trust my gut. If my initial feeling isn't good, I try to remember not to talk my self into it anyway.

  4. #4
    Senior Member Rolloff's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    Leveland
    Hammock
    Bonefire Whisper
    Tarp
    HG DCF Hex
    Insulation
    Sheltowee JRB SS
    Suspension
    Bonefire
    Posts
    2,639
    I stopped hiking until dark before setting up camp, in most cases. Woke up too many mornings in places I wouldn't set up in the daylight.

    Always leave the area telling myself that the event that took all those trees down only took the weak ones
    Signature suspended

  5. #5
    sideshowraheem's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2020
    Location
    MN
    Hammock
    SLD Trail Lair
    Tarp
    Superfly/Minifly
    Insulation
    WB DB, LL Habanero
    Suspension
    Whoopie Slings
    Posts
    403
    Hard to tell from the pictures but I’d echo, trust your gut.

    Roll off brings up an excellent point about setting up in the dark too! I’ve made the mistake of hanging from a dead tree once in the dark that swayed just a bit to much for me, thankfully it held through the night though.

  6. #6
    Senior Member Hang Williams's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2021
    Location
    North Georgia
    Hammock
    BBXLC
    Tarp
    12' HG Journey
    Insulation
    Wooki 20*
    Posts
    325
    That is an excellent point that factored into this situation. Finished up work, drove to the trailhead, hiking was slower than expected and when the options at the destination didn't work out, it was pretty late in the day.

    In this instance, I actually did find trees in a small stand with minimal deadfall and get one of my better hangs setup for about 20 minutes before realizing I was going to second guess myself awake all night and I had an extra pad for my dog that I could use anyways and just did the ground thing.

  7. #7
    Senior Member Hang Williams's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2021
    Location
    North Georgia
    Hammock
    BBXLC
    Tarp
    12' HG Journey
    Insulation
    Wooki 20*
    Posts
    325
    Aside from my instance this past weekend, does anyone have good rules of thumb for when deadfall becomes too prevalent?

    I'm thinking there's the gut feel of "you'll know it when you see it." Another thought that's been running in my head today was "if you pick a random 20x20 area and you're more likely to be hit by a tree in that area than not, it's a no go." It's a forest, there will always be down trees near your campsite, so that judgement call on probability is tough to create a hard and fast metric that engineers like myself desire.

  8. #8
    Senior Member Bayou Russ's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2015
    Location
    Brazoria County, Texas
    Hammock
    Dutchware Chameleon double layered
    Suspension
    Beetle buckles
    Posts
    100
    I try to be as careful as I can but sometimes they’re sneaky little buggers…




    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

  9. #9
    Senior Member cmoulder's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2017
    Location
    Ossining, NY
    Hammock
    DH Darien, SLD Tree Runner
    Tarp
    HG hex
    Insulation
    Timmermade, Revolt
    Suspension
    Kevlar, Lapp Hitch
    Posts
    4,912
    Images
    356
    To be honest, some of the areas where I camp have standing widowmakers but I take into account the direction they're leaning and prevailing wind direction and hope* that if they do decide to fall that the odds will take care of me.

    One way to figure out if you're out of range of a particular tree is to use a compass with a slope angle function and measure whether the top of the tree is steeper or shallower than 45°. Shallower than 45° and you're safe. Failing that, you can angle your arm up and estimate the 45° angle. But you have to be careful with this because somebody might think you're giving a Hitler salute. Which is not illegal but might be problematic.

    (*Yes, hope is not a strategy. )
    Five Basic Principles of Going Lighter (not me... the great Cam Honan of OZ)
    “If everybody is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking.” ~ Gen. George S Patton

  10. #10
    Carver's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Location
    NW WI
    Insulation
    HG
    Suspension
    WEB
    Posts
    622
    Images
    8
    Lodgepole pine does not compete well with other tree species so that it is most often found in burned over areas or clear cuts. The problem then is that the result is a dog hair stand with way too many trees of the same age competing against one another. A stagnant stand of lodgepole can be dangerous for when one falls, the rest are of the same age and condition and are often ready to follow. It often takes fifty or so years for a lodgepole to reach fence pole size. Small, tall and dangerous.

  • + New Posts
  • Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

    Similar Threads

    1. Site Selection
      By Tendertoe in forum General Hammock Talk
      Replies: 11
      Last Post: 06-21-2017, 10:33
    2. Underquilt selection help
      By celsmore in forum Bottom Insulation
      Replies: 4
      Last Post: 09-02-2014, 10:56
    3. help with hammock selection
      By Rsa in forum Warbonnet Hammocks
      Replies: 3
      Last Post: 10-02-2012, 19:09
    4. Rules of Thumb - Tree Selection
      By tjm in forum General Hammock Talk
      Replies: 26
      Last Post: 09-23-2010, 10:55
    5. Tree selection for hammock
      By RichardD in forum General Hammock Talk
      Replies: 12
      Last Post: 08-24-2009, 11:53

    Bookmarks

    Posting Permissions

    • You may not post new threads
    • You may not post replies
    • You may not post attachments
    • You may not edit your posts
    •