Falling Snag!!!!!

was high up a cottonwood today, about 75 feet from ground, relaxing, soaking in the view, a steady breeze blowing me around until i adjusted my flipline......birds chirping, sun shining.........a steady creaking noise growing louder and louder, i looke daorund, and then i saw it.... a 50 foot x 2' thick rotten snag was leaning in the wind, RIGHT OVER A HIKING/JOGGING TRAIL!!!!!! a jogger had just run up that way so i bellowed LOOK OUT FOR THE TREE as loud is i could. The jogger stopped and looked around, backed up and ran the other way. The snag leaned towards the trail slightly then crashed down, missing the trail completely and going down the embankment. Thank god for the heavy gust of wind. The jogger decided to go backdown the trail towards the seawall path instead.

Close call! made me relook at the tree i was climbing.... :|

I've got a pic somewhere of a 30' long piece of a pine hanging vertical in an oak. It too is a few feet (or was) away from a hiking trail. It's about 20' off the ground, and I'd bet if it came down it could probably replant itself!

Climb Safe!
Icabod

A few years ago I was showing a family friend how to treeclimb in a wild tree in his backyard.We observed a limb hanging in his tree about twenty feet up;it was ten to twenty feet long --about four inches in diameter on the stem end.Since he had two small children I suggested that we take it out.As we were preparing to use a throw ball line to remove the limb a strong breeze began to blow.The limb came out on its own and crashed to the ground.Had we are anyone else been below that limb as it fell,I'm certain that they would have been injured.Some of the limb struck in the ground several inches:better the ground than someones head.After that event I started to throw ball in my own yard only to discover that there were many limbs hidden from site waiting for a fall.So it pays to make a close check before climbing even if the tree is tamed and you climb in it often.