Widowmaker close calls

I used to think warnings about widowmakers were overhyped. That changed after several close encounters. Once I was camped with wife and children under our tarp. A dead tree perhaps twenty feet from camp suddenly began to tip, fall faster, and then crash to the ground. Fortunately it fell away from camp. What astonished me was how short a time it took to fall. From the first sound that alerted us, to the tree lying horizontal was only a matter of seconds, less than twenty in my estimation. I don't recall checking the site carefully for widowmakers beforehand. Certainly a close encounter I don't want to repeat.

One time I did move camp, not because of widowmakers, but because of a feeling. It may have saved our lives. We pulled into a campsite at Devils Tower. I started to set up the tent, then paused and looked up at the tall cottonwoods overhead. The trees all around looked healthy and stout. But I had a bad feeling about the spot. So I moved some distance away and set up camp. That night I had a dream that a large fire was burning, making loud sparking and spitting sounds. This went on for some time in my dream. Then I realized it was not a dream, but the sound of a real tree splitting and cracking. Seconds later the "tree" crashed to the ground bringing with it a power line that sparked a bright white light. My wife screamed and my children awoke with fright. I got out of the tent and found a huge limb lying just five feet from our tent. Other campers gathered around to see what the noise and commotion was about. Eventually we returned to our bags and spent a fitful night until morning. When a ranger examined the tree he determined that it had been weakened inside by ants. He was respectful of my feeling when I told him why I decided to move camp. Then he refunded the camping fee I had paid.

I can't be certain that moving camp saved our lives. I like to think so, but who knows. There have been times I can't locate a site completely free from widowmakers, which leaves me apprehensive when I crawl into the bag.

Moral: you can't completely escape risk when camping among trees, but you can minimize it with careful campsite selection.

Many years ago we camped near Unknown Pond during a nasty late summer storm. At the time there was a clearing edged with some dead trees which might have reached our tent if they blew down but there were some tentsites with a combination of standing deadwood and healthy trees. The latter offerred more potential blowdowns but also protection by the live trees. We chose the former. Nothing happened but it was a rather unrestful night wondering what the next gust would bring.

The roots of dead trees eventually decompose leaving them precariously perched. Standing deadwood from old forest fires can pose a particular danger on trails passing through them and the disturbance of foot traffic can bring one down. On public lands there is often a warning to this effect if trails haven't been closed completely. Gives special meaning to "tread lightly".