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  1. #1

    Default Warrendoyle.com - Odd Safety Message

    I had some free time this morning so I ended up on Warren Doyle's website. I found it pretty interesting especially after passing Warren on the trail in 05.

    As I was perusing the site I found a somewhat odd/funny safety warning on one of his preparation pages:


    EXPECTATION #3 – Everyone who starts will finish.

    Many injuries can be avoided by not:
    knocking down a dead tree on another expedition member

    What? Warren has this really been an issue in the past? The three or four dangerous activities mentioned before this were very plausible but this one is very very odd. Sounds like people are setting dead fall traps on one another!

  2. #2
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    Default ?

    Where did you see this? Went looking and could not find it.

  3. #3
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    We tried to do that in the Boy Scouts. Another fun/dangerous thing we irritating boys would do on a hike was push a branch out of the way and let it fly back and hit the fellow behind us. We used to ride bikes and skateboards w/o helmets. It's a wonder we survived. I think it's a good thing to not knock down dead trees on people.
    I'm not really a hiker, I just play one on White Blaze.

  4. #4

    Default

    it's under the three expectations page under the complete circle section:

    http://www.lmc.edu/faculty/DoyleW/ATExpectations.html

  5. #5
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    Thanks. See it now. It had run of the page knocking d
    another expedition member

    and I guessed it said knocking down a another expedition member. Still strange but.....

  6. #6

    Default

    This 'knocking down a dead tree' snippet explaining an avoidable injury was a lighthearted reference to making sure when someone knocks down a dead tree that they don't let it fall on themselves, on each other, or the trail itself.

    It is in the 'Courtesy, Etiquette & Safety' chapter of "101 Things to do with a Dead Tree" book.
    Warren Doyle PhD
    34,000-miler (and counting)
    [email protected]
    www.warrendoyle.com

  7. #7

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by warren doyle View Post
    This 'knocking down a dead tree' snippet explaining an avoidable injury was a lighthearted reference to making sure when someone knocks down a dead tree that they don't let it fall on themselves, on each other, or the trail itself.

    It is in the 'Courtesy, Etiquette & Safety' chapter of "101 Things to do with a Dead Tree" book.
    I see. But in 2175 miles of walking I never came across a dead tree in the middle of the trail so I found this a bit weird.

  8. #8

    Default

    Maybe because everyone who has knocked down a dead tree has read this chapter.

    I haven't heard of any hikers being injured by knocking down a dead tree (along the side of the trail) either on themselves or others but I have seen a few close calls.
    Warren Doyle PhD
    34,000-miler (and counting)
    [email protected]
    www.warrendoyle.com

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Gray Blazer View Post
    We tried to do that in the Boy Scouts. Another fun/dangerous thing we irritating boys would do on a hike was push a branch out of the way and let it fly back and hit the fellow behind us. We used to ride bikes and skateboards w/o helmets. It's a wonder we survived. I think it's a good thing to not knock down dead trees on people.
    Once on a snowshoe hike, coming out of Nancy/Norcross ponds a dead tree fell across the path while we were walking on it. Fell between two of the hikers, about three feet from each. No wind, no noise except a muffled thump when it landed in the snow. THe hikers in front of the fallen tree didn't even know it fell - we had to yell at them to get them to turn around. Weirdest thing I ever saw.

    The other dead tree thing are dead branches. Every time I clear away dead branches to make a spot for my tent, I spent half the night lying awake listening to the wind in the trees and thinking about how all those big dead branches came to be on the ground right where I was currently lying.
    Frosty

  10. #10
    ME => GA 19AT3 rickb's Avatar
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    Default

    Standing deadwood being vital to forest ecology, I think it can now be said without debate that:

    Mr. Doyle has comitted crimes against nature along the AT.

    Just saying.

  11. #11
    Getting out as much as I can..which is never enough. :) Mags's Avatar
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    "Widow Makers" earn their nickname. This incident happened this past November. Scary part is that I have hiked/skiied/snowshoed in this area many times myself.

    http://www.rockymountainnews.com/new...-haunts-hiker/
    Paul "Mags" Magnanti
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    The true harvest of my life is intangible...a little stardust caught,a portion of the rainbow I have clutched -Thoreau

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    It makes sense to be mindful of the fact that all trees eventually fall down.

  13. #13

    Default

    Anyone else see the Rufus Morgan shelter after the tree fell on it 1990 ish? I've always wondered if it was occupied when that happened.

  14. #14
    Yellow Jacket
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    I had a tree fall away from me (thankfully) when I was in my hammock along the LHHT. Scared the crap out of me, as I could hear the tree slowly falling, but I couldn't see it. In the morning, I could see it had fallen away from me and landed in the crook of another tree. I almost put my hammock on the tree it fell on but changed my mind because there was another nearby tree that looked like it was going to fall (but didn't).
    Yellow Jacket -- Words of Wisdom (tm) go here.

  15. #15
    As in "dessert" not "desert"
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    Default

    I have seen tons of dead trees along the trail, and a couple over it. I have also been in my tent one night when a dead tree fell not too far away.

    It is not a hazard to ignore, though it is a rare source of death and injury, it does happen.

  16. #16
    Registered User greentick's Avatar
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    First thing I do when I pick out a place to lay down: look up for dead trees. Second thing: look down for ants.
    nous défions

    It's gonna be ok.

    Ditch Medicine: wash your hands and keep your booger-pickers off your face!

  17. #17

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by dessertrat View Post

    It is not a hazard to ignore, though it is a rare source of death and injury, it does happen.

    Right, a tree falling on you is obviously no joke and could easily kill you. But I just found it funny that WD doesn't advise you not to camp near dead trees, but instead warns you to not 'knock down a dead tree on another expedition member"

  18. #18

  19. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mags View Post
    "Widow Makers" earn their nickname. This incident happened this past November. Scary part is that I have hiked/skiied/snowshoed in this area many times myself.

    http://www.rockymountainnews.com/new...-haunts-hiker/
    The irony of that story is the guy the tree fell on taught mathematical probability at Auburn.
    On another note theres a widowmaker about 9 miles south of Hot Springs on a big rock with an over look. It's right next to a water source. Clearly folks have camped there before and the tree is perfectly positioned to hang a hammock from. Accident waiting to happen.

  20. #20

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Flush2wice View Post
    The irony of that story is the guy the tree fell on taught mathematical probability at Auburn.
    On another note theres a widowmaker about 9 miles south of Hot Springs on a big rock with an over look. It's right next to a water source. Clearly folks have camped there before and the tree is perfectly positioned to hang a hammock from. Accident waiting to happen.
    In fact, it could poke your eye out through your nose.
    "Sleepy alligator in the noonday sun
    Sleepin by the river just like he usually done
    Call for his whisky
    He can call for his tea
    Call all he wanta but he can't call me..."
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