Tree fell on 2 hikers killing 1

[Daddy Longlegs]

ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK, Colo. -- A tree fell on two 68-year-old hikers in the Rocky Mountain National Park Tuesday afternoon, killing one hiker and injuring the other.

Park spokesman Larry Frederick said volunteers retrieved the body of the dead hiker Tuesday night.

The two hikers were making their way up the Sandbeach Lake Trailhead when "a dead Douglas fir tree, approximately 30 feet from the trail, broke off 15 feet above ground striking both," Frederick said.


One of the hikers was nicked by the tree and managed to hike out and call for help at the Wild Basin Lodge.

Frank Watershouse, building and grounds manager at the Wild Basin Lodge and Event Center, helped the hiker contact rescuers.

"He said (his friend) had no pulse and wasn't breathing," Waterhouse said. "He was calm and concerned for his friend, a little shaken but mostly concerned for his buddy."

Winds gusting up 50 to 60 mph were reported in the area at the time of the accident, Frederick said.

[Tipi Walter]

Here in the southeast it happens, too: Windstorm . . . virginia pine deaths . . . high wind . . . toppling trees . . . trees everywhere . . .

[Smile]

Very sad story, my heart goes out to the families involved.

[JAK]

Sad. I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often, but I guess an accident of this sort is pretty rare. As with lightning there is only so much you can do once you are out there and the wind starts blowing. I don't think it is a trail maintenance issue either. Can't go cutting all the trees down or anything like that. God bless his soul.

[Thoughtful Owl]

I have heard of this happening elsewhere and always when instructors others on choosing a camp site to be alert not only of possible widow makers, but also of standing dead trees that might break off or blow over in high winds.

It is really sad and my thoughts and prayers are with the families.

[Pedaling Fool]

On the AT, I've seen/heard numerous trees and big limbs suddenly fall without warning. The last one was when I was camping near Falls Creek bridge (~ 0.6 mile north of PENMAR). It fell about 200 feet from where I was tented – extremely loud crashing sound.

Trees just can't get too big on many sections of the AT, because of the slope of the terrain and numerous big rocks/boulders. This makes it very important to check the area before setting up your tent/hammock.

[Frosty]

Trees just can't get too big on many sections of the AT, because of the slope of the terrain and numerous big rocks/boulders. This makes it very important to check the area before setting up your tent/hammock.

They don't have to be very big to do a job on you. I like to stealth camp, but every time I move a branch to the side to make a clear spot for my tent, I think about how the branch got on the ground in the first place.

And if I wake up in the middle of the night and the wind is blowing hard, I think about it a LOT.

[Mocs123]

I had the top of a dead tree fall near me this past past weekend on the Lakeshore Trail (GSMNP). It fell maybe 50-60 feet away in the middle of the day with no wind. It was very errie.

[Tipi Walter]

They don't have to be very big to do a job on you. I like to stealth camp, but every time I move a branch to the side to make a clear spot for my tent, I think about how the branch got on the ground in the first place.

And if I wake up in the middle of the night and the wind is blowing hard, I think about it a LOT.

A surprise wind storm coming in the middle of the night will sometimes cause me to pack up and do a night hike to another location. It all depends on wind strength and the pucker factor. Obviously, the worst wind is in gaps where there are usually problem trees, and on high open balds where there are no problem trees, so it isn't a factor(though a treeless bald can open up another can or worms: direct wind gales against an untested tent).

What is really eerie(other than having a tree fall on you), is getting to a favorite campsite and finding it blasted out by huge deadfall(see fotog). I set up here many times in the past and it was a great wide open campsite . . . and the place I used to put my tent . . . that would've been me under that thing . . .

[AT-HITMAN2005]

i was at gooch gap shelter for a break 3rd day on the trail. wind was blowing hard all day. had about 8-10 people at the shelter just hanging out, and a fairly large tangle of branches fell and hit the roof. was pretty wild.

[Dakota Dan]

Hikers falling or things falling on hikers ranks up there with hypothermia as the top dangers. IMO

[Phoenix Rising]

i was at gooch gap shelter for a break 3rd day on the trail. wind was blowing hard all day. had about 8-10 people at the shelter just hanging out, and a fairly large tangle of branches fell and hit the roof. was pretty wild.

Hitman
Weren't you with us the prior two nights where trees fell just in front of or next to the shelters? April 1st, 2nd and 3rd in 2005 all had trees or very large branches fall right next to the shelters around sunset that year.
Phoenix Rising

[Phoenix Rising]

Last weekend while driving on a forest road my friends and I came up on a recently fallen tree, that had to have come down in the preceding 5 minutes since we had just passed trucks headed in the other direction. It kind of made me happy to have slept out in the open (even with the howling wind) the night before due to all the pine bark beetle infestations AZ had had in the recent years and the plethora of dead trees still standing, it would have been so easy for one of those trees to find us.

[MOWGLI]

Before you set up your camp - LOOK UP. LOOK AROUND. Make sure there are no widow makers or dead trees that could fall on you in the night.

[Phoenix Rising]

Before you set up your camp - LOOK UP. LOOK AROUND. Make sure there are no widow makers or dead trees that could fall on you in the night.

In AZ pine tree country, that leaves no where to camp thanks to the pesky beetles!

[Mags]

I and many of my friends been on that very trail several times. It is good to point out that this accident happened when hiking and not camping. A very freak and very sad accident.


There, but for the grace of God, go I....

[Chache]

I was standing next to a guy that was hit by a coconut. I was working in Key West. He got hit on the side of his head and on his shoulder. I had to call for a ambulance. He was a hurt'in buckaroo but survived.

[Frosty]

I had the top of a dead tree fall near me this past past weekend on the Lakeshore Trail (GSMNP). It fell maybe 50-60 feet away in the middle of the day with no wind. It was very errie.

I had a similar thing happen a few years ago. A group of us was snowshoeing out on Nancy/Norcross Ponds in the Whites. We were about a half mile from the road, where the trail is flat, wlaking maybe 5-10 feet apart when an old birch tree fell between two of us. There was no wind or anything. Just plomp. It had been long dead and didn't have any branches and was pretty silent falling in the deep snow. It freaked out the guy it fell right in front of. The guys that were ahead of it never even heard it fall. They heard us yelling, though

[Lellers]

This is one of my fears which perhaps borders on phobia. But it's part of my everyday life, as I live in an old developed neighborhood with LOTS of 150 year old oak trees. The homes aren't far apart at all, and the trees are all around us and in between the homes. I live in a two storey house with a full attic, and none of the trees around us even has a first course of branches for about 20 feet about our roofline. They've all been trimmed back over the years to make for some enormous top-heavy oaks, and in the 23 years that I've lived in this little PA forest, I've seen a lot of trees topple. Once saw one fall across the road and land on a passing car. Amazingly, the driver was ok. Another tree fall across my neighor's one-storey bungalow, and the house was blown apart as if a bomb had gone off. Our house was hit by another giant on a perfectly sunny, calm day -- big ole oak, all leafed out for summer, just crashed across our front porch and crunched everything into crumbs. Glad I was away that day and not sitting on my front porch steps reading a book, as I normally did. Every wind storm here has me nervously checking the trees. I'm a fanatic about the trees and looking for the safest possible campsite when I'm out in the woods. I just don't want to hear the crash and feel the horrible vibration and thump, or worse yet, get squashed under one.

Ugh, I'm all worked up and nervous now!

[Tinker]

Hiking along the Long Trail many years ago, I was in a hurry to get to the road to call my wife (yes, before cell phones). I ducked under a very thick, low hanging birch branch and pushed it out of my way. Two steps later, I heard a loud "thud" behind me. I had dislodged a very large branch. If my hiking buddy had been right behind me as he usually was, it would've fallen on him. It's rare that someone has a tree or branch fall on him, but I'm more aware of the possibility since this happened. When it's windy, I pay attention to the creaks and groans trees make around me.