New Trip Report posted by Jacquou

Trip Name: Disaster at site 917 .

Entry Point: 38

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All I can say is, "YIKES"! The "what if" factor is pretty scary to think about.

Over the years I have seen enough downed trees that it is my #1 safety concern in the BWCA, largely because it's hard to have much control over it. Dang near every campsite I've been in has had questionable trees within reach of the tent pads, and often it doesn't take as much wind as you may think to bring them down.

Other than dumping in the middle of the lake when the water is cold, this is my biggest fear when camping.

Thankfully, you rarely hear of tree vs. human catastrophes.

"That's cuz they died and couldn't report about it." Ha! Beat y'all to it :)

Last month I was sitting just enjoy the view from my campsite on the middle unnamed lake between the north and south arms of Quetico Lake when I heard the massive crash of a tree falling back in the woods just a short ways down the shoreline. Couldn't see anything but based on how loud the crash was, I'm guessing it was a big tree that came down. I definitely spent a little extra time looking up at the canopy before picking a tent spot the rest of the trip...

Very scary situation, for sure. Glad it worked out for you.

Kawishiwashy: "Thankfully, you rarely hear of tree vs. human catastrophes."

I lived in NH for seventeen years. It is the most heavily forested state by percentage of its area. Fatalities from falling trees were an annual occurrence, including a woman driving in the middle of the day on a road that I used weekly.

That is really scary. I usually look at the nearby trees to see which ones to try not to be near, but I would not have been concerned about that one. You just never know. We went to the northernmost site on Emerald in Quetico just to check it out. We were already camping in the eastern site. There were 3 huge pine trees lying beside each other that looked like they fell together. They were each over 2 feet in diameter. It really spooked me to think what it would have been like to be there when they fell. They'd been there so long I probably wouldn't have even given them a thought. Glad you weren't at that site when those went down.

NEIowapaddler: "Other than dumping in the middle of the lake when the water is cold, this is my biggest fear when camping."

Same here!

That would definitely spook me. My husband and I have had 2 experiences.
The first was 30 years ago in the Porquipine Mountains. It was a spur of the moment trip in the spring. We parked at a trailhead, hiked in, and set up off the trail, No set campsites, 6 foot spring brush, a storm came up, large tree came down close by, and we didn’t sleep the rest of the night. If it would have come down on the tent i doubt if anyone would have noticed until fall when the leaves fell. Lesson learned: tell someone where you’re going, and when you’ll return.
The second was in a primitive area near Medford. It was a cold, windy day and we were huddled around the camp stove ( too dry & windy for a fire) when we heard a loud creaking noise, then a big thud. A large tree had indeed fallen a few feet off the portage trail-luckily parallels to the trail, not across it.

While I always check for visibly high risk trees before I pitch a tent, I learned early on in my camping days that it is very hard to predict the true health of a tree visually. On Pine Lake in the eastern part of the BWCA, I woke one calm morning to the sound of snapping wood. I thought a stranger was at my kitchen area prepping firewood...that was the exact sound.

As I exited the tent to investigate, I stood up just in time to witness a MASSIVE red pine fall into the water. The trunk had snapped about 3 feet up from the base. Externally, everything looked healthy, but it was clear it had some internal rot that caused it to fall. No heavy winds that night or morning...it was just time for it to fall.