Two young campers dead after tree limb falls on their tent

Yeah, I saw this earlier, and of course it made me sad. Maybe Chuck will cook them some biscuits.

Dreadful.

I'm always paranoid about this kind of accident as hundreds of nights outdoors means being under hundreds of different trees in all weather conditions. Sometimes open bald camping is preferred despite the high winds and exposure often associated with such camping.

And even if you look up beforehand (a necessary RULE for all backpackers . . . or even car campers), and avoid camping under dead limbs or an obvious dead tree, living trees can still fall rootball and all. High limbs can snap off and impale the ground 2 feet deep like a spike. Vlad the Impaler comes to mind.

In this tragic accident, was the Oak tree above them dead or not??

The state park I go to often has this same problem. I forget the exact name for the phenomenon, but it is something like Sudden Limb Drop phenomena. Scientists are apparently not sure why exactly oak trees do this, but the state is requiring that parks were this phenomenon has occurred this summer that have resulted in injury must hand out a warning slip to all campers. The park I frequent has had two occurrences this summer where someone has had minor injuries, but none that resulted in death or serious injury.

According to the warning being passed out the oak trees that do this are healthy, but for whatever reason drop limbs. At my park in particular there is at least one noticed limb drop every few days according to staff. Gotta watch where you go I guess.

Tragic news. I know it's about a month old now, but I'll bump this anyways as a continued reminder to be wary of overhead hazards.

A friend and frequent hiking partner of mine lost a very close friend of his while they were hiking at the base of a water fall this past spring. A big Red Oak atop the falls shed a branch, which fell 60 feet and hit them both. He had minor injuries, she was killed.

Having had family in the logging industry I'm well aware of the hazards posed by trees and their "widow-makers," but even I often forget to look up. Though I didn't know the woman, it really struck a chord with me because I climb numerous falls in that area, always aware of ice- and rock-fall hazards, but never really thinking about wood-fall.