Camping in the woods in high wind

[Watch-keeper]

Camping in pine forests during a windy night is one of my favorite things, the noise of the wind through the needles is as good as rain on a tarp.....at least to me.

I agree with everyone else that you should take a good look up and around and use your judgement as to what looks dangerous especially in windy conditions.

 

[Pattree]

Yeah. I’ve watched rivers of wind blowing through otherwise nearly still pines and douglas. The air stream might only be tour or five metres wide. Fascinating. I was visiting Westonbirt Arboretum in a gale and could hear branches snapping but didn’t see it. We made our way out passing the “Closed due to high winds” notice that hadn’t been there when we went in.
……. but you won’t find me camping in woodland under the OP conditions.

 

[n00b]

@GNJC Ash sheds limbs like beech? Why "now"? Has something changed?

 

[Broch]

@GNJC Ash sheds limbs like beech? Why "now"? Has something changed?

No, not like beech, but, because of ash dieback, many if not most ash trees are dying and can shed branches or fall over. Ash dieback is all over the country and it is now considered likely we will lose between 80 and 90% of all ash trees. If they are in a dangerous position, by a road or a public footpath or near a house, and showing signs of dieback, they should be taken down. In the middle of a wood the dead tree will provide great wildlife habitat and should be left standing.

 

[n00b]

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/tree-pests-and-diseases/key-tree-pests-and-diseases/ash-dieback/

That's troubling. The Norse would no doubt see this as a sign of the end times, ash being the Tree of Life Yggdrasil.

 

[slowworm]

I have loads of ash and it's mostly infected with ADB. Most of the time the trees just shed small rotten branches, so not much danger, but I've had a couple trees snap half way up the trunk. the disease makes the trees more brittle I gather.

 

[Broch]

I have loads of ash and it's mostly infected with ADB. Most of the time the trees just shed small rotten branches, so not much danger, but I've had a couple trees snap half way up the trunk. the disease makes the trees more brittle I gather.

There is some concern over the safety of professionals dealing with large infected trees; apparently, when cut into, they can 'explode' as the stresses are released - if you're dismantling them from the top that must be very disconcerting!

 

[slowworm]

I've had a couple roadside ash removed professionally as they needed climbing. One almost snapped under the climber and he was a bit nervous of them. They were fairly small, I wouldn't want to climb some of my larger trees.

 

[n00b]

Last night I remembered I had actually thought of a way before to maximise safety while camping under potentially dangerous trees in high wind conditions: tie criss-crossing tensioning hitches with paracord above the top of the tent. I didn't have a lot of cord last night so only did two lines, looking up at the branches to see how one was most likely to fall. In future I'll make sure I have plenty of cord and set up a kind of mesh of tensioning hitches, like a bushcraft forcefield.

 

[Kepis]

The only way to safely camp under potentially dangerous trees is to not camp under potentially dangerous trees, paracord wont save you.

 

[n00b]

I think it would probably help. It's effectively a net to catch falling branches or at least break their fall.

Obviously not camping there in the first place would be safer but this thread isn't about that.

 

[Tengu]

I dont think its a good idea at all.

 

[Kepis]

I think it would probably help. It's effectively a net to catch falling branches or at least break their fall.

Obviously not camping there in the first place would be safer but this thread isn't about that.

Good luck with that then, all im going to say is F=ma

 

[TLM]

STD paracord strength probably is not enough to protect from anything but the smallest branches. The most common one is only 550 lbs, about 2.44kN which is not all that much.

 

[TLM]

Good luck with that then, all im going to say is F=ma

While kind of true, Newton's original formulation was slightly different.

The more relevant ones here are E=mgh and v²=2gh.

 

[Chris]

Big heavy pointy thing falling from sky = bad, even with an umbrella up.

 

[haptalaon]

Don't make camp with a fire at the base of a fresh fallen/partially uprooted tree either, even if it does look like good shelter. It's not unknown for the tree to upright itself.

That is absolutely terrifying. Tho now you mention it, I did know this - there was recent footage of the forest floor moving like a sea. In the truest sense of the word: awesome.

maximise safety while camping under potentially dangerous trees in high wind conditions: tie criss-crossing tensioning hitches with paracord above the top of the tent.

My sense is that anything light enough to be stopped by paracord will be light enough to be stopped by your tent or tarp, or nothing so bad you can't walk away from

My 2c is that pine forests on mountains, and especially artificial pine plantations, have extremely shallow root systems - the pine needles themselves rot down into an interesting substance that's not super strong. I've walked through them and seen my husband snap through the ground down to his waist like he was about to be devoured by it.

I'll find nice spots to camp and then realise they're only so welcoming and open because all the trees above and below have come down like a river of motion. Yikes!

Troubleshooting the original question: if you absolutely, absolutely, absolutely had to camp in a windy forest, would it be safer to build some kind of shelter below the level of the ground? That might be protective against an entire tree coming down. I'm just spitballing. In the past, I've considered 'underneath a previously fallen tree', but that might equally indicate a loose soil problem or a place the wind tends to pass through strongly.

 

[grainweevil]

That is absolutely terrifying. Tho now you mention it, I did know this - there was recent footage of the forest floor moving like a sea. In the truest sense of the word: awesome.

Good grief.

Just recently, during Storm Ciarán, I read of one fellow who was very lucky to have got out of his motorhome bed moments before a branch came through the roof like a spear right where he'd been lying. It seemed to me a compelling argument for a good sturdy roof over your head when it comes to high winds and trees.

 

[Broch]

Good grief.

Just recently, during Storm Ciarán, I read of one fellow who was very lucky to have got out of his motorhome bed moments before a branch came through the roof like a spear right where he'd been lying. It seemed to me a compelling argument for a good sturdy roof over your head when it comes to high winds and trees.

As I mentioned above, depending on the size tree behind the branch, you would need armoured steel, and even then the crushing effect may still get you!

 

[n00b]

STD paracord strength probably is not enough to protect from anything but the smallest branches. The most common one is only 550 lbs, about 2.44kN which is not all that much.

It seems obvious to me that criss-crossing lines would at least break the fall of a large branch. I can't imagine it would fail to catch a person for instance.