My wife and I spent a long three day weekend in Yachats, OR. We had planned this several months in advance, and as expected, had hopes for some stormy weather hiking. I believe this was one time that we got way more than we anticipated, and it was terrifying!
The day was Saturday October 25, and it was definitely a huge wind storm! It looked as though there was no location along the coast that would be spared from the hostile weather. We decided to head down south of Florence to the Dunes area where we decided on the Threemile Lake & Tahkenitch Dunes Loop Trail. We had not been to this area in decades, and all I remember was endless sand.
The drive wasn't too bad, and my wife took it slowly for the entire hour long drive. We arrived at the TH and were pleased to see that we were the only car in the parking lot. My first impression was: I didn't expect this area to be quite so forested, but that didn't deter us, even with the heavy winds. I mean, we hadn't seen a tree or large branches fall in the previous 7 years and 760 hikes! They always just seem to be on the ground, and it must have happened when there were no hikers, right?
I have to say that the forest from the TH out to Threemile Lake was just beautiful. And the wind gusts were blowing the tree tops around like it was straw, but all was well until we heard the sound of a tree splintering, and it was very close by in front of us! We both looked up, but didn't expect to see a large 50-60 foot tree bearing down at us, and I mean a perfect intersection with where we stood on the trail!!! What was surreal about the next 2-3 seconds is that there was NO noise from the tree falling, but everything seemed in slow motion. Extremely quickly I pushed back up the trail away from the tree, and at the same time felt my wife tugging on my backpack! I kept going and found I had knocked my wife over a log, and had also stopped moving as I struggled to balance. The approx. 14 inch Alder snag landed with a firm, but not loud thump that shook the ground, and didn't budge from its landing place, about 4-5 feet in front of us! There couldn't have been more than 3-4 seconds from the time we heard the splintering until it hit the ground. This was surely a widow (widower) maker, and I believe any response but moving in the direction we did would have killed one or both of us. When I close my eyes, I just see the snag swinging down upon us, and am thankful for this outcome, and have learned an extremely important lesson. High wind gusts and tall trees don't make for good hiking conditions!!! The sad part was, I let my guard down in believing nothing would happen and avoided the obvious signs from mother nature. This nearly cost us our lives, and it's not worth being able to tell the tale that we lucked out and survived it . Thankfully, we walked away without a scratch, but we have a big emotional scar to bear. We are so very lucky that the tree had no limbs and didn't bounce on impact, and had probably been rotting away for 5-10 years.
Here was the Widow Maker!
And as you can see, the trail is very nice!
Here is Three Mile Lake.
We were so thankful to reach the dunes where the high wind gusts were blowing sand along with the horizontal rain. Being wet sandblasted sure beat falling debris!
We made it to the beach, but quickly headed back due to the high winds!
When we finished the loop, the wind had died down and we felt relatively safe under the canopy. It was a long rough day that I don't want to repeat under these circumstances!
Take care, and please learn from this lesson that luckily didn't end in tragedy!!!
10/25/14 Near Death Experience at Threemile Lake Tr OR Dunes
- mileagemike25000
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Re: 10/25/14 Near Death Experience at Threemile Lake Tr OR D
Wow Mike, glad you guys are ok!
#pnw #bestlife #bitingflies #favoriteyellowcap #neverdispleased
- BrianEdwards
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Re: 10/25/14 Near Death Experience at Threemile Lake Tr OR D
Wo! Glad you both escaped with your life still intact
Clackamas River Waterfall Project - 95 Documented, 18 to go.
- rainrunner
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Re: 10/25/14 Near Death Experience at Threemile Lake Tr OR D
Glad you are both ok and thanks for the reminder that we are not invincible.
The mountains are calling and I must go.
John Muir
John Muir
Re: 10/25/14 Near Death Experience at Threemile Lake Tr OR D
Holy _____!
"Why are you always chasing women?"
"I'll tell you as soon as I catch one!"
"I'll tell you as soon as I catch one!"
Re: 10/25/14 Near Death Experience at Threemile Lake Tr OR D
Wow, glad y'all are okay. A few years ago I had a tree fall near me on a windy day, so I can relate a little to what you experienced. It was a smaller tree and hit a little farther away (30-40 ft behind me), but while I think I heard the initial crack when it broke, it was just one more noise among the many you hear when it's windy in the forest. It wasn't til it hit the ground that I knew what had happened. Eternal vigilance...or something like that.
Re: 10/25/14 Near Death Experience at Threemile Lake Tr OR D
Glad you saw that one coming.
Checking for widow makers is always a good idea whenever pitching a tent. I've had a couple of.surprises and don't know how many boring experiences. I have a penchant for making camp after dark...
Checking for widow makers is always a good idea whenever pitching a tent. I've had a couple of.surprises and don't know how many boring experiences. I have a penchant for making camp after dark...
- sprengers4jc
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Re: 10/25/14 Near Death Experience at Threemile Lake Tr OR D
Thank all the gods for fast reflexes! Glad you two are OK.
'We travel not to escape life but for life to not escape us.'
-Unknown
-Unknown
- mileagemike25000
- Posts: 475
- Joined: February 8th, 2012, 7:40 pm
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Re: 10/25/14 Near Death Experience at Threemile Lake Tr OR D
Thank you everyone for your kind and compassionate comments! I'm also glad to hear that others were safe after a close encounter. It will probably be a while before I stop being paranoid, but I'm sure avoidance of similar situations will bring back confidence with time. Take care and safe hiking/camping!
Last edited by mileagemike25000 on October 28th, 2014, 3:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: 10/25/14 Near Death Experience at Threemile Lake Tr OR D
That's my favorite trail on the coast. Down the big dune to the lakeside is a great lunch spot.
I'm glad you didn't get any blood on it..
I'm glad you didn't get any blood on it..