Hiking in High Winds

For anyone who pays attention to the blog and saw the video yesterday posted by Casey you may have noticed that it was sort of windy yesterday in the Pacific Northwest and up on Mount Si. I always figured that in high winds while hiking you would have to watch out for falling branches or trees and of course if you were near a cliff not to get blown off.

Another risk that came to mind was the possibility of getting crushed by a boulder. When Casey and I were on our way up the mountain we heard something in the distance which sounded like thunder. When we came back down we saw this in the trail:

As the wind was blowing and the trees were swaying it appears that the base of the tree moved enough to dislodge a large rock from here:

The rest of the rock ended up on the other side of the trail here:

If we had come down the trail about 15 or 20 minutes sooner than we had you may have been able to see one or both of us squished by the rocks. So I learned something yesterday about hiking in high wind and that's to not do it. Just thought I'd pass the friendly reminder along to beware of more than just falling of cliffs and getting smashed by falling trees and or branches. Have a good Tuesday everyone!!