Some tree trunks grow into two trunks and sometimes three, dividing just a few feet from the ground. They are always compromised. Moisture and debris gather in the crevice and the two or three trunks lean away from each other seeking light of their own. Most of the growth on the separate trunks is weighted toward the lean. The trees are beautiful but doomed by gravity. We have seen so many of them split apart with one trunk crashing to the ground whether we were there to hear them hit or not.
We had seen the split in this one and knew it was on borrowed time so it was no surprise to find it laying across our walking path. It would be a ski path if we still had winter around here but it was 60 degrees today. It wasn’t just crossing our path it fell along the path so it would have been impossible to ski around without stopping and taking off our skis. We had to address this problem but we needed to enlist an engineer so we stopped down at Jared’s.
We had our chainsaw in our wheelbarrow along with the oil and gas containers and Jared contributed a couple of wedges, a maul and a short handled sledge hammer. We spent a good part of the afternoon making strategic cuts in this one hundred foot tree. You can see how the bottom part of the tree was hovering above the ground. It had fallen into a few other trees and was hung up but spring loaded between the trees. Many of our cuts resulted in surprising releases. A most enjoyable afternoon.
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