Gerald_Beranek
New member
- Location
- Ft. Bragg, Ca.
Thursday morning after WCISA in Konocti I guided Mark, his dad Steve and Brian Noyes to a little known redwood grove in Mendocino county. The locals call it Indian Falls. Very pretty during the winter months, the flow drops to just a trickle during the summer. A couple from Pheonix named John and Kim came along with us.
Back in the early 80's I attempted to reach the top of the trees at Indian Falls, the fellow I was with choked about half way and I had to get him down. Then about 3 years ago a friend of mine got a line of sight on one of the tops and used a laser to measure the height of at least one of the trees there. He later reported to me one tree that was 337' tall. That sparked my interest again.
So prior to WCISA I set a line in one of the trees 175',,, to have it ready for Marks visit. Well, as it turned out, that line I set didn't provide us a means to gain entrance into the canopy. It wasn't over the limb that it appeared to be and dropped out when we were pulling in the static line. A humbling moment. And so I had to make the shot again. Which cost time and caused delay, but I lucked out managed to get the line over a good limb at 200'. My highest yet. But the line was away from the trunk a good 8 feet. Which didn't inspire confidence. John, weighing in at 150 lbs jumped at the oppertunity to go up and set the line in closer to the trunk. And that he did without wasting any time. While going up the rope he mentioned that he had been working out for a couple of weeks. And he zipped right up there, set the line in close and went on to the top.
Brian went next and while going up the rope he mentioned that he wished he had been working out prior to this climb. After he got off the line Mark was getting ready to go when all of a sudden the sound of something falling could be heard hitting the limbs. I ducked for cover under a smaller tree to avoid getting hit with a piece of deadwood. Turned out to be John's camera coming down. A $1500 item he said. We recovered it and the memory card, Hopefully the card retained the data and no shots were lost. The battery compartment door blew off the camera and expelled the batteries. Other than that the camera was in remarkable condition,,, considering a 300 foot fall. I hope John reports back if it works or not.
Mark and Brian went on to the top, John came down and rushed off with Kim. They had to beat feet to Sacramento airport. By that time it was 4 o'clock and I decided to stay on the ground. As it would have added another hour or better before all was on the ground and packing out.
While in the top Mark and Brian got some shots of the canopy and view of the canyon the grove sits in. The pictures will be posted soon as Mark gets home.
Turns the measurement with the laser was pretty close. The tree Mark and Brian climbed is 340' tall. The remarkable thing is it's only about 7 ft. diameter. A real bean pole. The tree next to it they say is about 12' taller.
We left a intermediate line in the tree at 200 ft,,, and close in to the trunk. So there should be no delays getting a static line set on the next visit.
I'm really pleased that John, Mark and Brain shared a canopy experience at Indian Falls grove. Even though I didn't make it up with them it really made my day knowing they did.
Indian Falls grove is only 25 miles from my door.
Jerry B
Back in the early 80's I attempted to reach the top of the trees at Indian Falls, the fellow I was with choked about half way and I had to get him down. Then about 3 years ago a friend of mine got a line of sight on one of the tops and used a laser to measure the height of at least one of the trees there. He later reported to me one tree that was 337' tall. That sparked my interest again.
So prior to WCISA I set a line in one of the trees 175',,, to have it ready for Marks visit. Well, as it turned out, that line I set didn't provide us a means to gain entrance into the canopy. It wasn't over the limb that it appeared to be and dropped out when we were pulling in the static line. A humbling moment. And so I had to make the shot again. Which cost time and caused delay, but I lucked out managed to get the line over a good limb at 200'. My highest yet. But the line was away from the trunk a good 8 feet. Which didn't inspire confidence. John, weighing in at 150 lbs jumped at the oppertunity to go up and set the line in closer to the trunk. And that he did without wasting any time. While going up the rope he mentioned that he had been working out for a couple of weeks. And he zipped right up there, set the line in close and went on to the top.
Brian went next and while going up the rope he mentioned that he wished he had been working out prior to this climb. After he got off the line Mark was getting ready to go when all of a sudden the sound of something falling could be heard hitting the limbs. I ducked for cover under a smaller tree to avoid getting hit with a piece of deadwood. Turned out to be John's camera coming down. A $1500 item he said. We recovered it and the memory card, Hopefully the card retained the data and no shots were lost. The battery compartment door blew off the camera and expelled the batteries. Other than that the camera was in remarkable condition,,, considering a 300 foot fall. I hope John reports back if it works or not.
Mark and Brian went on to the top, John came down and rushed off with Kim. They had to beat feet to Sacramento airport. By that time it was 4 o'clock and I decided to stay on the ground. As it would have added another hour or better before all was on the ground and packing out.
While in the top Mark and Brian got some shots of the canopy and view of the canyon the grove sits in. The pictures will be posted soon as Mark gets home.
Turns the measurement with the laser was pretty close. The tree Mark and Brian climbed is 340' tall. The remarkable thing is it's only about 7 ft. diameter. A real bean pole. The tree next to it they say is about 12' taller.
We left a intermediate line in the tree at 200 ft,,, and close in to the trunk. So there should be no delays getting a static line set on the next visit.
I'm really pleased that John, Mark and Brain shared a canopy experience at Indian Falls grove. Even though I didn't make it up with them it really made my day knowing they did.
Indian Falls grove is only 25 miles from my door.
Jerry B
