Setting up a Tent

Setting up a tent if a vital skill.  Practice so that you can set it up at night in the pouring rain if needed. 

Hazard Trees

The BSA has an entire webpage dedicated to Hazard Trees because they are deadly.  The tend to fall during wind storms and have been known to fall with the weather was great.

Beware of the "Widow-Maker".  Cottonwood and other trees with sketchy limbs have been known to fall on campers below.

Here are some tips to prevent a hazard tree from affecting your event:

• Assess your site. Look up, look down, and look all around when parking a vehicle, hiking on the trail, or selecting a campsite.

• Avoid campsites with hazard trees. Dead trees and dead limbs may fall at any time. Trees without needles, bark, or limbs may indicate structural defects.

• If a campsite does have hazard trees but must be used, be sure that all tents, chairs, hammocks, and work areas are outside the failure zone, or fall radius, of those trees. The fall radius on flat ground is 1½ times the height of the tree or tree part that could fail. Sloping ground could increase the danger zone.

• Don’t use dead trees, hazard trees, or other unstable objects to support tents, canopies, or hammocks.

• Check the environment constantly for changes, including the weather, as storms can increase the likelihood of trees or parts of trees falling.

• Communicate about hazard trees to others, such as units, crews, or camp authorities.