This is why arborists wear hard hats. It is more than eight feet tall. I do not know how much of it extends into the wet sand. Nor do I know how much it weighs. It might have fallen from about twenty-five feet up. I do not know how far the pole saw that it was plucked down with was extended. Even with a hard hat, this would have been potentially very dangerous. I am glad that it is now on the ground, or will be when it falls over.
Nature is naturally hazardous. We try to make some of it safer. We can not eliminate all hazards though. Some, like this one before it fell, are not obviously hazardous. Some are not visible from the ground. As frequently as some hazards are eliminated, others are developing. Trees are always growing and shedding limbs that get shaded out. Old trees are always dying and deteriorating. It never ends.
The alder that dropped this necrotic limb took quite a beating when the creek flooded last winter. Water was higher than this broken limb now stands. Massive trunks of trees that fell upstream floated through here, battering any tree trunks that they encountered, including the trunk of the tree that dropped this limb, which is now at the edge of the water at its current depth. Such pummelling should have dislodged such decayed limbs. Perhaps this limb was not so decayed last winter, and therefore more firmly attached.
The intention of the minor tree work that was done in this area was merely to neaten the scenery a bit. Hazards such as this were not a consideration, since the trees appeared to be reasonably safe, and because they are located on the bank of a creek where no one else goes.
Tony Tomeo 
Oh yea wear that hard hat. That was a serious weapon falling from above.
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It is one of the hazards of the forest. Some of the tallest trees in the World live here. Even small bits or cones falling from hundreds of feet up can be dangerous.
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Absolutely. The most spectacular trees!
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Yes, they are so tall that you can see them from there if you look in this direction.
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Oh….ok. I am trying to believe you, honest I am…………
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If you have use for firewood, I could aim one in your direction as I cut it down (although they are not good firewood). Pilots flying into San Jose Mineta Airport might appreciate that.
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No thanks, no use for firewood. 🙂
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Have you ever noticed all those silly craters that the fast growing redwoods left on the moon?
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That’s an explanation I’ve never considered before…………
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LImbs that fall from hundred of feet up are very dangerous. LImbs that fall from closer to the tops tend to burn up in the atmosphere on their way down.
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“Nature is naturally hazardous” indeed. I worry most about something like a tree branch hitting one of my eyes.
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Redwoods are so tall that if a breeze blows a dislodged limb at even a slight angle, it might reach Texas.
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