Measuring Tree Height Without A Tape Measure

This is a great skill to have when you want to estimate the height of a tree or anything else that is a bit taller than a standard tape measure. You will not need any tape measures, range finders, or any other fancy piece of equipment. All you need is a little understanding of geometry and a stick from your yard.

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[heymrjazzman]

My dad was a landscape architect and he used the same principle using his hand and extending his thumb and pinky as far apart as he could. He passed away 35 years ago and seeing your video brought back memories. Thank you.

[donnsunderland]

Saw Mr. Wizard (Don Herbert) do exactly that on TV many decades ago. Never forgot it and have used it several times.

[guermeisterdoodlebug]

Old forester here (me, not the booze). It’s a hypsometer—a device used to measure heights. The “original” was a ruled stick known as a Biltmore Stick. Other sophisticated ocular devices used by foresters, e.g. Spiegel Relaskop, work on the same geometric principle (but cost far more than a stick), but they had several other functions, too. Biltmore Stick was also used to estimate diameters. If you get good enough at these practices you might decide to call yourself a mensurationist.

[Bob_Adkins]

Another very easy way is to measure the tree's shadow, then measure the shadow of a yardstick. If the yardstick shadow is 1 foot and the tree shadow is 10 feet, then the tree is 30 feet tall. You can substitute any stick of a known length.

[cakekomo]

I remember learning this in Geometry class back in high school! Was a fun day outside for a change.

[davidrobbins]

As a retired land surveyor, I always come up with ways to do things like this. I like the story of the Greek mathematician Eratosthenes who in 240 BCE, not only proved that the earth was a sphere, but very accurately measured its radius. There was a deep well, where on one day of the year, the sun would shine straight down to the bottom. From that well, he measured several hundred miles due north. There he measured and erected a pole. On that day when the sun would shine down to the bottom of the well, he measured the shadow of the pole. Then he did the math. It wasn’t until modern times that the earth’s radius was more accurately measured.

[jjrusy]

i made a little gadget to estimate where the top of a tree would fall. i attached a tube to a small square of plywood at 45 degrees, then attached a hanging weight to the plywood, over a vertical line so i could use that as a plumb level and hold the tube at exactly 45 degrees. i step to where i can see the top of the tree through the tube looking up, then i do a 180 and look down at the ground through the tube. that spot is where the top of the tree will land. this has enabled me to drop trees in tricky places with tight clearance in the yard. amazingly accurate to probably +/- 1-2 feet. also, no numbers or math needed

[billheckman]

Always blows my mind when someone shares centuries old technology and folks cannot believe how simple it is. I have amazed 20-40 year olds by easily moving 1000 lb objects with a large lever and really amaze them with what I can lift with a piece of rope and a series of pulleys. It's really pretty sad when you think about it. Maybe that's why my grandkids love to come to my house.

[andrewc]

Wow. This is so cool. Thanks for explaining why too, made perfect sense after seeing it explained

[jpeterman]

Ah the old Boy Scout trick. Handy knowledge working towards a merit badge and used to be in the Scout Handbook.

[rrcaniglia]

Very clear. In the Army, we were taught how to do the same thing using a compass to estimate horizontal distances. Take an azimuth across the obstacle. March at 90 degrees until another azimuth is 45 degrees different from your original cross-river sighting. The stick ‘inclinometer’ is the brilliant piece in your method.

[roberthesse]

I've used this method cutting trees down in the yard so I knew where the top of the tree is going to land. When you're not sure if it might hit a building this is a pretty accurate way to avoid falling a tree on your house. To be on the safe side I make sure I have 8 to 10 extra feet before I cut.

[TheByard]

I was taught this method in Boy Scouts back in the mid 1950s, I used in the army cadets a bit later on. We had to cut a rusted in place flag pole down and the instructor wanted to know where the top would land. Of course he knew how tall the pole was, he just wanted us to use our heads and fathom it out. I was 3" out but on the safe side. I went into construction and used the method often.

[macster]

I've done this and works great. I fell a few 50-60 ft pine trees.

[rickyshultz]

In a cutting class years ago they gave us a little square plastic card with two pins through it . One pin was the notch the other was the top of the tree, it had a foot graph chart for tree height. It came in handy several times and was super easy to use .

[tiedryflies]

Learned this principle in the Boy Scouts when I was about 10 years old. Have used it many times since, I'm 74.

[timjohnson]

I learned this in the Boy Scouts over 50 years ago. The Scouts were all about commonsense solutions and self sufficiency.

[randymarkley]

Nice! I’d seen this many years ago but had forgotten the steps. Thank!

[DanielinLaTuna]

I knew from geometry class that this method would work. What I hadn’t realized is that knowing your stride length would literally make this a tool-less technique (no tape measure required).

[stevethomas]

fanbloodytasic calculation. On a similar note, I am an electrician from the UK. When pulling out cables and measuring the length we use our bodies as tape measures. This is how it's done, looking to your chest the right nipple to the tip of your fingers on your stretch out left arm is 1 metre or 3' 3". Try it measure it 39 inches.