Measuring Tree Height Without A Tape Measure

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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.

[@cakekomo]

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

[@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.

[@donnsunderland2684]

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

[@macster1457]

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

[@rickyshultz2051]

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 .

[@randymarkley5634]

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

[@andrewc6385]

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

[@jpeterman57]

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

[@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.

[@catblue6393]

👍🏻 Your computer demonstration with visual aids was helpful to me. Thank you.

[@bruceross6628]

Love it, another one to consider is if you outstretched your arm and hold your thumb vertical and sight from one side of your thumb to the other side is two degrees, handy when sailing. CHEERS

[@gtdude2883]

Awesome explanation on how it works.

[@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).

[@davidlyons7238]

Thanks that's amazing. I have trees I've been curious about there height I'm going to try this. Thank you.

[@jimf710]

Where were you in 1982 when I was taking geometry?? Great idea and even better graphics to drive the point home.

[@guermeisterdoodlebug7980]

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.

[@b5maddog]

This was fun and interesting. Can’t wait to try it. Thanks

[@hassanbazzi3545]

Very smart and interesting. Thank you for sharing

[@davidrobbins8087]

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.