Falling tree kills Post Falls woman

LIBBY, Mont. — Authorities say a 61-year-old Post Falls woman was killed by a falling tree as she hiked with a friend west of Libby over the weekend.

Roby Bowe with the Lincoln County Sheriff’s office says Diane Triplett was hit by the tree on the Cedar Lakes Trail on Sunday. Her friend was able to duck under a nearby log.

A forest fire burned the area in 2000, and numerous blackened snags remain along the trail.

Bowe says several years ago, a horse was spooked by a falling tree and threw its rider, who suffered broken ribs and a punctured lung. More recently, a man was hit by a tree in the area and lost the use of his arm.

The trail crosses U.S. Forest Service land at the northern end of the Cabinet Mountains.