DAY 223
11.13.07
TREE 147
Last day in Portland. Well, just a morning really. Everything but the shipping and the cleaning got done yesterday. Rachel went to school early, she had class at 7:30. I drove her to the bus stop, then I started to tidy up the house a little. Norm and Jennifer got up and wanted coffee and breakfast so we drove over to Starbucks and I stopped at the shipping place. Only it was 45 minutes till opening time. I was frustrated, I was limited on time and I had other things to do. So I picked Norm and Jennifer back up and they took their breakfast to go. I skipped eating. Back at the house I did a couple things then thought this would be the best time to climb. The sun was out today but it was pretty wet. My toes got soaked as I walked through the grass. I wanted a quick and convenient tree. I walked to this birch I saw. I’ve never climbed on of those yet. But I didn’t today either… too difficult. Then I walked over to those funny, knobby cedars.
The needles were turning a nice orangish-brown with hints of green left over in the middle of the leaf system. I used the low knobs as footholds and grabbed the lowest limbs to pull myself in.
Besides a few dead limbs the climb was pretty easy and I didn’t get too high because the tree just isn’t that tall.
I took some shots and then let the weight of this trip weigh on my mind. I was moving out, leaving Rachel for good. We had a good visit but I’m moving on. Besides the issue of not selling the pool table I’m out of here. I got my own life to start living. I tied my ribbon and took a delicate leaf.
Then I climbed down. I knew once I hit the ground, that was it. I was ready to go, and that’s exactly what happened. We loaded the car, picked up Rachel and she dropped us off at the airport. I said goodbye and it wasn’t too bad. We made the hard goodbye in July. Now we have a friendship. It’s nice to have these tree climbs and this journal to examine, punctuate, and record these moments.
11-13-08: That tree had some of the most beautiful needle leaves. And the morning sun made for some great pictures. It was a really great last climb for the Portland trip. Though that trip was a little stressful and hard, going back to Louisville to continue working at my tree service job was not something I was looking forward to. I have a feeling that reading and posting these coming entries is going to bring back a lot of negative memories for me. I don’t think I realized it at the time, but I felt really awful about being at that job.
To bigger, brighter, happier things. I climbed an amazing tree yesterday. I biked down the River Walk Trail as I often do and got to the place where the path leads from under I-64, past a field, and down right next to the river in the woods. In that field there are these massive trees that I have always wanted to climb and have looked at so many times for a way up.
But every time I have concluded each tree just too big and difficult.
Well yesterday, without all the leaves and undergrowth A path just hit me.
So simple, so easy, how did I never see this before? I eagerly parked my bike at the base of the tree and started my climb. Once I cat crawled up the low branch and crawled upside-down into the trunk I was ready for a challenging climb. And it was quite challenging.
The branches were spaced pretty far apart, but close enough for me to hang from a limb, lift my right leg up and twist myself on top. Then I had to balance myself as I got to my feet and look for the next limb to reach.
I kept going up and up and when the trunk split into branches I picked my path to the highest spot I thought I could reach.
I had to do a little shimmying, and some serious pulling and maneuvering. Even before I got to the top I was saying out loud how amazing this climb is.
The view was already spectacular and I hadn’t even reached my high point. I knew I was going to be taking a ton of pictures. I finally reached the top and took it all in.
The day was grey but luckily there was a break in the rain.
I took out my camera and just took shot after shot. The distant woods were pretty, the Louisville skyline was visible over the highway, the old rusted bridge was sonear by, the river, the field, everything was just so wonderful from up in the tree.
I was so excited. I took a video to try to capture what I could see.
I could even see the Sherman Minton Bridge.
After I finished shooting I stayed up for a while to really enjoy this special spot high up in this tree. I waved at the cars going by on I-64 to see if any might see me and honk. None did.
I did a series of drop tests with twigs and timed it to get an average to determine my height. 32.2ft/s = gravity. Right? The average time it took for the twig to leave my hand and hit the ground was 2.7 seconds. Therefore, I was 86.94 ft above ground. This does not account for air friction, and I’m not even sure I have that equation right. But that distance doesn’t sound too far off. I was high. I was higher than the highway. Anyway. My feet started to hurt and I decided to climb down. I took my time and the descent was also very challenging. I was happy to be down on the ground when I finally got there. It was such a great climb. Every once in a while I have one of those climbs that rates up at the top… and I’d say this is top 3.