DAY 244
12.04.07
TREE 168
Damn! I have not been that scared in a tree in quite some time. I didn’t take any ribbon or my camera to work so I waited till after dinner to climb. As I drive around places I’m always looking for trees and since I’ve been back living with my parents I’ve wanted to stop at the pool off route 393. There is one tree right by the road that looks enticing. Well, I grabbed my things and right after my mom drove away to tax class I jumped in the truck, drove over, and parked in the lot at the pool.
I was in a hurry because It was getting dark fast. I stepped out of my truck and there was a playground nearby. All through the playground were huge old trees. I just started walking in that direction. One tree in particular, just beyond the shelter, looked like a good challenge. It is very large with good limbs but very spread out. I decided quickly that this tree would be it. No wasting time, get in it! I thought. I had a little trouble getting up one side so I tried the opposite and succeeded. The trunk split low, about four feet from the ground. I chose the leader to my left, then began climbing. It was getting darker by the second. So many limbs turned out to be dead. I broke many just clearing a path. And there were countless little suckers that poked into me and got in the way the whole climb.
I wound my way up in circles around the large limb. Like an irregular red stripe on a candy cane. I had to use the main leader limb to hold so many times because the smaller limbs were weak and the strong ones far apart. I also utilized many crotches and the strategy of distributing my weight. I was very scared going up. On one limb I pulled myself onto it without another limb to grab. Once on my stomach I reached for the closest one but it was around the corner and it locked my elbow. When I got my feet up, I had no leverage. If I would have leaned forward I would have fallen, so I inched back, transferred my grip to the trunk and I was safe. Kinda. I continued on, every questionable stop I pushed forward and solved the puzzle. I made it to the top. I pushed up one more limb and said out loud that I was crazy for always pushing myself higher. Shots were difficult because the light was almost gone.
Then a pause, and I climbed down. Scared but determined, I used gravity to my advantage. Once again I reached ground. I amaze myself sometimes.
12-7-08: There are a few terms in the above entry that I had just learned at the time while working at the tree service. The first is "sucker." This is new growth on branches, those small twigs that sprout anywhere. These are often undesirable and we were asked to cut them off all the time.
The second is "main leader." These are the largest branches that continue up after the trunk splits. They are the limbs that most of the tree’s limbs shoot off from.
The last picture, the one with the strip of lights, can you guess what that is? A busy town street? A crowded new subdivision? Nope, that is the State Penitentiary off Route 146 in La Grange. There have been a few trees where that place has been visible. It is a strange thing to be at the top of a tree, a place I feel the most free, and look over a complex of imprisonment. It makes me never want to go to jail. Not that I have ever thought I wanted to, but if I couldn’t climb trees anymore I would be a very sad person.
At the potluck last Tuesday Tim and I talked about slack lining. This is where you tie nylon webbing between two trees and then walk on it to improve balance. It is also quite fun. Tim explained that it was created by climbers who wanted something to do on an off day. I then told him that I would really like to try it. So after Tim got off work on Wednesday I met him at Cox’s Park. It was a grey and cold day with on and off rain. Tim showed me how to set one up which used an incredibly clever system of knots to tighten the line. As we got started Norm showed up on his motorcycle and joined us. It was hard at first, even to just get on. Luckily I have been practicing a similar form of balance training on some parking blocks that have a metal cable strung between them. It is pretty much the same thing only the metal cable is much smaller than the inch wide nylon webbing. I still struggled to walk the entire length of the line. I decided I needed a break and looked at the two trees the line was tied to.
One, a hackberry, actually looked great and had a perfect system of knots and bumps to get me going into the branches. This made the beginning of the climb feel like a rock climb. It was a really great challenge and felt very satisfying to solve. Once in the branches I continued higher till I reached the top. Below me Tim and Norman were trying to walk the line while rocking their leg side to side to throw their balance. Every once in a while they would complain that I was shaking the tree.
I decided to not only take pictures of them but I took a video too.
I got some more shots of the nearby pond, trees, River Road, and a woman walking her dog.
Then I climbed back down to join them. Norm left soon after I got back to the line. Once I got up I was way more stable and able to go the entire length and even turn and start going back. Soon I was walking backwards and even jumping onto the line. The difference between before the climb and after was night and day. I couldn’t explain what it was, but the tree climb just made me focus better, warmed my muscles, cleared my head, who knows exactly what did it? I really enjoyed it and hope we do it again soon.