DAY 287
01.16.08
TREE 117
After work I drove to Seneca Park to reclimb this mystery tree. I call it a mystery because I’m still not sure what kind of tree it is. The large clusters of stiff seed petals are very distinct. Surprisingly, when I got to the tree, many of those seeds still remained, while all the leaves had fallen.
To get into the tree I first tried a different method than I had the first time. On that night I didn’t want to cause any alarm to the few park-goers walking on the trail below so I quietly crept up a hanging low limb. Today, however, was light (but grey) and the park had plenty of people and I don’t think they would care.
Since the trunk has a slight lean I thought I could run up the trunk and grab the second lowest branch. I tried many times, each time adjusting my approach, step, or hand grip. I only really stuck once but I wasn’t close enough to the limb to grab it. I threw in the towel on that and just monkeyed into the trunk from the lowest branch. From there I moved quickly but quietly. I don’t care if people see me enter or exit a tree, but I feel a certain select few may freak out if they see me way up in the top of a tree. I often pause and wait for walkers to pass under me.
I freeze because you never see the squirrel sitting still. It is always the movement in your peripheral that draws your attention.
Eventually I made it past a couple tricky steps that weren’t as tricky this time as they were the first.
I tore off my ribbon
and took pictures.
There wasn’t too much to photograph. I did like the running shoes hanging from the power line well below me. Last time the cool images were the long-exposures of streaking car lights. I put my camera away and really enjoyed my completely open hiding place.
I was just waiting for every person that came by to notice me.
Even this one woman was talking to a friend and was tilting her head back. I could havesworn her eyes passed over me. But nothing. I was invisible. I’ve heard that the natives of South America couldn’t see the European ships when they first arrived because it was outside the realm of their reality. Nah… people just aren’t looking up.
I climbed back down, then back up another leader limb. Not as high as the first but nice to extend the climb. Then down with a drop to the ground. Good climb. I love this park.
1-16-09: Unfortunately the image with the hanging running shoes over the power line came out too blurry to use. When I was looking through these images and getting them ready for today’s entry it brought me back to the experience. I’m not sure why it was such a good climb. Possibly because the park was busy with people and none of them saw me. It really reconfirmed that idea that I can hide in plain sight in the top of a tree. And I like that. It made me want to get out to Seneca Park and climb a tree today. But it’s so freakin’ cold out there.
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Which brings me to my climb yesterday. It kinda sucked. I believe when I went out to climb it was 14 degrees. It was during the day and it was sunny, but it didn’t help too much.
As I walked through George Rogers Clark Park looking for a tree I really wished I had brought my face cover. I did have gloves again for the second time in the project. I kept moving past possible trees waiting for that call from the right tree. It finally came at the far corner of the park by this leaning tree.
It looked like a good challenge and I could see a possible path to the top. The entry looked to be the most challenging part.
I tried two times gripping these knotty bumps with my gloved hands and trying to lift my foot up and hook it over the massive first limb. My hands kept slipping and I just couldn’t get the leverage to accomplish the feat. I dropped and re-examined the tree. I was cold and frustrated. I decided the problem was the gloves. I put them in my pocket and went up and tried again. My hands, though very cold, gripped much better and I was able to get up. Since I figured that was the worst part of the climb I put my gloves back on. From there I started to climb up the tree using all the nicely places knots. But I kept hitting dead ends. This tree was in a state of decay and so many branches were dead.
My options kept forking and I would try one, get no where and climb back to try the other.
I wanted so badly to get to the end of one of these leader limbs but I just couldn’t. I took out the camera and struggled to try to capture my feeling of stunted accomplishment.
I wedged myself between a live branch and a dead one and just shot what I saw around me.
Then I gave up the fight to the top and climbed back down.
I guess the good thing was that my frustration and my struggle made me warm and ignore the stinging cold breeze that kept hitting me exposed skin. At the bottom limb I looked to the ground to find a nice spot to drop and roll. There was an area of mulch which looked soft so I dropped. It was not so soft since it was frozen hard, but I was fine. On a positive note, walking so far through the park I found a lot of potential trees for future climbs. Hopefully when it’s warmer.
On a final quick note, my mom called me a few times last night to check up on me. She was worried about me and my tree climbing since it was so cold. I appreciate the concern, and I am fine.