DAY 280
01.09.08
TREE 111
Work went over quite a bit today. We went to a job with not enough people or not the right equipment. We were all tired by the end of the job. After I clocked out I drove straight to Cherokee Park to climb before all the sun light was gone.
On a side note: I am really enjoying how this reclimbing has given me a specific goal and destination each day. I’ve also been taking my camera and a change of clothes with me in the mornings so I can climb right after work. It prevents me from putting it off and wasting anytime at home on the computer or in front of the TV. Only the thing is it’s going to cost a lot in gas to run around all over the place and then back to Buckner every night. It’s worth it though, back to the climb.
I parked by the tennis courts like last time. Changed my clothes and shoes and walked over to the big, sprawling beech tree on the edge of the park road. My first objective was to retrieve the ribbon from the branch up to the right.
I stepped up on the huge trunk and grabbed the tiny, little branch to pull myself up. I love beech trees because the littlest of limbs are so strong. I got up to the ribbon with comfort and ease.
It was a huge improvement from my first experience where I was nervous and it went slow. I took a couple pictures,
then I went back down to really get to the exploring of all the branches. Wait, backup… I did look to climb higher, but as usual I couldn’t find a path. So back down towards the bottom. I switched to the left side of the tree with the large limb that grows far our over the road.
I crawled, walked, and climbed out three different leaders, paused and took pictures.
I really so love trees that offer so many different vantage points. It makes me think of houses with separate rooms but no walls. It’s trees like these that would be great to live in. As I climbed in these branches I felt very at ease.
Cars drove under me and I saw a few faces look up at me as they went by.
On the last branch I was on I went out to about half way and rolled over and hung from my hands. I worked my way out, hand over hand, until I could safely drop to the freshly placed mulch below. This was a really good climb and a great tree. Though I realized I forgot to slide down the big limb on my stomach. I guess because I didn’t go back that way to get down.
1-12-09: I think I should add my slide video. Do you remember it? few months ago when I was typing up the entry from the first climb of this tree it gave me the desire to go back to it and slide down. I made this:
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Last Thursday I did what I have been doing every day since I got back from Ohio… blog all freakin’ day. But I was excited to get back to the routine of going to the BBC Taproom on Thursdays now that the holidays are over. I knew I needed to get out into the cold and climb a tree. I hopped on my bike and went down the Beargrass Creek Bike Trail to the corner of Grinstead and Lexington.
At the end of the trail I spotted a huge tree and studied it.
Usually a tree like this is pretty pointless to climb as its limbs are too big and far apart to climb. But this one seemed to have a path. I leaned my bike against the trunk and got to work. The traffic was busy as I climbed the tree but it was a challenge and I payed little attention to them.
I did, as usual, wonder if they were paying any attention to me. I slowly went up from massive branch to massive branch by way of wedging, wiggling, and shimmying. This tree was covered in green moss and I was getting covered in it as I slithered up thelimbs.
I kept pushing it till I could push it no longer. I didn’t get near the top but I was high up and had a decent view.
Mostly, though I was interested in how the tree looked.
The one above I made to look this way because I couldn’t figure out or remember what the correct orientation was, so I just did all four options.
When it was time to climb down I looked down to the path that I had come and was not looking forward to the dirty sliding because when you go back down that way the dirt and moss goes up your shirt and in your pants. I looked out the sprawling limbs and saw that a smaller tree intersected a branch near me.
It looked crazy, but I felt crazy. I crawled out and then very carefully added a foot, then another foot, then an arm to the small tree to see if it would hold me. It moved very easily under me and started to bend but a limb coming off of it hit the large limb of the big tree and stopped it’s movement. It was perfect, I had a hold so it couldn’t fall. I released and completed my transfer to the small tree and then slid down to the ground.
(See my path?)
I really hoped some of the people in the cars were watching that because it was friggin’ awesome.