In previous Cold Stream Farm blog posts, we have discussed the joyous experience that is climbing a tree. There’s just something about putting your hands on bark and looking up, knowing that your future is as bright as the sky above. It removes us from the daily grind and puts us in a place of freedom. Freedom, it seems, is in short supply these days, so it’s hopeful when you consider a tree like “Her Majesty” in Seattle’s Volunteer Park, which is praised in this article from the Seattle Times. The praise reads like poetry, courtesy of Lynda V. Mapes.
She writes, “For a tree is not a rock or a ladder, it’s a living thing. A big tree like Her Majesty, as Bayard calls this big oak, moves in the wind. There is give in the branches, and a whole living world up in the canopy, all unto itself. This is the joy of recreational-tree climbs, which are rising in popularity all over the country, especially in Seattle. It’s a magical experience: you’re up there, you feel the wind blowing, the tree is moving around. You have a sense of this tree being alive, standing on its own for 100-plus trees, and all the things it has been witness to.”
We couldn’t have said it better, which is why we quoted it in full. There’s a magic to recreational tree climbing and you don’t even need a tree like “Her Majesty” to conjure up the magic. It could be a tree in your backyard or on your street. While we’re not encouraging to randomly climb a tree, as that would look strange, we do encourage you to see if there are any recreational climbing groups in your neck of the woods (pun intended).
