200 feet in the air

Well, today was a great day!

After a monotonous start to the week, today was just what I needed.

And before I show you the greatness of today, I want to catch you up on my life.

Monday--

Back to work: same old same old. I go to the same PC sites everyday. Don't get me wrong--they are all beautiful--but I'm getting a bit bored doing the same thing everyday... So, to spice things up, I walked past my highest points on the 350 road, and went to look at the Sisters because it was a clear day. What a beautiful view!

Moving right along...

Tuesday was a long day. I spend a lot of my day just daydreaming about what I was making for dinner. But before I even made it to dinner, I got really stuck in a precarious situation in my truck. I had to call Terry to come pull me out of my own tire wells...

Oops! But, I'm glad I called for help. A good lesson in humility.

The day ended up good. I ended up making an avocado, goat cheese, tomato, lemon, onion, etc sauce for my pasta. I ate with the bird crew, and traded some sauce for some fish that they were grilling. We also made tin foil dessert (just like in the Redwoods) with bananas, chocolate, and peanut butter. YUM

AND NOW FOR THE BEST PART!!

TREE CLIMBING!!!

The bird crew put data loggers in trees today, and I went by to just watch, but really hoping to get the chance to climb. They spent some time setting up the loggers, and then, Rob (from Pacific Tree Climbing Institute), bird Sarah, and I went up! The tree is called Meltdown Tree, but for events that took place on the ground, unrelated to tree climbing.

I got all harnessed up and strapped in, and I started trucking along up the tree. You climb by moving a pulley up the rope, causing your feet to rise, standing up, and moving another pulley to hoist yourself up. I was climbing pretty fast, and I wasn't really nervous at all. I just enjoyed the views and the climb. It was spectacular!

Me and the ground, far, far below!

a look up into the canopy
Rob, fooling around
bouncing around in the canopy

the Sarahs!


I did get nervous, however, as soon as I took my feet out of the harness to stand on a branch. Rob and I just perched up in the canopy, and looked around at the views of the other tall trees and peaks around us. Also, very cool, there are plants growing up in the canopy called epiphytes: smaller trees sort of grow out of the big tree, and little ferns and moss grow in the soil that magically appears up there. Being up in the tree was very surreal, especially after reading the Wild Trees, it was just a dream to be up there. 200 feet up in an old growth Douglas Fir is a great place to be.


And to top it all off, I just skyped with Rachel, Joey, Chico, and Katie! What a happy day!