Going towards the tree

In his \"Enter into Tree Time\" workshop at the recent TCI Rendezvous Tim Kovar talked about \"going towards the tree\" as opposed to \"going to the tree\". Seems like a minor difference when you're thinking about your climbing destination but going towards the tree implies that everything isn't all figured out in advance. In this frame of mind the climber can remain open to possibilities. You might just walk past the tree you were originally targeting because you wanted to find out what kind of bird was making that call and as you followed the bird to get a closer look an intriguing new tree was found. Maybe you delayed getting to the tree because you stopped to hang out with a sunning Garter Snake:





Or this Spring Peeper:


On a recent climb everything that happened on the ground brought my climbing partner and I into a good state of mind to approach the tree and make the climb.

The rest of the photos

-moss

Very cool pictorial journey to the White Pine, moss. I must invest in a good camera to record and so share my own climbing adventures. I'll commit to \"Going towards Best Buy\" before my next RTC outing. Wait a minute! Your remarkable close-ups of the Spring Peeper remind me that I can share, from my cell phone camera, my good fortune on encountering a camouflaged tree frog on a weathered wood stub in a Red Oak 55 feet aloft and 40 feet from my home. Sorry, the image is fuzzy. I edited it with \"picknik\" to sharpen, mainly. There is a note that points out the toad's eye visible from the flickr site.


Many thanks for your remarkable pictorial journals, moss!

It also reminds me to walk carefully and watch where I'm putting my feet!

I can't believe the colours of those Maples - great photos!

I'm still having trouble seeing that toad...

Michael

Trebuchet wrote:

Very cool pictorial journey to the White Pine, moss. I must invest in a good camera to record and so share my own climbing adventures. I'll commit to \"Going towards Best Buy\" before my next RTC outing. Wait a minute! Your remarkable close-ups of the Spring Peeper remind me that I can share, from my cell phone camera, my good fortune on encountering a camouflaged toad on a weathered wood stub in a Red Oak 55 feet aloft and 40 feet from my home. Sorry, the image is fuzzy. I edited it with \"picknik\" to sharpen, mainly. There is a note that points out the toad's eye visible from the flickr site.

Many thanks for your remarkable pictorial journals, moss!

Thanks Mel, I think what you have there is a Gray Tree Frog or a related tree frog species, great find. Toads absolutely can't climb trees! They like the ground best.

I like the \"going towards Best buy\" concept, except I think I'll go towards the opposite direction! The camera used for this particular trip was a cheap point and shoot digital, it worked half decent most of the time.
-moss

michaeljspraggon wrote:

It also reminds me to walk carefully and watch where I'm putting my feet!

I can't believe the colours of those Maples - great photos!

I'm still having trouble seeing that toad...

Michael

The snake never moved (except for flicking its tongue) from when we first spotted it in front of us to when we moved on. By getting on my belly and moving slowly I was able to get nice and close without disturbing it.

Most of the trees in color are Red Maple, there are a few Black Gum or Tupelo in there, Yellow Birch and a few other species. The pine is on the edge of a big hardwood swamp or what passes for one up north.
-moss

Great shots! You all are right. Don't make your tree your destination. Your trip into the woods is where it all begins. I was doing a mushroom hike with a group of folks when a pair of Bald Eagles cruised overhead, landing in a big hemlock. - mushroom hike over! We watched the pair \"court\" for over an hour.

One of my coolest experiences was watching 5 or 6 Little Brown Bats catch gnats that were flying around my wifes head. I was about 30 feet up in a red maple, and she was just begining her climb. Seeing this from above put a whole new spin on it.

BTW Trebuchet, from what can I see in the pic, that is a Cope's, or Eastern Grey Tree Frog (Hyla versicolor). Good shot!

New camera? I have a $37 digital, from a discount store, that I'll take up into the trees. NOT my good Nikon! I can live with dropping my cheap camera.

Photos of everything except the pine itself?

Davej wrote:

Photos of everything except the pine itself?

A fun one to get a line in, had to walk around it three times, put the rope in at 80 ft. in a thicket just above the big (dead) limb on the upper right of the tree (in the photo)

Here it is when I first saw it last winter, it's a pretty good sized tree, hard to tell from the photo, I was standing at a distance from it.



-moss

moss wrote:

A fun one to get a line in, had to walk around it three times, put the rope in at 80 ft. in a thicket just above the big (dead) limb on the upper right of the tree (in the photo)

This brings up a question -- does anyone mark their rope(s) for measuring?

it's a pretty good sized tree, hard to tell from the photo, I was standing at a distance from it.

Somehow, even ignoring size, it doesn't look like the pines I see around here, and actually the pines in my yard seem to be dying. Even the young ones are turning brown.

I really like this philosophy.
I have studied with a man named Tom Brown Jr. for many years who drills into his students this idea of toward instead of to. I think there must be quite a few of us in the rec tree climbing community . The idea of a destination can certainly ruin any chance of discovery along the way.

Carl

Culinarytracker wrote:

I really like this philosophy.
I have studied with a man named Tom Brown Jr. for many years who drills into his students this idea of toward instead of to. I think there must be quite a few of us in the rec tree climbing community . The idea of a destination can certainly ruin any chance of discovery along the way.

Carl

I think Tim Kovar has studied with Tom as well, \"towards\" works very well for tree climbing as it does for tracking and moving through the woods, at least for what I know of Tom Brown Jr's teaching.
-moss

Ok, I just checked out a picture of Tim Kovar, and I'm pretty sure I recognize him from the Tracker School. I thought when I ordered my tengu saddle from new tribe, that a lot of their literature, and especialy the new tribe website looked like it was steeped in a little Tom Brown influence.

Carl

Culinarytracker wrote:

Ok, I just checked out a picture of Tim Kovar, and I'm pretty sure I recognize him from the Tracker School. I thought when I ordered my tengu saddle from new tribe, that a lot of their literature, and especialy the new tribe website looked like it was steeped in a little Tom Brown influence.

Carl

For New Tribe it's probably just a nice coincidence, Tim's climbing school is a relatively recent addition to New Tribe's offerings. You can always contact Tim to confirm etc.
-moss