Like many people, Andrew Joslin used to climb trees as a kid. To be precise, he used to climb an 80-foot European beech -- blindfolded to impress his friends -- at his house in Winchester. That was more than 40 years ago, and now Joslin, an avid bird-watcher and naturalist who lives in Jamaica Plain, is back climbing trees for fun, this time with gear that ensures his safety. Not only that, he's taking people with him.
Joslin and Paul Buck, a cabinet maker from Watertown, are recreational tree climbers who are trained to take people of all ages on climbing adventures into the canopy.
``It's a thrilling experience to be in a tree," said Joslin, 50, who works as a senior visual designer for IBM and spends much of his spare time scaling trees in Eastern Massachusetts. ``Getting off the ground and into a tree really changes your perspective, physically and mentally. Your attention becomes extremely focused. And I enjoy viewing all the wildlife in their element -- birds, squirrels, tree frogs, and interesting insects."
Across the country, people like Joslin and Buck are taking to the treetops for many reasons: to experience a deeper connection with nature, for the peacefulness or the thrill, or for the face-to-face wildlife encounters.
Last December, while climbing in woods near Boston, Joslin shared the branches of a tall conifer with a flock of wintering dark-eyed juncos , small birds from Canada that roost high in the pine trees of Massachusetts in winter.
``I could hear this high-pitched twittering as the birds jumped around the boughs of the tree," said Joslin. One darted right by him. From his arboreal perch, 70 feet above the ground, he could also hear the hoots of a great-horned owl perched in a neighboring tree. ``Climbing in the winter is awesome. The sounds really carry, and the visual structure of the forest canopy is revealed."
Recreational tree climbers use a special climbing harness, a self-belay system and ropes to hoist themselves into trees, a technique that doesn't require extraordinary strength. Once they are aloft, they can thread their way through the branches into the canopy, using ropes to create a ``vertical hiking trail." (Leather or nylon rope sleeves, called cambium savers , protect branches from abrasion.)
Climbers can also swing between branches like Tarzan or Jane; do ``flying traverses," climbing from one tree to another without descending to the ground; or go ``tree surfing," sitting on high branches and swaying with a tree in the wind. Or they can just hang out, literally.
``I like to find a place where I can tie in using a secondary rope and just lay back and take a nap," said Buck, 55, who has been tree climbing for a year and a half. ``When you're 60 feet up in a tree and a gentle breeze is blowing, it's unbelievably calming. For me, it's a very contemplative experience."
Arborist Peter Jenkins founded the country's first recreational tree-climbing school, Tree Climbers International, on a forested patch of land in Atlanta in 1983. He hit on the idea of recreational tree climbing while pruning trees for clients in the area.
``I was swinging through the trees, laughing and having a great time," said Jenkins. ``People kept come up to me and saying, `That looks like fun. Can you take me up there?' "
Since then, Jenkins and his staff have taken tens of thousands of people up into the arboreal realm. Nearly a dozen other schools have sprouted across the country, some in the most unlikely places. The New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, offers one- and three-day recreational tree -climbing workshops through its continuing education program. Participants get a chance to scale a London planetree or scarlet oak , and view the city from lofty heights.
``It's a very light, fun class," said Josh Galiley , one of the instructors, who has a degree in urban forestry and landscape horticulture from the University of Vermont and works as an arborist for the city's Department of Parks & Recreation . ``We show people as many techniques as we can on how to get up in a tree, but the emphasis is on having a good time."
In the United States, schools and individual instructors typically offer short introductory climbs, allowing participants to get a feel for the activity. No climbing experience is required, and the guide provides all equipment and takes care of the preparation, such as setting the ropes in trees.
Many schools also offer a basic tree-climbing course (usually an 18- to 20-hour, one-weekend program), where climbers learn the skills they need to safely climb trees on their own, like how to choose and rig a tree, and how to tie knots and use climbing equipment. Advanced certification is offered for climbers interested in becoming facilitators (those who can take people on guided or introductory climbs, like Joslin and Buck) or instructors (those trained to teach recreational tree climbing).
Some instructors have branched out and created more unusual tree-climbing programs. Tim Kovar, who runs Tree Climbing Northwest in Grants Pass, Ore., offers Tree Top Tables, a romantic, three-hour candlelight dinner, 50 feet above ground. Kovar hoists up ``sky chairs" and a custom-made table complete with Velcro on top to prevent dishes from slipping off -- and serves a three-course meal.
The more adventurous can also go treetop camping at Dancing With Trees, a recreational tree-climbing school in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains in northern Georgia. Here, Genevieve Summers, a former chimney sweep who is now one of the country's leading recreational tree-climbing instructors, runs B&B in the Treetops. On these overnight trips, climbers bring their sleeping bags and pillows 60 feet up a white oak and sleep in four-cornered, canvas hammocks called ``tree boats.
There, climbers can tune into the animal and bird calls, watch stars filter through the canopy, and hear leaves rustling and trees creaking in the nighttime breezes.
``I won't say you're going to get the best night's sleep," said Summers, 55. ``The moon may be rising or you may hear owl calls and all sorts of unfamiliar sounds."
Anne Ellinger of Arlington took her son Micah, then 9, on an overnight at Dancing With Trees several years ago.
``We heard this mournful, eerie howling sound in the middle of the night," Ellinger recalled.
The sound turned out to be chickens at a farm a couple of miles away, making a racket during their feeding time.
Come morning, after a sensory-filled night, Summers serves her guests boiled eggs, bagels and cream cheese, bananas, and PowerBars -- on cloth napkins. Then climbers make their descent.
``I'm not that strong, but you don't have to be to climb a tree," said Ellinger. ``It's about as hard as stepping up a ladder. You just inch yourself 60 feet up in the air on a rope," and then slide down using a simple belay technique.
Tree climbing does require some stamina, especially out West, where climbers scale sitka spruce , Douglas firs, and ponderosa pines that may reach heights of 250 feet.
The sport is accessible to people of all ages and abilities. Summers has taken children as young as 4 climbing, and last year, she guided 81-year-old Marge Felder up a tree to celebrate her birthday. Arbor Quest Unlimited, a Michigan-based, non profit organization run by a group of medical professionals, works specifically with people who have physical or mental disabilities.
Recreational tree climbing may sound risky, but it's a safe activity with no recorded deaths or serious injuries in 23 years, according to Summers.
``Climbers can get `bark bites,' which are scratches from brushing up against the trees," she said. ``But I tell my students they haven't had a good climb unless they have bark in their underwear!"
Buck and Joslin take people tree climbing at no cost in Eastern Massachusetts, on a participant's private land or in public areas where they've gotten permission to climb. They also hold public climbs each month in the Boston area.
``So far, everyone who's gone up in the trees is thrilled to be out there," said Joslin. ``But it's more dramatic for adults because it's something they never expected to really enjoy."
Added Buck, ``We can get you up there even higher and a lot safer than when you were a kid."
Joslin and Buck both received their facilitator training from Summers.
``It was really thorough," Buck said . ``Genevieve wouldn't let us go out into the wild until we could go up a tree and retie our knots while blindfolded."
Contact Kari Bodnarchuk, an adventure-travel writer and photographer in Portland, Maine, at travelwriter@karib.us.
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