Here are some photos from a climb in a Portland, Oregon park in June '07. The tree is an elm, I think it's an Asian species. The outer branches form a huge umbrella to the ground, inside is a magnificent open space. One of our Portland friends made his first climb and Meg and I got a chance to go up as well.

Portland climb photos







-moss

Ah, Portland. I always keep a little bit of my heart in Portland. And Portland in June is glorious. Too bad I wasn't aware you were going or I could have steered you to the big trees on the Reed College campus (http://web.reed.edu/trees/) and across the street at the Rhododendron Gardens. Did you happen to make it to Forest Park? Cool pics, Andrew—thanks.

Great, now I'm homesick again.

I'm homesick and I never lived there, what a great town. I couldn't get over the massive doug-fir, ponderosa, tulip polar, chinese chestnut, catalpa etc. growing in people's little yards and next to the street. I became addicted to espresso after one cappuccino at "The Fresh Pot" next to the Powell's annex on Hawthorne. Now in addition to looking for good trees to climb I'm always looking for that perfect cup.

I didn't bring gear to climb king-size trees. The doug-firs I saw on the coast were way too big to even consider climbing with what I had, I was quite happy just to stand under them.

My PNW tourist photos, (some old-growth doug-fir in there)

Coast Redwood as an urban sidewalk tree in Portland:





-moss

rmbnxs wrote:
Ah, Portland. I always keep a little bit of my heart in Portland. And Portland in June is glorious. Too bad I wasn't aware you were going or I could have steered you to the big trees on the Reed College campus (http://web.reed.edu/trees/) and across the street at the Rhododendron Gardens. Did you happen to make it to Forest Park? Cool pics, Andrew—thanks.

Great, now I'm homesick again.

Boy, this makes me homesick, too! I used to stare at those great trees, and wonder about them, every day on my way to classes. What a treat it would be to actually climb one of those guys after all these years!