Was in the woods with my son a few weeks back, showing him how to use birch bark for a variety of things, like paper, emergency roofing, firestarters, etc. Then I had a flash back that led to a clearer memory of what us kids called "swinging a birch"
I'll describe it and see if anyone else here has ever done it. Us kids were 9-12ish and probably weighed 80-120lbs at the time, so warning, this may not work as swell for a 300lb logger:
we would walk thru our property up in the Adirondacks and fine one of the few groves of white birch. We would select a tree that was strong enough to support a kid climbing just about to the top, but thin enough to bend. This was always summer after an attempt in winter ended badly. This trees rarely had climbable limbs near the ground, so a boost from another kid to start, and the rest was shimmy up the trunk.
I recall these trees having about an 8" diameter at the base. May have appeared bigger because we were smaller. We would climb up and up until you could fee the tree start to sway. Maybe about 15' or so off the ground. I hope it wasn't more than that.
You would then rock back and forth, the tree swinging to and fro more and more each swing until slooowly, the tree would bend all the way over and lower you down to the ground. We would hop off and watch in wonder as the tree straightened itself out. Then, not wanting the hurt the tree, we would move on to the next.
Was quite a feeling.
Anyone else try or hear of that?
I'll describe it and see if anyone else here has ever done it. Us kids were 9-12ish and probably weighed 80-120lbs at the time, so warning, this may not work as swell for a 300lb logger:
we would walk thru our property up in the Adirondacks and fine one of the few groves of white birch. We would select a tree that was strong enough to support a kid climbing just about to the top, but thin enough to bend. This was always summer after an attempt in winter ended badly. This trees rarely had climbable limbs near the ground, so a boost from another kid to start, and the rest was shimmy up the trunk.
I recall these trees having about an 8" diameter at the base. May have appeared bigger because we were smaller. We would climb up and up until you could fee the tree start to sway. Maybe about 15' or so off the ground. I hope it wasn't more than that.
You would then rock back and forth, the tree swinging to and fro more and more each swing until slooowly, the tree would bend all the way over and lower you down to the ground. We would hop off and watch in wonder as the tree straightened itself out. Then, not wanting the hurt the tree, we would move on to the next.
Was quite a feeling.
Anyone else try or hear of that?
