Have You Ever Climbed a 100 Foot Tall Tree?

One summer day I was in New Hampshire climbing a mountain named White Ledge. My family and friends were picking blueberries with me on a small ledge hanging over the mountain having a great time. I was very happy and content. When we started up again I got a little cranky, but after lunch I felt better. My brother Nick and I started bolting down the mountain. Nick saw this HUGE Pine tree and stopped running. I had no choice and stopped also. To my surprise he started to climb the tree. I thought it would be great so I tried to get up the tree. I couldn’t do it but I kept trying, and trying, and trying.

Soon Ray, Suleman’s dad came down the mountain and started to climb with Nick. Then my mom came down and saw Ray and Nick in the tree and did not like it. So Ray came down and he started to coach me on how to get up, but did not physically help. Finally I got up and I was probably forty feet in the air. Mom did not like it and made me sit on one of the branches if I was going to stay up there, but when she was not looking I went about five feet higher. Then I saw Suleman’s sister Kwayera in the tree and Ray and mom looking at her and I went about ten feet higher. I kept going higher and higher. I was about seventy feet in the air by then. I was sitting on a sturdy and living branch and was very happy. I could see everything… except the ground. There were branches blocking my view in a couple of places, but I could still see the top of White Ledge from there. It was very comfortable and there was a cool breeze up there I had just eaten and drunk some so I could have fallen asleep if I didn’t hear Ray say “…Yes there are millions of spider up there just there all hidden in the trunk and bark.” I sat up fast and forgot about the great view all together and was very uncomfortable.

I heard another voice up really high, almost as high as me. I was a little surprised; I looked over to where I heard the voice and saw Nick in a different tree next to me. I supposed when he got down he found a different tree to climb. I started to talk but couldn’t get a full sentence out before mom saw me like seventy feet in the air and made me come down.

I saw it coming really and I wasn’t scared one bit. I lowered my foot on the branch. Then it was slow motion. I heard a crack. I looked down and saw a good sized branch fall to the ground. I was “standing” there and then it dawned upon me, the branch I was on snapped off. When I saw that I thought to myself I could have died. I was about fifty-five feet in the air and holding on with my hands only! I hauled myself up into the air and onto another branch. Then I looked all around and finally found a living branch that looked sturdy enough. I reached and reached and finally got to the branch and slowly came down.

As I came down I was thinking what death would be like. I did not like what I thought of, so I focused myself on getting down safely.

After I finally got down we ate some snack and started running down the mountain again. From then on I haven’t been climbing very many trees, but I still love climbing them and probably still will climb trees a lot more in New Hampshire.