Adventure Tree Climbing with the EarthDance Staff

On August 16th, the EarthDance Staff, along with Board Member, Marc Bowers, were prepped for adventure! Local Adventure Educator, Guy Mott of Adventure Tree came out to the Mueller Farm to set up a tree climb to demonstrate what adventure education could look like in partnership with EarthDance.  Unsure of what they were getting themselves into, the group of adventurers stared up at the tall ~100 year old Red Oak tree with both fear and excitement.

Our fearless leader, Molly Rockamann, was the first to volunteer to be harnessed in and shown the ‘ropes’. The race was on as Assistant Farm Manager, Evan Winkler quickly followed, and then passed up Molly. Farm and Community Education Coordinator, Rachel Levi was anxious to get up into the tree top, and says the experience was “awesome.” Guy was patient as each staff member, and board member Marc Bowers, was harnessed into the ropes used for climbing. One might expect you’d need a lot of upper body strength to climb trees, but hooked into the climbing harnesses, you actually used a rope-pulley system lifting your body weight with a leg. Guy made the process look a lot easier than it was, but ultimately being about 35 feet high in the trees at Mueller Farm was a rewarding experience.

Check out all the great pictures of the climb on our flickr set…