In the Field at GSMNP


You feel like kissing the ground at your feet when you finally get out of the van at the Cades Cove house after a long thirteen and a half hour trip across five states.  The sights had been ok, but that was a long time to be in a van crowded with people, packs, and field equipment.  You and the team quickly get settled in and discuss the plans for the next few days.

The first few days in the GSMNP allow you to see some beautiful scenery, but also prove to be extremely taxing.  First, some days the weather doesn't cooperate and you get rained out early. 
Other days, the team finds it difficult to locate trees that are climbable and/or that have lichens on them.  As Tommy puts it "So why even climb it?"
It is frustrating for you and the other team members to pack the heavy gear up trails and then not be able to do any climbing.  You begin to understand how difficult fieldwork can be!
You and the other students struggle to find the techniques that work best for each individual as you begin to take turns placing throw lines into trees using the Big Shot.

The first trip out was up along the Ridge Mountain Road and it took TWO HOURS to get a line up into a cherry tree!  There are many laughs and a few sore body parts as members learn to master the massive Big Shot! 
Sometimes you get the line up and over the branch that you aimed for, but it won't come all the way back down to earth because it gets caught in the crotch of the limb.  It can take MANY tries to be successful!

And climbing...WOW...you are getting the knots right and your arms and legs are cooperating, but you have never had to be up in the tree so long!   You realize that you will be fighting cramps and numb body parts often over the next few days.


Tommy is an agile climber and ascends the tree quickly.
Ashley gets ready to climb.  Notice all the gear attached to her "saddle".

Amber and Cheryl are in their trees and ready to collect samples. Each climber has to carry a hammer, nails, tree tags, collecting bags, knive, measuring devises, chalk, HOBO unit, water bottle, bug spray, etc. and Amber laughs as she says that "...everyone has dropped something! ...hammers, bark, waterbottles..." 
Cheryl "ties on", using a Blake's Hitch knot.  This type of knot, known as a friction knot, lets the climber slide it up the rope to advance.  It then "holds tight" to the climbing rope and allows the climber to work suspended at different heights.

You and Cheryl have organized all these materials in a vest that you wear or on your belt.  Other climbers have put their back packs to use, carrying the items on their backs.

 

There is a lot to do while you are up in the tree.  Environmental factors are measured at several heights with the HOBO unit.  It must be level and attached to the trunk of the tree for five minutes to get accurate readings. 

You can see the safety line that helps Tommy stay secure while he "walks up the side of the tree.  Notice the large pack laying in his lap...it is full of the many tools that a climber must take up.

Erin is too far away from the trunk of the tree to "walk" up, so she is relying on the body thrust technique, where a climber kicks his/her feet above their head at the same time as they turn nearly upside down in the saddle and pull themselves up with their arms.  The climber then quickly pushes the Blake’s Hitch upward along the standing end of the rope until no slack remains in the split tail. 

You are also measuring the bark ridges and valleys and collecting bark specimens at each level.

If you look carefully at the images below, you will see that Cheryl is adding strength to her body thrust method of ascending the tree by having her foot looped through a section of the climbing rope.

CLICK HERE To learn about some of the other people who joined the team in the field.