Brachiation

The other day, UltimateWriter commented on the prospect of climbing these trees… I continue to look up wistfully into the branches, but have yet to venture into the above.

In these images you can see some ideal seating in the lower branches, and have a better view of what I’ve been talking about with the divergence from the primary trunk into several stout, parallel branch/trunks.

The bottom image shows one of the largest branches to be cast off in the last big windstorm. This behavior has influenced my theory that this tree is somehow naturally inclined to grow in such a non-uniform manner. There is evidence of previous similar breaks along the tree, as well as places where limbs were sawed off to prevent them from encroaching on the cottage.

Around the area I’ve investigated several other trees of apparently the same species and roughly the same age. While they all show evidence of this same type of divergence in their structure, few show as many different branch/trunks as this one!