How to Climb a Ficus Tree

Today I climbed a Ficus tree, also called a Strangler Fig.  When I saw the curling vines and leaves growing on the vines, I thought the tree looked old and mysterious. It felt smooth on some parts and rough on other parts.  The first thing I did was go through a hole in the side of the tree that Joe showed our group.  Then I found handholds and footholds and repeated the process of finding these holds and started to climb up the inside of the tree.  Sometimes the holds are holes in the smooth, main trunk and sometimes they are the slender pole-like roots that weave their way up inside the tree. It looked so high and amazing. When I looked out of holes in the fig tree,  I thought how amazing the view was and that encouraged me to climb more. I realized I was done when I reached up and touched the cold cone-shaped inner tree that signaled the end of my climb. To get back down I repeated the process of going up but backwards.  I could not wait to climb the next one that was more narrow inside, but I fit perfectly!