How To Get A Kite Out Of A Tree

A kite in a tree

April 3, 2016
Emilie Phillips

I had written off this weekend equally an indoor weekend. All week, the weather condition forecast had predicted cold and rain for the weekend. Saturday we got a bunch of chores washed. By Sunday morning, the forecast had changed to merely cloudy, windy and cool. Every bit usual, we didn't get set early on enough to go somewhere pregnant. And it looked like information technology might exist unpleasant on top of the bigger mountains. And then we went to ye olde standard Watatic. We threw jackets and luncheon into the packs. Tyson grabbed Isaac'due south kite.

It was a common cold walk up the hill. Tyson and I both ended up wearing all our spare jackets and pants. Isaac had refused his pelting pants, and so he was happily warm in his snow pants. The ground was slippery with a dusting of snow. There were patches of deeper snow. I spotted a few with brilliant bound ferns poking through. I didn't become a movie though. I've been having troubles recently with my camera non auto exposing the way I desire information technology to. I'm non sure if something is broken or if I somehow missconfigured the settings. Either way it has been really frustrating the final many trips not getting good pictures.

Isaac and I paused in a sheltered spot merely shy of the peak. Tyson went alee to unfurl the kite. By the time we caught upwards, he was cold and grumpy. In that location was definitely wind. I launched the kite and slowly paid out the line. It flew well for a while only and then dropped to the footing non far away on the rocky top. Tyson flew it next and let out a lot more line to become the kite above the turbulence near the footing. It looked good. So nosotros tied the spare string off. We didn't quite get it correct and had to untie and commencement over. While nosotros were futzing around with information technology, I noticed the line in my hands had gone slack. I looked up to run into the kite fluttering to the ground. I gave one valiant pull, completely messing up Tyson's knot. Simply the kite was done.

It had disappeared over the edge of the colina. At first when I walked over, I idea it had fallen into bushes, but as I got closer I realized the hillside dropped away and I was looking at the superlative of a forest. The kite line draped beyond the top branches and the kite was hopelessly far away. I thought in that location was no way we were getting the kite back. But, I reasoned, if I merely gave up, there was no way we were getting the kite. If I tried my best, maybe at that place was a take chances.

Retreating back down to safer branches — Retreating back downwardly to safer branches

And so I scrambled down the slick rocky ledges and slip-slid down the leaves to the base of the tree holding the kite. The tree was 4″ in diameter. I gulped. I'm not equally pocket-sized as I used to exist when I made a habit of climbing trees. I found it easy enough to pull myself upwardly and scramble upwards the tree. It was a little harder to ignore the fact that some of the branches I stood on were barely thicker than my thumb. I didn't dare climb high enough to accomplish the kite. Every time the air current blew, the tree swayed alarmingly. Tyson pulled on the kite line from the summit rocks. Working with the wind, he dropped the tail of the kite into my reach. I grabbed it and tied it off almost the body. Then I reached out onto precariously sparse branches and aptitude them back to me until I could take hold of the prune holding the kite to the line. I discrete the line and Tyson worked it dorsum to the summit.

With that accomplished, I retreated downwardly to more sizeable branches. The kite rigging was however hopelessly stuck in the twigs higher up my reach. I couldn't encounter whatsoever way to get it other than breaking the branches. I yanked on the kite tail, hoping the branches holding the kite would break and not those holding me. It worked. Though I had to yank a few more times every bit it defenseless on lower branches. Finally, I collected the snarl of strings, twigs and kite and carefully climbed dorsum downward the tree. Nosotros decided that was plenty kite flying for the day and headed dwelling house.

Nosotros made it dorsum to the car by and large uneventfully. Isaac's water bladder hose froze. Right almost the cars, he fell into the beaver pond that has flooded the trail. We were so close to the car, we hiked out and stripped the moisture apparel in the automobile.

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Written April iii, 2016, updated February 23, 2022