Tree camping

[MasterBlaster]

With some extra-crunchy Jiff, all things are possible.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

When you're hungry, you mean.

I was in Da Phillipines, never got to Panama.

Wish I was into trees then, all I did was look at the trunks when i was in those places.

We thought it was ridiculous when the Germans said we could not gaff a tree to sting our Comm lines

 

[OutOnaLimb]

There are some massive mahogany trees down there in Panama. but the ones ya gotta watch out for are the Black Palms. They are a palm tree that is covered with black thorns about the size of a tooth pick. Walking face first into one of those in the middle of the night will definately ruin your weekend.

When I had to pull Drop Zone Saftey Officer (DZSO) Duty, part of our kit was a saddle and a set of gaffs that we were supposed to used to get a jumper out of a tree if he missed the drop zone. Fortunately I never had to go up and get Joe Snuffy out of a tree.

 

[NickfromWI]

In costa rica, there are the "black palms" that you mention. They call 'em Pejibaye. They have a red fruit that grown in clusters at the top. They go crazy down there for 'em!

love
nick

ps- don't lean against the Pejibaye!

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

peh- HEE-bey?

 

[NickfromWI]

close. peh-hee-bah-yay

 

[rumination]

pejibaye AKA Bactris gasipaes (spelling may be off). my boss makes a great teriyaki/miso/mayonnaise dip whenever our pejibayes ripen, it's pretty darn good! I read in a tropical fruit book that if you remove all the spines from one of these palms it will die. I still can't figure out why. any ideas?

 

[NickfromWI]

Not true...in some of the pejibaye "farms" down there, they strip the needles up all the way. They seem to be doing just fine.

They might be different kinds...but they do eat them with mayo!

love
nick

 

[rumination]

Nick, do you know for a fact that they stripped all the needles off? They may have been one of the spineless cultivars. of course, that book could easily be wrong. either which way they are tasty and I ate a ton of them when I was in Costa Rica as well.

I did a little research and I think the palm that OutonaLimb is referring to is actually a different one, Astrocaryum standleyanum. This is one viscious palm! of course we got one palm here at the arboretum (name escapes me) with spines all up and down the trunk that are almost a foot long. One girl had to go to the hospital to get a 2 inch chunk of spine dug out of her arm. And don't even get me started on the rattan palms. I fell into one about two weeks ago and I'm still digging little spine tips out of my arm!

 

[jkrueger]

... , hmmmm, I sure am learning a lot about tree camping, ...

 

[RescueMan]

I haven't yet had the pleasure of sleeping in the canopy, but here's some pictures from Tree Climbers International
Tree Climbers International

 

[RescueMan]

And another...

 

[RescueMan]

Dinner time...

 

[RescueMan]

...and time to relax...