We decided to go for it this year! Cutting down a Christmas tree from the National Forest.
This actually wasn’t our first time. Darrick and I did this years ago when we had a dog baby instead of a human baby. We ended up on a steep and snowy forest road, which I was fairly certain we were going to slide right off of to our untimely deaths. And then it was freezing outside and very difficult to to find a tree, so we ended up with the Charlie-browniest tree ever. Which we actually quite loved in the end. 🙂
This year we decided to try again, for a couple reasons.
One: We’ve had quite a bit more experience in the woods over the last couple years.
Two: Our Thanksgiving weekend is packed, and we didn’t want to wait another whole week to get a tree. That meant our day to go was the Wednesday before Thanksgiving — Family Day! There is only one U-Cut farm open before Thanksgiving and it’s all Noble Firs … and we just weren’t stoked about the thought of paying $100 for a tree this year.
So the morning of, eggnog lattes and hot chocolate in hand, we headed to the ranger station at REI to get our $10 tree-cutting permit. We decided that if they said the weather was bad or the roads were dangerous, we’d bail and head to a tree farm sometime that following week, but all sounded clear and we were given a map with some ideas on where to head. (For some reason, we didn’t talk to anyone the previous time we did this. No idea why.)
Also, we just love REI. 🙂
And then we were off! We headed out to Highway 2 since it’s an area we’re relatively familiar with. It was a gorgeous drive, as usual.
Funny thing was, my phone lost service the further out we got. Not sure why that didn’t occur to me before we left. Clearly I have more important things to think about. 😉 Between GPS and the super simple map from the Ranger, we figured out how to find the Forest Road exit we were looking for. We were originally aiming for Money Creek (NF – 6422), but I’m pretty sure we ended up on Miller River Rd (NF – 6410), just before Skykomish. (Map here!)
The road was clear and flat, and we just drove for awhile until we found some patches of trees that looked promising.
Finally we found a spot (mostly one that didn’t look marshy!), so we packed up our tools and headed out into the wilderness!
And then we saw her (Clark Griswold moment! … “Thith thtree is a thymbol of the thpirit of the Grithwold family Chrithmath.”)
Olivia and I played around for a bit while Dad sawed!
We were SO EXCITED to get such a beautiful tree!!!
By the way, this area was just amazing. Quiet and peaceful, lots to explore. I wish we had left earlier so we had more time to play!
By the time we got home, it was dark. We hosed the tree down since it was caked with mud and moss, and left it outside in a bucket of water till morning. When we brought it inside, we realized how big it actually was. LOL! Funny how small it can feel in the forest. (SMH)
It really is beautiful, though! We couldn’t be happier. 🙂
Leave a comment if you have questions! I totally recommend doing this. 🙂 🙂
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