History of the Tree Swing on Kaibab

There was a man named James Nelson who was the father of the mother of my father. Haha sounded good, anyway.

Grandma Myrtle's father, James, had some younger brothers named Jonathon and Smith who were also loggers on Kaibab. Their father was, their brothers were, my grandpa was, my dad was.....

Jonathon and Smith are the ones who put up the tree swing in the 1940's for the kids to play on while their dad's worked. (This story is told by Bernice Pickett (Mich's mom) who is the daughter of Jonathon Nelson.)

The Nelson's logged at a place called Mile-and-a-Half Lake. They held their reunions there every year until about 10 years ago. They used to visit the swing.

About twenty years ago, my dad drove to Kaibab and my hubby and I followed. My mom, Bryce, Jana, and Cheryl were also on the trip. We went to the swing and had a picnic.


Fifteen years ago, 1996, my dad died of cancer.

Nine years ago, in 2002, my hubby and I bought a travel trailer, and started camping on Kaibab.

In 2002-2005, my hubby, myself , and our kids spent a lot of time driving around the mountain looking for the tree swing. We were looking for signs of what we could remember from when my dad had taken us there. We could never find it. We asked rangers about the swing, and they had no idea what we were talking about.

In 2006, we found the tree swing. We had gotten limited directions from Uncle Verl, "Go down, down, down, till you can't go down anymore...." and we drove right to it. The cable was only attached to one of the trees, and my kids loved swinging around and around the tree like a tether ball, then switching directions and doing it again. We always took a family picture there.

In 2006, there had been a fire that had swept across this mountain, and it burned the whole west side of the tree.
I think this may have killed the tree. The fire also burned the board that was used for the seat. It is still usable, but barely.

In 2007, it took us awhile to remember how to get to the tree.

In 2008, the wind had blown the top half of the tree to the ground. The cable had spent its years embedding itself into the tree as the tree grew around it. This made the tree vulnerable to the wind and it just snapped it off.
































In 2009, we went to Kaibab, but didn't make it to the tree for some reason. I think it started pouring on the second day of our visit and didn't stop. It was 3 weeks before Kamarie was born.

In 2010, we didn't make the trip to Kaibab, cause we were out of work and didn't have money for gas, and we had taken a long trip to Bryce Canyon for a family reunion.

                                               -insert no pictures here-



This year, 2011,  the cable fell off the 40'-50' stump of the tree with barely any force applied. It missed landing on my 8-yr-old's head by 8 inches.

On this particular trip, my dad's baby sister had asked to tag along. She had never been up to Kaibab. She and her hubby came as well as her baby who is 17. They happen to climb trees. Casey scurried up a new tree with the cable, and with the help of Kyson and Mike, secured the heavy, heavy cable about 30 feet up in a living tree.

Then Mike scurried up a tree that was about 10 feet away and using the old, old u-bolts and nuts that were already on the cable, and a wrench that he happened to have in his Rhino (a new fangled jeep), he secured the other end of the cable to the 2nd tree about 20 feet up. Voi La. A new tree swing.

My kids prefer the swing to be tether-ball-like.

Right now it is lopsided as you swing, and it is quite a balancing act to stay on.

I remember going there as a child. I was around 5 years old. That is the last memory I have of that place till I was married. I remember wanting to swing as high as the big kids, and they wouldn't let me. I remember two men had to swing the swing higher by standing on either side of the swing and flinging it with a rope, since the swing was too high to reach. I remember my brother, Bruce being a bit stubborn and not wanting to let them swing him, so he put his foot up to stop the rope. I was there also as a 2-year-old, I know, cause my mom has pictures.

I have no idea why I am drawn to Kaibab so much. I just am. I like to go there at least once a year. My kids will ask to go there if we miss a year. They enjoy it, also.

I don't know much of the history of the place, but that is my tidbit to add to it.