Since moving to the West Coast four years ago we have a new holiday tradition, which is to get a Christmas Tree permit from the National Forest Service and find our Christmas tree in harvestable land in the nearby national forest. In California that was Tahoe National Forest. Here it's Gifford Pinchot National Forest. I had been wanting the check out the Lower Lewis River Falls, so we headed deep into road NF-90 and visited the falls before hiking around and finding our tree. Actually the woods were pretty thick around here, so I'm not sure this was our best location. Next year I think we'll try a different spot. But the National Forest is pretty huge so we have plenty of options. The idea behind the Christmas tree harvesting is actually to help the forest grow by thinning out areas where the trees are growing to close together. So an acceptable Christmas tree is growing within ten feet of another tree and has a base that is less than 6 inches in diameter. Plus whatever else you like in a Christmas tree. I like space between the branches so the ornaments can hang freely; this makes a woodland tree a perfect choice for us! And it's such a fun tradition!
