Close To A Fir Tree

As I looked up the trunk I could see a path for climbing and thought of scrambling up as far as I could go.
Then I thought of the exertion it would put on my legs, arms and back and thought about it some more.
My thoughts went back more than 50 years when as a lad, my brother and two neighbor brothers climbed into the stand of firs that separated Ingerson Avenue from Gilman Park in Sunny Francisco.
We dragged planks up with us and made a walk way pretty much the length of the stand. Being a small person it seemed a great distance and very high off the ground. Daring danger we ran through the tree tops playing tag and I stole your bottle of water (that particular game ended poorly for me but caused riotous laughter for my chums and I shall leave the details to the memories of the participants).
Spying on the few people that came to Gilman Park was also a way to entertain ourselves. Not that anyone was doing anything more interesting than playing ball or sitting in the grass, it was still a bit of a thrill to watch knowing they didn't know we were. "I know something you don't know!"
The trees came down to make an access road to what became known as Candlestick Park, the new home for the relocating New York Giants. At least we got Willie Mays out of the deal.
At the time of the great construction we were all very angered by the rape of our playground. They took the trees and terraced the hill behind our houses. The hill was McLaren Park, separated by US 101 where it breaks into the city a bit west of the KYA radio tower. The western side had been subdivided although a good sized area of the original park remains along Mansell St., on the ridge separating Visitation and Portola Valleys. The eastern side, our side, had it's eastern end terraced to fill the bay and build the stadium.
Angry children steeped in glorified tales of adventures in World War 2 and Horatio Hornblower proved to be dangerous to progress. Cutting out expeditions caused delays in the construction of the stadium and pleased our little hearts to read about the cost overruns and ruined equipment.
In fact, I believe the first game played in the park was one of Tic-Tac-Toe in the wet cement of the one of the dugouts.
The dirt road that separated our neighborhood got paved and more traffic ended our street games although the construction supplied other games for our imaginative minds.