Highballer: True Tales from a Treeplanting Life

by Greg Nolan

In 1983, at nineteen, Greg Nolan was hired (reluctantly) by his older sister’s boyfriend―a treeplanting contractor based in Northern British Columbia. His crewmates didn’t know what to think of the wide-eyed kid whose mom drove him the 750 kilometres to hook up with his first job. But within a week, Nolan was hitting the thousand-trees-a-day mark. By the end of his first rookie season, he gained the status of top producer among a crew of extraordinary young men and women. Over the course of his twenty-seven-year career, he planted over two-and-a-half-million trees. Planting large numbers of trees, Nolan excelled at. Surviving in some of the more remote, isolated and technically challenging regions in BC and Alberta, that was trickier, often requiring resourcefulness... and luck. Nolan was stalked by a large black bear on his first contract near Purden Lake, BC. He all but lost his mind supervising his first project deep in the wilds of Northern Alberta. He was nearly mauled by grizzlies while tenting out in the wilds of Bute Inlet. Nolan survived hurricanes, landslides, hostile loggers, Woodstock-like tent camps, whirlwind romances, the madness of the subculture  and life-threatening situations of nearly every conceivable kind. Despite many escapes, Nolan was not immune to tragedy and he grappled with guilt over his own indirect role in a multiple-fatality vehicle accident, throwing him into a deep depression. Only by returning to the challenge of planting trees in remote wilderness settings, did he manage to find peace. For Nolan, the job offered far more than mere financial reward; it opened the door to a world that very few people, especially those in urban centres, ever get the chance to experience. As he writes, “Shit tends to happen, with the craziest of frequency, when you place yourself in the path of a tribe of roaming treeplanters. The adventure never seems to play out the same way twice. You come together in the middle of some of the most remote and pristine wilderness on the planet, and once there... you live, work and experience things that will entertain your thoughts and haunt your memories for the rest of your days.” Hair-raising, cocky and a blast to read,  Highballer  is an exuberant record of a time in the silviculture arena when the industry was largely unregulated, and the wilderness was still wild.

Genres: Nonfiction

288 pages, Paperback

Published October 26, 2019

Reviews

[Nate · Rating 3 out of 5]

An ode to hookup culture

An intensely readable book, Highballer delivers a lot of fast-paced insights into a subculture most of us know relatively little about.

My only issue? Nolan describes women in ways that suggest that they are featured only in so far as they are eye candy and are available to get laid. Now, nothing wrong with having sex or hooking up. But in EVERY instance, save one (yes, I ended up counting them), Nolan speaks about women as possible objects of desire. Yes, they are also described as hard workers, smart, and so on -- but then also hot babes. Their other attributes come to pale in the face of their hotness.

For example, Stacy "was a law student from Vancouver. She was outgoing, beautiful and impossibly voluptuous. We all knew that she was destined to become a great litigator some day. Her intellect and authority caused many of us to sit up straight, at full attention, whenever she opined on a subject." Stacy can't just be a great intellect etc. Nope, she's gotta also be voluptuous because, well, Nolan obviously pops a boner and goes to bed with her. I have a feeling that Nolan thinks he's granting her subjectivity by listing her non-sexual features; but it all comes off as a diversion to what women are really there for: to be admired (and hopefully bedded) by Nolan.

Again, nothing wrong with hooking up. It's just that it becomes awfully tiresome. Perhaps it accurately reflects what happens in the treeplanting world, especially when young horny people are thrown together But it bespeaks a kind of lad culture I could care less about. Opportunity missed.

[Jennifer Wood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Totally surpassed my expectations. Really interesting and kept me wanting to read on!

[Tamara Bodnar · Rating 5 out of 5]

For someone who knew nothing about treeplanting, this was a really fun dive into an exciting world! Nolan describes some of his more adventurous experiences and exhilarating moments during his long career as a treeplanter. At times, this book felt a little choppy, jumping through time to the next big adventure but overall it was a fun easy read. The big highlight for me was getting to experience some of the most remote BC wilderness through the pages of this book.

[Laura Wheeler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly loved this book & I've never treeplanted, but I have family & friends that have & my husband has shared his own treeplanting camp & bear stories with me over the years. This was well written & thoroughly entertaining. I also plan to buy a copy of this for our school library as I think it would be great to recommend to students that aren't sure what to do after high school is over or are looking for summer work.

[Jacob Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this a lot! Nolan's storytelling really transported you into the time and places he was describing, with some incredibly unique experiences that helped demystify the treeplanting mythology that runs rampant in BC. The stories are boastful and Nolan often arrogant, but it comes across as genuine and didn't really bother me.

[Deb Hudon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book

[Paula Lifeso · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a good read. I found learning about tree planting very interesting and all his stories from on the mountains were gripping or funny.

[MichaelR · Rating 4 out of 5]

A compelling and fascinating book about the author's adventures in west cost tree planting in the 1980s. Well-written accounts of nature, romance and adventure in extreme outdoor conditions.