Student Stories: From “This Is Cool” to “We Built This”

Gavin first discovered Treenet Collective on Instagram and immediately thought it was incredible. He grew up around lakes and could easily picture one stretched between the trees — a place to hang out, relax, and spend long afternoons outside with friends. He followed along for a while before deciding to try it himself.

When the DIY Treenet Course became available, Gavin didn’t hesitate. He’d been watching the builds for some time, and the course offered a clear way to move from admiring them to actually learning how to create one. As he moved through the modules, he learned that there was also a one-time build taking place at the Urban Cowboy Lodge in the Catskills. A few days in the mountains, building under the trees and learning directly from the course creators felt like a natural extension of what he’d just begun.

So he and his fiancée, Grace, decided to make a trip of it. In the weeks leading up to the retreat, he completed the course in full, wanting to arrive with the knots already in his hands — not just in his head.

Starting with the Course

Working through the modules gave him a framework before ever stepping into a live build.

What stood out was how approachable it felt.

The lessons are short and focused — most just a few minutes long — making it easy to learn a step, practice it, and move forward. If something didn’t click, he could revisit it without losing momentum.

“I could just watch each little video clip once and do that step and then whenever I was ready, move on.”

At its core, the system revolves around three primary knots. Once those were practiced and understood, the larger structure began to make sense. It required attention, yes — but it never felt out of reach.

By the time he and Grace arrived in the Catskills, he understood the fundamentals.

Learning in Person

The first evening was dinner and introductions — a small group of about twelve people getting to know each other before the work began. The next day, Kane walked everyone through the process clearly and patiently. Before touching the full-scale net, the group practiced the knots on smaller pieces of paracord until the movements felt natural.

Gavin says it’s easy to make a small mistake and accidentally turn a clove into a hitch just by twisting the rope the wrong way. Practicing first helped eliminate that confusion before working on the actual structure.

They rigged the perimeter first, establishing the backbone of the net, and then began weaving. After the first couple of days, once everyone found their rhythm, the experience shifted.

“It was just like a big group hang out in the net all day, just weaving and kind of seeing it come together.”

Immersive. Collaborative. Focused.

Coming Home and Beginning Their Own

Back home, Gavin and Grace began building a treenet at her parents’ property. Both working full time, they approached it steadily — three to four hours at a time, several days a week — over the course of about two months. The most difficult part wasn’t tying knots. It was trusting the beginning.

“The hardest part was just getting that first perimeter rope around… and just kind of trusting that it’s gonna work because at the beginning it kind of seems like, what am I doing?”

That early uncertainty is part of the process.

“As you do more and more, it just gets stronger and stronger… it just all ends up coming together at the end.”

And it did. They completed a fully functional, weight-bearing treenet — built independently from start to finish.

What Stayed With Him

Gavin describes himself as someone who can overthink.

“I’ll… sit there and spin in circles, trying to make sure it’s the right thing.”

What building showed him was something steady and reassuring:

“It’s really hard to mess up.”

Practice the three knots. Follow the sequence. Let repetition build confidence. Most students experience Treenet Collective entirely through the online course. In Gavin’s case, the retreat aligned with his timing — but the confidence to build at home came from the foundation he built beforehand.

What began as “that would be cool to have” is now somewhere he and Grace can relax, linger and make memories with family for years to come.