Private pilot; unfamiliar with the mountainous area and with the performance of his unidentified airplane; flew into a tree while attempting to out climb the rising terrain. Survived the encounter and returned to the departure airport.

Narrative

My 22 year old son and I prepared to depart. We reviewed the sectional chart and decided to follow a road north; then located a road that turned left (west) that led straight to the lodge. I am not familiar with the area. Since I had just flown the plane for about 45 minutes; and the ambient temperature was near 80F; the oil temperature would start out high (typical for my particular aircraft; 180 hp conversion; constant speed prop; turbo normalized). In order to be easy on the engine we took off and climbed to 5500 MSL. After about 10 minutes I decided to climb to about 6000 MSL. Shortly thereafter we realized that the terrain was quickly rising and I prepared to turn around and head down valley. With the terrain rising and the mountain sides closing in I found no choice but to begin (after applying full throttle and max rpm) an immediate turn. However there was a tree that I could not avoid. We went through the top 5 feet of it; then began turning. After completing the turn I reduced power and circled for a while trying to get the oil to cool down. After getting our wits about us; I decided to go back to the airport. We flew there and landed without any further problems; but the plane had suffered some damage to it fairings; lower engine cowl; left horizontal stabilizer; and wheel pants. The main cause of the incident was not noticing the now very clear passes noted on the sectional; and my extreme concern over the oil temperature. I noted how the two airports were at similar altitudes and imagined the road going up the drainage gently; which it did for a while. I saw very little change in the color of the gradations on the sectional and assumed what I had imagined. After the incident I looked at the sectional and saw the passes marked; but I will say I am still supersized that 2000 FT difference in the terrain is not more obvious when glancing at the charts (not to distract from my fault; just an observation). I do feel as though my training; reading related article and experience paid off in accomplishing the turn successfully. I remained calm and flew the airplane through the event; but I sure wish I had studied the chart better and just climbed a little more right from the beginning.