Hi Vodkafan,
yeah, until I was asked by a customer to make the hop field I had no idea what one looked like either!
In real life, you have upright posts that are around 20-30 feet high, with several tension wires running across at different heights to add support. The actual plants do grow straight up in huge columns. It's almost like having a massive vineyard type trellis, but with the "vines" growing vertically rather than being trained to grow horizontally.
Always nice to know where beer comes from!
Hope this helps!
John