Ropes Course

Zion M., Age 15

Zion M. here, reporting for the Camp Gilgal Gazette. Today, I am writing about a popular attraction at Calvin Crest, known as the “ropes course” or “zipline.” As a good reporter does, I checked out the course for myself, with exhilarating results. The first step that you take while attempting the ropes course is to don a safety hat and harness, tightened to fit your body, excellent for aerodynamics and speed. Just looking up at the task set in front of you, equipped with safety gear that becomes seemingly fragile and useless, is daunting. You climb up onto the first step, swinging already from your weight and the breeze, even if there is a person below steadying the sway of the ropes connected to planks of wood with knots. It only gets more difficult from there, with obstacles sprinkled in the air from tree to tree as you walk a tightrope over a thirty-foot drop to the forest floor. Concentration and acting on your senses is key, as is not thinking and closing your eyes, too. It is hard work navigating the seeming perils of the height and lack of stability but it is all rewarded with a trip on a zipline through the forest.