Challenge Course Scare

Man, I can't believe how fast time is flying by! I never wrote about our challenge course on the family campout. It was crazy scary. I mean the craziest, scariest thing I've ever done. (Or, rather in my case, the scariest, craziest thing I've not done.)

I wanted Zachary to go on it right away so he wouldn't see others getting scared and not do it himself. My brother-in-law Rob went first, and then it was Zachary's turn.

Let me back up a little and explain the course: First you climb up a log that is hanging vertically from a chain. (This means it can sway and spin around, both of which add to the scare/difficulty.) It also has no hand-holds, and the footholds (steps carved into the log) are far apart and aren't just left-right-left. I really wasn't sure any kids would ever get up the log!

Then after climbing up that you're sooooo high in the air and walk across a wire sideways while holding onto a lax wire at the top. (You have to make your arms stiff and lean into them a little to get across effectively.) From there you step onto a platform very high in the trees and then onto another platform to go down the zipline. I just wanted to do the zipline! But I digress ...

So, Zachary went up the log so fast I almost missed him doing it! I was so surprised he didn't even seem scared:

That's my little boy clear up there!

 

I was soooooo proud of him! He was such a brave boy! And I think that helped the other kids be brave.

Tyler lost his footing on the log up, so he just hugged the pole and climbed like a bear. I loved it! Here he is on his part:

 

 

As you can see in the last picture, he loved it! He might have been scared at the top, but he didn't show it.

Paul and Becca also did it without a hitch. Becca had done it before and obviously didn't warn us of the difficulty or we probably would have gone to a different zipline!

 

 

And then it was my turn. I knew it looked hard, but I was prepared. I can do hard things. That said, I decided to go up the log as quickly as possible, because the log looked like the worst part. It started spinning. It started swaying. And I got sick. I just kept thinking of how high I was (probably about 15-18 feet high) and how this was so insecure. I didn't know if I should use the difficult footholds for my hands, or if I should just hug the log. Needless to say, I sat there panicked just like this:

I just couldn't go on. It was too scary. I have discovered that I can be in high places as long as it's secure, but if it's an edge or something more insane like this, it terrifies me. I had seen my mom also have extreme fear about this point on the course, and she pressed through. I saw my nephew terrified to go down the zipline, but he did it. But I couldn't. So, I let them know I was giving up :( and they had me step off of the log and I swung down to the ground. Man! I was the only one in our family who was too scared to do it.

I later thought I should have just kept going and if I fell, the line would catch me just as it had when I stepped off the log. Duh. But I obviously didn't have that thought at the time. I really was bummed to not go down the zipline since I love them! Anyway, I hope I'll have a chance to do this challenge again in the future and that I'll actually be brave enough to complete it!