Psalmboxkey's Blog

Way Up in the Trees

An Activity for Twenty to over Sixty+?

The thought occurred to me that an activity following Thanksgiving Day might be an opportunity for some more family bonding. After scanning the Internet and casting away ideas that probably would not appeal to our 20+ something kids, I found a zip-line and obstacle course adventure at Lums Pond State Park, in north-central Delaware. According to the GoApe website,

The course is made up of numerous rope ladders, 42 exciting crossings to include the Double Stirrups, Zigzag Trapeze, Flying Carpet and Canyon Crossing, 2 Tarzan swings and 5 zip lines.  Overall, there are 5 individual sections within the course, each section taking you higher into the forest canopy and finishing with a zip line longer and with more expansive views of the pond than the previous one!  Zip Line #4 and #5 are both well over 650 feet and the entire course consists of over 2,191 feet worth of zip lines, providing some of the longest zip-lining experiences in the state and region!

I know that our young-uns would be excited for the experience, but what about us “mature folks” . . . would we survive over 2,000 feet of zip lines? These zip lines, an aerial runway consisting of a pulley on a cable, work on gravity pulling the passenger down to the end of an incline, with zip very much the appropriate word.

The Adventure Begins

After an hour’s drive from Philadelphia, we arrived at the park, which is centered around the largest pond in the state of Delaware. The pond was man-made in the early 1800’s when the C & D canal was built, the water used to fill the locks. I didn’t have much time to admire the picturesque scenery, however, as we soon started our training for the course. At first, it seemed a bit complicated as our trainer instructed us to hook and unhook two or three lines every time we changed position, but the color-coding helped, and we eventually mastered moving the hooks quickly as we went through the course. After the training, the guide left us to continue on our own. We were provided with an emergency whistle, where five blasts would bring immediate assistance. Our guide’s parting words, “Don’t wind up upside down.”

The Course

Our physically fit youngsters had no trouble with any of the challenges and even selected the more difficult options, such as walking on rings hanging from ropes. For me, the hardest part was climbing up the rope ladder, which required strong arms and upper body strength. The rest of the course, high in the trees, presented a variety of moveable walkways. Sometimes I decided not to look down. After getting over the initial fear of stepping off the platform for the ride on the zip-line, the trip down over the pond was thrilling! On the last zip line, I held my cell phone, video taping while gripping the cable with two hands. So if you want to see if the zip line experience is for you, that video is at the end of the movie.

Everyone had a great time and even making plans for when to return.  Maybe we’ll make this a family tradition!