I'm so proud of myself! I've done something I've had on my 'to do' list for over a year and it was something I was afraid to do. I went on the Zip Line Canopy Tour at Zoar Outdoor in Deerfield, Ma. It was an experience of a lifetime and one I just may go back to do again. I've told you in previous posts that I'm all about doing stuff I've wanted to do for a long time and just haven't gotten to it. Well this one was at the top of my list. It was definitely the right choice too!
This zip tour was my birthday gift to Justin this year too. And we brought KC with us too. You just have to have someone to share this experience with...it's too exciting to do it alone. The tour is all about zipping from tree to tree (11 zip lines in total); 3 repels down from said trees and 2 'Indiana Jones' style rope bridges to cross as well. And they never even mentioned that you start the tour in a jeep; racing up the mountain on deeply rutted, twisting turns; with a maniac at the wheel! It was an open jeep and we were very thankful for the roll bars and seat belts on that ride. He drove like his ass was on fire! Really got the blood pumping that's for sure. We loved it. I did notice however that the other jeeps of people didn't seem to come racing up the mountain as fast as we did. Hmmmm...he really WAS a maniac at the wheel.
But I'm getting ahead of myself a little. The day really started with the suiting up part at the base camp. That was a little more complicated than I had expected. I remember stepping into a harness and pulling it up to geek height on my torso and the guides did the rest. There were cinches; buckles and large hooks all over the thing and of course there were adjustable hard hats and heavy gloves to wear too. We all looked like a bunch of geeky electrical linesmen when they finished with us. It took a little getting used to wearing all that gear and trying to walk in it. By the end of the day it felt like I was taking 30 lbs of gear off but I think it was only about 15lbs actually.
From the base camp they took us straight to a practice area to teach us how to stand on the a wobbly step; hand position; zipping; stop or keep coming when shown the hand signals and even how to 'rescue ourselves' should be stop too far away from the landing. I watched 2 other people do it first then volunteered to be next to try it. We had two guides..Joan, who buckled us up and sent us on our zips and Max who taught us the hand signals and unbuckled us at the landing points. After the practice Joan asked me if I'd ever done it before and I told her no. She said I got it all right the first time so she thought I'd done it before. I said no, I just watched very closely when the other two screwed up and did the opposite of them. :)
After the mini-lesson we were packed into the jeeps and racing up the mountain.
At the first zip site we started to find out that Max was a comedian. He knew we were all scared (they take you in groups of 8 so there were people there we didn't know) and would believe anything he said so he started telling us silly things or scary things and then he'd pause and say 'Naw, just kidding' or 'Nope, that's a lie'. We'd all laugh and then pay attention because it was always followed with information that we needed to know. Clever way to get everyone to pay attention isn't it? We grew to love Max and his sense of humor. He was a tall lanky long lost brother of ZZ Top...the guy had a beard that just dominated his face! He told us he called this year beard 2010. And he may have liked to joke around a lot but he really knew his stuff! We'd all have mini conversations at the landing sites with him and we learned a great deal about him during the day. The one thing he did tell us that I really appreciated hearing was that he had taken a lot more training for this job than is normally required. Joan was no slouch either...she knew her job inside out...she is a physical trainer as well as a guide and Justin told me she lifts weights too. But Max was actually trained for all cases of emergency including unconscious rescue of someone stuck in the middle of the zip. His training included going to get them and bringing them in via the zip line or going out to them and lowering them to safety if they were injured badly. So together they made a great team because he could rescue someone and Joan knew what to do with the injuries. Besides that...they were just fun! And they made the day so much better than if they had just been doing a job. They really gave the impression that they love what they do. I'm very glad we had them as our guides.
The first real zip we did was scary I'll admit. Max always went out first because he was the landing guy. Joan would call us up by name (they had labeled our silly looking helmets; they screwed up KC's spelling so she was dubbed "Special K" for the day!) and she'd hook our trembling bodies up to the zip line. They had head gear so they could speak to each other. Joan didn't send the next person until Max gave her the all clear. Then she'd tell him who was coming next. Only one person zips at a time and Joan mixed it all up all the time so you never knew if you were going first or not. When you reached the landing Max would unhook you from the zip line and hook you to the tree. Then we got to watch the next people come in and take pictures as you wanted.
I learned very quickly that there was really no where I could tuck my camera so it would stay in place. It kept sliding around or shifting to another place and mostly kept dangling down through my gear in my crotch area...so of course I named it my 'crotch camera' for the day. With all the gear that I had on I couldn't get to any of the pockets on my jacket or pants.
The zips became less and less scary as the day went on. The scenery was beautiful...especially from such a height. I'm not sure exactly how high we were. I know we were over 80 feet at one point but I don't think that was our highest point. I made it a point not to look directly down too much. We were zipping down the side of a mountain. Seeing the landscape drop away from you like that is not a favorite thing for me. I'm terrified of heights! I know...this is not something you'd expect a height-fobic to be doing. But actually if you look straight out it doesn't seem like you're that high up somehow. A few times we were in the tops of giant trees and the wind was making it sway. THAT was a creepy feeling for sure. But having all that gear on that was hooked to the tree somehow made it ok.
Part of the course includes going across a couple of rope bridges. Max called them 'Indiana Jones' bridges. The first one wasn't very high so that was ok. The next one was much higher...but we were still hooked to a cable the whole time and that was enough to take the fear out of it for me. Some of the other guests never relaxed on those bridges and would shuffle slowly across them. They bounce and sway when you're on them so it's a little like being on a boat with rough seas.
Then we reached a point where we had to repel down from the tree stand to the ground. They explained how this worked but it was very scary just the same. As it ended up Max was the person in control of your descent the entire time. And he had the choice of letting you drop slow, medium or fast. On one of these repels Justin went first and he requested a medium repel....well he started off medium and then Max dropped him really fast just for the fun of it. Justin and the rest of us laughed. Max did a mini-burst of speed on KC too. She loved it. I was lucky he didn't do that to me. I got the medium repel I asked for...but I was prepared for a fast one. The worst part about a repel is you have to really trust the equipment and your guides. You are not in control of the repel; they are. You have to stand facing the tree, with your feet braced on the outer edge of the platform at shoulder width and slowly lean back into open space! Bending in the middle makes it a little easier (sort of like you are about to sit down in open air) but you have to keep your feet on the platform until your head is below the level of your feet. Most of us were nervous doing it. Joan was completely prepared for our fear. She talked us through it and when possible kept her hand on our back as long as she could. She told us women have a harder time doing it because we don't trust easily ...we're cautious. Men on the other hand will just do it with no thought to getting hurt at all. Funny but true. Justin was the only guy (other than Max) on the tour and he didn't have any trouble doing the repel...even after Max let him drop fast. That's a guy for ya!
One of the zips was a little different also in that you had to get a running start on it and just throw yourself out into open space. It sounds worse than it was really. First you stand on the step to be hooked up then you step onto the ramp and use it like a run way. Max warned us that if we didn't run off the ramp we'd end up scraping our feet or butts on the ground so everyone did as instructed. That was one of my favorite zips. It was a shorter one too and I think we were going extra fast because Max also warned us that we would need to start braking very quickly...less than half way across. I made a rather quick landing on that one. Just one more time I thought I for sure I was going to take Max out on landing.
After our last zip we repelled down to the ground and it was over. A short walk back to base camp and we were instructed to remove all our gear. Easier said than done. I had forgotten entirely how I have put it on in the first place so I needed a little help to get me started. All of a sudden I felt like I had dropped 30 lbs. It didn't feel heavy when we were zipping but you sure felt light and airy when you took it off. We had noticed on our walk back to the base that there was a mini cemetery along the way. I never did get to ask Max what that was all about. I sure hope it wasn't previous zip line guests that didn't make it!
This zip line tour was a wonderful way to spend the day with your friends. We also made friends with the other people right away. Something about shared fear and danger just does that to you. I think Special K (KC) was the youngest person on the tour...I know she was the shortest one. :) Most of the others were middle aged and one was an older woman that looked to be near 80 yrs old but Justin tells me she wasn't that old. Whatever her age was she sure had a lot of spunk. She was staying overnight and going on the white water rafting the next day. Some of the others asked me if we were staying over night too. I think they wanted to get together and discuss the days fun. Unfortunately we had to head back to Ct after the fun was over. But we'll be going back next year to do the white water rafting...and maybe doing the longer version that includes camping overnight too. That will be fun. I can't wait!
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