I had a hard time finding books for book club (at least initially) when I was planning last summer. I had expected to use lots of classics, but I found that My Little Man had read every single one I pulled off the library shelf! After pestering our friendly librarian for lots of book topics, she suggested the Stranded series by Jeff Probst as a great survival story – and I’m glad she did.
The trilogy is about four kids, new siblings in a blended family, who get stranded on an island in the South Pacific and need to find a way to work together – and to survive. They’re fairly short, easy reads, and each book has cliffhanger endings until the third, which is why I asked the book clubbers to read all three.
In the third book, there’s an incident with a cliff and three of the kids. When I read that scene, I knew we needed to do some climbing – and the idea for our treetop adventure with Go Ape USA was born.
I worked primarily with a man named Jon at Go Ape’s headquarters, who gave our group a discount, patiently explained the details and rules to me, and helped us get set up. There’s a lot to know, because the rules and pricing vary for different age groups, and I wanted to make sure that our adventure went smoothly. Go Ape also requires one adult for every two kids, and so it was important to stay on top of the numbers – and for good reason. More on that soon ….
We got everyone together for a group picture before we headed off for our training session. Most of us were really excited, but a few people were pretty nervous, and, again, for understandable reasons: we were headed 50 feet up into the treetops and would tackle ziplines up to 500 feet long.
After getting outfitted with our harnesses, our Go Ape instructor walked us through a mini training course on the ground so that we could encounter the different scenarios we would face in the air. This was critical because no instructor would be in the air with us. We’d be in charge of hooking ourselves in and out of the safety gear.
Soon we were headed up ladders and into the trees. We were each decked out with a harness that stayed on us the entire time, and we used double lines and carabiners to attach the safety lines to our harnesses at each station. We went through five courses, with each one starting with a ladder and spiraling higher and higher into the treetops.
We encountered lots of these obstacles in the air. We were always supported by safety lines and our harnesses, of course, but we walked over wires, free-fell into nets, walked across swaying, wooden bridges, and much more. A few times there were even options for different paths with varying difficulties.
The sky was a beautiful blue on the day of our trip but the temperatures remained in the 40s, and oddly enough, we had several inches of snow the day before. Our landings from the ziplines were often a bit muddy, but since the trees hadn’t budded out yet, we could see pretty far, and the views were incredible.
It was fun to see everyone trying new things – only about three of us had done anything like this before – and we all worked together well.
Many of the obstacles were harder than they appeared, and they really tested your physical strength – and your bravery, too.
I dreaded this type of obstacle. They’re really hard for people like me with short legs, but even though I’m not any taller than I was the last time I did a course like this, it was easier. Maybe because I could depend on my harness to help me, or maybe because I was completely responsible for two girls and had to keep up with them – maybe both! – but while it was challenging, it was doable.
Even though I planned this outing and knew the benefits of it, I’m rather glad I wasn’t able to see my kids zipping. While I checked my Big Helper’s gear to be sure that she was hooked in properly before she stepped off the platform, she was quickly out of sight amidst the trees, and my Little Man was zipping around with DH, so I couldn’t see it. Even when you know it’s safe, it’s still hard to see your people jump out of a tree.
I’m thankful that a friend took such amazing pictures of them, though, so that we can remember our adventures – and that I couldn’t see them until we were all safely on the ground. Thanks, Lynn!
Sticking landings were hard and quickly became everyone’s goal, though most of the time we just landed on our bottoms in the mulch.
Did I mention that we were up really high?
I loved hearing and seeing the teamwork that happened during this event. Although I about half expected complaints, tears, or even a refusal to go up, everyone bravely strapped on their gear and climbed the ladders – even the people I knew were scared. I heard people cheering each other on, encouraging comments being yelled from one obstacle to another, and cheering when someone completed a hard obstacle. It was great!
My Little Man was one of those not wanting to go, and, really, Go Ape was bigger than anything any of us had done before. We watched the videos, we talked about harnesses and zipping and what to do if you were scared, but he wasn’t sure about the whole thing; when we got there, however, he was all in, and he wanted to take the hardest route every time there was a choice. He absolutely loved it and has asked several times to go back.
We definitely made memories during our treetop adventure for the Stranded trilogy with Go Ape.
Have you ever done a treetop adventure course?
