Walk Your Own Line

The academics have kind of officially picked up now just finishing my second week of classes. My schedule has been pretty packed with that so its been harder to get out as much; also the weather has been kind of crappy with a lot of chilled rain. Days have been a little more standard than the first week of 0 responsibility, but we jumped at the first opportunity when classes were out and the weather cleared.

We went back to the same place where we set the first swing up but this time with bigger and bolder ideas.

We set out to build a high-line. For those who dont know what this is its basically a tight rope that is suspended off the ground (usually more than ten feet). In this case we went to set one out over a wide stream about twenty or so feet up. To do this safely we decided to set a safety rope up along side the line we were walking on. We would then clip our harnesses to that safety line. Set-up took way longer than i expected. It took close to two hours because we had to make sure that when we brought the ropes across the stream that they wouldn't get wet (it happened anyways). So anyways, we got everything set up and tightened the safety rope with a pair of ascenders. Go time.

I've set high-lines up before but had never successfully walked all the way across. Slacking on the ground and slacking 20ft up over rocks is a whole other story! I can consistently walk a line w/o falling and can even do a couple tricks but stepping out on this line felt like the very first time again! I nervously let go of the tree and took my first step out over the gully. My feet shook with nerves on end as i tried for step two. Success! When i reached the middle of the line I realized "oh dang! I can actually do this!" but as soon as i thought about how awesome it would be to finally complete a high-line I immediately thought about how terrible it would be if i fell. This thought spiked my nerves all over again! With both feet on the line my entire body swung dramatically to the left and then to the right. Desperately my feel clung to the narrow strip of webbing trying to regain control. To my dismay i managed to calm my nerves and slow the swinging. Cautiously I decided to try another step. Then another, and another. Before i knew it I had done it! Oh man what a great feeling, I was super stoked!!! I wish you could add these kinds of things to job resumes or something. Ah well these life experiences are way better than anything money could get me.