We were walking down that long, tiring hill. I could feel the sweat running down my face from the extremely hot sun. I never thought that I would ever actually miss the rain and the coolness. I was walking with my two friends Dario and Jared. We all knew what was ahead of us but you could tell we were still very nervous. I knew that there was no danger and that we would be connected to harnesses, but I couldn’t help thinking of falling helplessly until finally hitting the rock solid earth.
“We’re nearly there,” I heard our instructor, Dan, call out. This made me excited because it was our last activity on our school camp and it was also that one that I wanted to do the most. Plus, I was really tired of walking.
We talked quite a lot on the way there. We just talked about how high we thought it would be and if we would go to the very top. We hadn’t seen it yet but we heard it was extremely tall.
Suddenly, there was a huge opening from all the trees and we saw what we came for. The Giant Swing. It was huge! I thought there was no way that we could swing connected to a rope all the way from the top and just keep swinging. I was more nervous then before but my excitement definitely overpowered that. I couldn’t wait to experience the amazing feeling of falling. Sadly, I had to wait my turn like everyone else.
Dave gave us all numbers for the order of who goes first. I was number 15. I was happy that I was able to see people go on it before me but also upset that I had to wait a while for my go. So the first people started putting on their harnesses while Dave told us how the whole thing worked. “ We will pull the person up with the orange rope. Once at the top, there is a little blue rope that the person will pull and it will release them and they will fall and swing. I’m sure you will all enjoy this activity.”
Finally, after the safety brief, we got started and the first person was connected to the huge rope that would pull them up. It took very little time to pull the person up, and soon enough they were at the top ready to go. Dan counted down from ten and as he said the last number, the person pulled the little blue rope and they fell. It was amazing to watch. They first drop looked amazing and you could tell it was fun from the noise the person was making.
From then on it was a slow wait. One person got off, one person got on. It was fun to see each person’s reaction. Eventually I saw my friend Dario was harnessed up and ready to go. I wanted to see him go because he said he wasn’t going to hold onto the rope when he dropped. No one so far had let go of the rope on the first drop. He connected himself to the harness and up he went. Again we started to hear the count down Dan had said for every single person. Dan said the last number and Dario pulled the rope. Nothing happened. He tried again and still nothing happened. He then tried one more time and it worked. He fell and his hands weren’t on the rope!
He was the first person to let go of the rope on the first drop. Dan told me to go put on a harness. I was really nervous because when Dario came to take off his harness his face was pale. He told me it was amazing and that I had to let go of the rope on the first drop. I said I would.
The next person went and got off and then it was my turn. I was shaking a little bit. Dan connected me to the harness and everyone started pulling and I was lifted into the air. From the ground it didn’t look as high as it was when you’re up there. I finally reached the top. Dan asked if I was ready and I said yes so he started counting down from ten. As he reached the last number I pulled the little blue rope. I didn’t expect to fall on the first try but I did. It was the most amazing feeling. I didn’t hold onto the rope. Every single thing in my body told me to grab the rope but I knew I would regret it later.
When you fell it felt like you lose your breath and fall into your own peaceful place and the whole world disappears. But before you know it the whole thing is over and you are taking off your harness.
I had butterflies in my stomach for the rest of the day and whenever I think about I feel the same thing. It was the most amazing thing I’ve ever done in my life. I will never forget it.
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