Tuesday, October 14, 2008
SOTO - Cliffhanger
The afternoon of the hike to Goat Cave a majority of us took a five-minute walk up the trail to one of SOTO’s adventure activities, a cable slingshot that swings you out over a cliff, appropriately called the Cliffhanger. One at a time we donned a web harness and were secured to two cables with locking carabineers. The cables ran to the top of tall telephone poles positioned approximately 30-feet apart and anchored at the edge of a cliff. A third cable was attached to the back of the harness. This third cable was slack and ran to the top of another pole situated about 50-feet behind the first poles. As the slack was removed from the third cable we rose into the air until we were parallel to the ground, maybe 35 to 40-feet off the deck. On command we activated a release mechanism disconnecting us from the third cable. The pendulum action of the contraption swung us out over the cliff. As our energy dissipated the arc of our oscillation decreased until we eventually came to a standstill. The initial drop brought screams of euphoria from us all, then we caught our breath and enjoyed the ride and the view.
Afterwards a couple of us went to the river and took a dip in Big Creek. The water was clear and cold, but the current was mild allowing us to swim with ease.
Once the sun set, we capped the day off with a campfire and smores. No one sang ‘Kumbia’, but I did hear some humming of ‘Home on the Range’ from a few. The bonfire was followed by a late night game of 1,000 Dice before everyone retired pleasantly worn-out.
Afterwards a couple of us went to the river and took a dip in Big Creek. The water was clear and cold, but the current was mild allowing us to swim with ease.
Once the sun set, we capped the day off with a campfire and smores. No one sang ‘Kumbia’, but I did hear some humming of ‘Home on the Range’ from a few. The bonfire was followed by a late night game of 1,000 Dice before everyone retired pleasantly worn-out.
