ziplining personal narrative

ZIP LINING

Screams, yells, laughter shouting filled my ears just making it even more nerve racking. When I was ten years old, I spent a week at Sandy cove Camp for Girls, a sleep away camp in Virginia. From canoeing in the brisk waters of a small river to horseback riding through deep forest trails, there was never a dull day at this place. I was an archer, a cowgirl, a swimmer, and an artist all in a matter of days. Throughout the week, I found satisfaction in thinking that I had attempted and completed numerous activities. This thought, however, vanished as I stumbled upon a fifty foot tall tower of intimidation: the zip line.
Throughout the day, I stared in awe at all of the girls being consumed into the tunnel of leaves that sat under the sky. They climbed a fifty foot tree with the assistance of metal rings protruding from the bark, stood on a wooden plank when they reached the top, and stepped off to glide across the thick wire that stretched almost 150 feet from tree to tree. I jolted down the rocky trail to reach the Ropes Course shed, a wooden hut filled with carabineers, harnesses, and helmets. I looked up to find the ropes counselor, Chloe Bailey, a petite blond sixteen year old girl with, tangled hair, dark brown eyes, and dozens of freckles scattered across her cheeks like a starry night. After watching me gaze at the zip line all day, she knew exactly what I had come for. We jogged across the field and I came to an abrupt stop at the foot of the tree that led up to the zip line. Seeing my destination this close for the first time, my heart began to thump uncontrollably while my knees quivered; I started having second thoughts about my “fearless” decision.
“I’m not so sure about this,” I managed to stutter. Chloe plopped a helmet on my head, placed her hand on my shoulder and said,
“Don’t be worried, it’s going to be so much fun.” My trembling legs slid into the harness, and Chloe yanked the loose straps. She clipped a carabineer to my harness and attached it to a strong, elastic rope that hung from a seemingly thin metal wire. Thoughts of unrealistic events rushed through my mind like, what if it snapped and I fell to my death or, if the hook came undone. My stomach felt like it was twisted in a knot. I looked down at the small features of the landscape below, and the people looking like tiny bugs. I told Chloe
“Just…….. push me so I won’t need to walk off “. I closed my eyes and prepared myself by taking deep breathes, when I feel a hand shove me off the edge. That second felt like I was falling forwards until I opened my eyes and I saw I was moving effortlessly down the smooth cord at an increasingly high speed. The wind pushed on my body and made my loose hair fly behind me, except this air was clean, crisp and fresh. I screamed while at the same time I was laughing. A man told me to drop a rope, which he used to stop me and pull me to a ladder so I could climb down.
My mind was racing as I realized that I had just gone on that ridiculous thing. Another counselor with short brown hair and raggedy clothes helped me take off my heavy gear. As I stood there I remembered the rush of flying down, feeling absolutely weightless in the air. I shouted “I need to do that again!” I grabbed the gear I had just taken off and sprinted to the tree. I stopped Chloe from leaving the zip line; Chloe ran up to me and said
“You had fun didn’t you” I nodded and I took a step off the edge not holding the rope or screaming, but thinking about how thrilled I was.