Last summer I managed to cross off a major item on my lifetime to-do list. It was always something I've been interested in doing and I finally had the perfect opportunity to accomplish it. One of my more adventuresome friends, Lynn, invited me on a Zip-lining/Cave exploring getaway with some friends just outside of Ottawa. I readily agreed. I am usually good to go wherever adventure is concerned. We met up with Lynn's buddy in Ottawa and then headed across the province line to the zip-lining place in Quebec. We parked in the lot and then waited for an old school bus to come pick us up. Walking in the school bus was an unpleasant reminder of how they are not constructed for someone of my height. I had to walk all the way to my seat with my head way down to avoid smacking my head on a rivet (I've hit my head on one before, it is not fun at all). The bus took us up to the lodge where we suited up into the protective harnesses. We then hiked up the hill into the woods to the beginning of the course. A "crash course" in using the lines and the clasps ensued. We basically had to hook onto a clothesline about 10 feet long, pull ourselves across and then unhook. Oh yeah the clothesline was about 4 feet off the ground. Not overly exciting by any means. After completing that rigorous training, we all moved on to the actual course. The course consisted of varying balancing activities followed by zipping across from platform to platform at differing heights. I have to say I enjoyed it a lot(except for the part where the side of my head got a little too close to the wire and I got scratched). Lots of thrills and good times. One of the girls called it quits after about 1/3 of the course because she was scared. Not everyone is cut out for adventure.
Part 2 of the adventure was the cave exploration. A group of us (complete with the miner lights attached to our helmets) went down into a huge cave and walked through all of the paths inside. Being 6'5 was not advantageous to me in this instance. There were a few small areas I struggled to get through. I had hoped to encounter a few bats or something, but none made an appearance. We exited the cave and as far as we knew at the time, the adventure ended there.
We grabbed some food at the on-site BBQ and while we were eating, Lynn and I somehow discovered a mutual interest in bungee jumping. I think I said I had always wanted to try it and she basically said that since it would piss her parents off she would do it too. Lynn's buddy just happened to know of a place very nearby and he even had a 2 for 1 COUPON! Yes sir that is how Dickie rolls, with Coups! Now that was a sign if ever there was one. That would have been one thing that potentially would have held me back, justifying upwards of $100 for about 20 seconds of adrenaline. But $50 for 20 seconds of adrenaline? Done! We drove to the Bungee Jumping place and quickly cashed in our 2 for 1 coupon and they advised us to hurry up the hill as they were closing soon. The following is the description directly off the Great Canadian Bungee website "Looking for the highest bungee jump in the land? Then look no further. Just 20 minutes from downtown Ottawa is "The Rock", home to Great Canadian Bungee's 200 ft. Goliath. Here you'll find one of the world's most spectacular and unique Bungee Jumping sites. Visualize an amphitheater of solid limestone, 200 ft. high, surrounding a 160 ft. deep aqua-blue, spring-fed lagoon, larger than 3 football fields. This is the only place in the Americas where one can experience a 200 ft. head (or body) dip. Your 160 ft. rebound is higher than the entire jump height at any other site in the US or Canada!". Well dip me in flour and call me "Ready"! Did I mention I have a small fear of heights?
We climbed to the top of the hill and then up on the metal apparatus that went out and over the vast chasm of water. The attendant asked us whether we wanted to be locked in by the ankles or by the waist. Being that I am reasonably thin I chose the ankles. As I was strapping the shackles on, a young girl (likely 20yrs old) came down the 60 foot walkway after her jump. She was wet, trembling, crying and just generally looked totally miserable. It was at this point that I decided there was absolutely no way I was getting off this platform without jumping off. Up to that point I was more than a bit nervous about the whole deal, but to see this little woman walk off after jumping I knew it had to be done. Otherwise I would never forgive myself. Generally there are some things in your life that you can back down from and it doesn't bother you much, but this would have been something that would have haunted me the rest of my days had I not gone through with it. I assume Lynn was a bit nervous as well, but she never showed it. She just wanted me to go first, presumably in case I died. After properly strapping in I walked the plank down to the end of the walkway to the jumping platform. I'm not going to lie, my legs felt heavy and sluggish walking down the walkway. It's like they knew what was coming and my primitive survival instinct was trying to prevent it from happening. There were two French guys ahead of me. As I got to the jumping area and took a seat on a small chair, one of the guys dove off the ledge, screaming the whole way down. As they started pulling him up using the winch system I could tell that the remaining guy was a bit conflicted about jumping - downright scared to death might be a better description. The first guy made it to the top and they unstrapped him. He sat down beside me and told me in broken english that I should definitely not do this and to go back, he thought he was going to have a heart attack. The angry red colour his face was made me think he might be correct about the heart attack. The second guy was inching his way to the edge painfully slow and looked like he might either vomit or piss his pants at any second. Perhaps both simultaneously. There were two attendants looking after the jumps and they were both encouraging him to help build up the courage to jump. He got to the end of the ledge and then backed way up, talking about how he couldn't do it. One of the attendants looked at me, shook his head and rolled his eyes in disgust at the guy. That further cemented my dedication to jump, I wasn't going to have these guys making these disgusted faces about me. The guy made one more attempt by inching his way to the end but again he backed off and said he just couldn't do it. When he turned around I could see he was crying a little, tear lines marked his face. Poor bastard. That episode likely still haunts him to this day. He might as well have cut off his testicles and handed them to the attendants. The non-jumper took his figuratively severed balls and did the walk of shame off the platform.
The attendants looked at me and asked if I wanted to go into the water or not. I mumbled that I didn't care but I was a little worried about losing a contact lens. The guys asked me if I was ready and I think I nodded, I could not speak at this point. I was a bit terrified. My legs felt like they were made of lead. I could see the rest of our group down below and they looked so small from that high in the air. I suddenly felt like this was a very bad idea. At the same time there was no going back now. I somehow edged my way to the end of the ledge and looked down, even though I knew I shouldn't look down. The 200+ feet drop looked more like 10,000 feet. That didn't settle my stomach at all. The attendant gave me the go ahead sign and to my surprise I willed myself to jump into the air and swan dive down into the abyss. It felt like I jumped high into the air and did a nice dive down, but after watching the video afterward it is more accurate to say my knees somewhat gave out and I just allowed myself to fall off the end. I cannot accurately describe what the feeling of plummeting to your possible demise at a crazy speed feels like. I have gone on countless rollercoasters and they do not even compare. I also thought I let out a triumphant yell on the way down but the video makes it sound more like a terrified scream. I came very close (within 2 feet) of hitting the water at the bottom but thankfully I didn't go in. They pulled me back up and congratulated me. I could hardly hear them with my heart beating the loudest I have ever felt it. I unharnessed and waited for Lynn to go. She came to meet me at the end after her jump looking much like the way I felt. We walked down the hill excitedly trying to describe the experience to each other, but I think we just kept yelling superlatives at each other without making any sense. One more thing to scratch off Dickie's To-Do List of Life.
Later that night I was still on a huge high from the experience. We all went out drinking in Ottawa. I ended up chatting up a girl at the bar while getting a drink, who knew that a fresh scratch on my head would be such a great conversation starter? I told her about my adventures for the day and we chatted a little bit, then we both went back to our friends. Later on while dancing with my friends I almost inadvertently knocked her out when I mistook her trying to slip her card into my back pocket for someone trying to pickpocket me.
And there you have an installment of Dickie's big Adventures. I highly recommend trying bungee jumping if you ever get the chance. If you however become a statistic by falling to your death, what the hell were you thinking listening to me??
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