Ropes Course

Before the course, I felt good, the course didn't look too scary. This is the 2nd ropes course I would be on. I went to the UCSD ropes course and I made it up the cargo net and I went back down. My hands were shaking and I didn’t even want to stand up. 

This time I felt I could do it because that was a long time ago.

I was the 2nd group to go up so I was taking pictures of my friend, Tyler. It was fun to see him doing it. I still didn't feel scared or anything, but Tyler told me “Bro this is actually scary” which just let me know that it wasn’t gonna be a piece of cake. He made it to the zipline and was looking okay, the zipline is something I was also hesitant about because it looked scary. I watched him go down it and it looked fun for the 2nd part, not the drop. 

After everyone made it down we ate lunch and I was still doing okay, just trying to eat a good amount of food to feel good. Then it was our turn so I went to put my harness on with my friends Kaylum and Sebastian.

 We all lined up to the front and ready to go. Making it up the net was okay, I was feeling nervous but not scared. I attached my clips and when I stood up is when it felt scary, having my friends with me helped. I was still determined to do it and I was attached to the next line to start the course. Standing on the single line was thrilling, Kaylum and I felt the same way, nervous and scared. But at the same time, we were both determined to get through the course if we liked it or not. The higher up we went, the more confident I got to go through. 

I was getting a good hang of it but Sebastian was in the front going kind of slow. Kaylum was right behind and I didn't like it because nobody wants to be jammed up in one spot. I slowed down so Sebastian can get more ahead and so Kaylum can separate from me. When I reached the bridge that leads to the zipline, it was okay because I didn't know we already reached the top. I was actually using the ropes instead of holding the cable above me. 

When I reached it, it was scary and I was ready to finally get down. I sat down and got in position to leap off but I hesitated because I wasn't ready. Then the instructor told me the longer I wait the scarier it is so I asked her to count down and push me. The free fall was the scariest part of the whole course, I never fell straight down like I felt I did before. The second it was over I knew I was safe. 

I put my hands out for the sprinkler to wet my rough hands, it felt so refreshing. When my feet touched the ground I was finally at ease and stress free. I told my friends how it was and I went to take a seat and eat chips, exactly what I needed. I felt good after because I didn’t do the ucsd course so I made up by doing this one.

After a reflection, It’s really all about your mental mind. You could be thrilled to do it or not but you only need to know that you're 100% safe.

I was feeling good before getting to the course. I was only wondering how it looks because I haven’t seen what the ropes looked like. I was expecting the course to be high and with a lot of objects on the course and was expecting us to have to use the rock climbing wall.

 When I got to the course I was thinking to myself that it looked easy and that I could beat everyone to the top. At the course I was ready to do the course and already feel it is easier than it looks. Seeing the course for the first time I was looking at ways I could do before getting on because I know the platforms are wobbly.

 Putting my harness on was kinda confusing for me because I also had jeans on so it would twist the harness because of my pants but then I got help and figured it out. When it was my turn for the course, when I started to climb it was hard because the ropes were wobbly. It was fun for me at the same time because it was like a challenge for me, I was being careful and trying to keep my balance climbing.

Once I finished climbing I started to do higher levels which became difficult. I found it hard because I would have to keep myself held onto. It was lunch time and it was good. I had an orange and I hung out with friends. It was chill and fun.

 I was in a second group because we all had to have groups,I didn’t go on the course first but watching others on the course was good because I was able to notice ways I can go and see if I can speed rush it and notice if i’ll fall, but the first group looked like they were struggling.

 Taking photos was fun. I took some with my friends and of myself on the course for my assignment. After the course I felt good because I did an optional level of the course and it was difficult so I was trying to get off already because I had to be careful and see where I'm stepping so I wouldn't fall and hang. I was glad to be off the course after that.

 On the way back to school I was tired but wasn’t able to sleep because I was uncomfortable and my phone was dying so I was trying to go home and lay down already. After school I was glad because I went to go eat chick fila so I felt like I was free and able to do things I like.

 The morning after that I felt good because I was able to tell myself I finished the whole course because I was a man of my word to my teacher to finish most of the difficult levels. The next morning I felt good, I felt like I got a lot of sleep because the day of the field trip I woke up at 6am and only got 8 hours of sleep.

 I think after this taking risk is good because for me I went on the course that had a spider web and that’s a challenge I wanted to do because it looked difficult, once I got on I wanted to go back off, so I'm glad I  took that risk because I completed a challenge that I found hard.

 During that time on the spider web course I was thinking I should of never got on it because I had to do 3 hard levels for me so I regretted it and I was wondering how will I do this, at that moment I felt nervous and was trying to be more careful because it was confusing and I didn’t know where to step. I believe you should go to this ropes course because once you finish it you have a lot of happy emotions in your body.

Journey #3: OC Ropes Course

In the car I was excited for the course. By this time I had already done a ropes course before in 5th grade and I liked it. Once we got there after a long drive we started to see classmates.

 Once we started walking towards the group we saw the ropes course. It was way bigger than they described first. They started to make partners and groups. I was in the first group, which meant that I was going to go on the course first and my partners were going to take pictures of me.

 I was one of the first people to start climbing once I got up the first net I was struggling to find a spot to hook my clips on to. Once I got clipped in I started going around the first floor. Once I was done with the first floor I started climbing to the second floor. The staircase up was hard because some of the logs were flipped sideways and it was hard to climb on them. 

Once I got to the second floor I pretty much went straight to the third floor because I wanted to go on the zip line. Once I got up there I had to sit down and get ready to jump off.

 I slide down the zipline at accelerating speed. Once I got to the bottom the lady brought up a ladder and I was ready for lunch. Lunch was ok. There wasn't much food but I ate a ton of the oranges probably like 7. They were really good.

After lunch the other group went up and it was time for me to take pictures of my partner santiago once he got up there I brought out my phone and started taking pictures. In the end I got about 5 pictures for him and he ended up using some of them.

 Once we got back to school I was able to reflect on what happened. I felt accomplished that I was able to go up to the top floor. I also think that the psychology of risk is really interesting and how the body decides between a flight or fight response.

In the end I would recommend going to a ropes course again and I would want to try to go on all of the sections. I think that it is a very fun experience.

This morning started early and the day was followed by an exciting trip to the OC Ropes Course filled with nerve racking moments and lots of laughs. I woke up at 6:33 am to my 7 different alarms I set.

I barely got up, changed, brushed my teeth, ate a small breakfast, and went to the car with my mom. It was a super quick car ride faster than normal. There was barely any traffic and I got to school. The first person I saw was Mighty O. I said good morning to Omar and made my way into school to see Sebastian and Kaylum and I just waited with them while Tyler and Brandon were still on the way. Once everyone got there we were just walking around school messing around. Tyler, Sebastian and Omar ran to international for what reason I have no idea. But we explored the school while Omar was trying to find a staff member. We went through the elevator and into the 9th grade commons and around 7:25 am Omar came looking for us and I ran and hid in a classroom in the 9th grade commons for no reason. Eventually I came out and Omar asked me “Where were you?” and I lied and said in the bathroom and he said we were going to be late so we had to run back to school and I ran back into school I met up with Brandon and Tyler and found out we were in the same car group and I was pretty excited about that.

 We got in our HTHI van and it was time for a 1 hour 30 minute drive to the OC Ropes Course and for most of the car ride I was pretty asleep for about an hour.

 I eventually woke up because Arely was so loud and they were playing a game called Imposter and I just watched and listened to them play until eventually we got the ropes course. Finally at the ropes course we sat around waited for everyone to get there and waited and waited. So everyone got there and then the two instructors started explaining everything and Morgan was definitely not excited to do her job. After a lot of ignoring them and not paying attention to their instructions, it was time to go. I had my harness on waiting in line and the whole time I was nervous. I was thinking in my mind I'm not doing this. I finally started climbing up and I was nervous. I felt it throughout my whole body. I didn't want to do it.

 I got to the beam and I didn't even wanna stand up, I felt like I was gonna fall off even though I was clawed because yeah no, I was done already. I eventually just climbed down with no shame at all because I didn't wanna do it. I watched everyone as they completed the ropes course. It was funny watching people struggling and being scared and also completing it and seeing them go down the zip. Eventually, after the first group was done it was lunch. It was pretty boring, nothing really and I didn't plan for lunch. I brought nothing. It was time for the second group. They all went up and did the same thing some people didn't go and some people did .In the meanwhile I was with my friends running around taking pictures or running through sprinklers and waiting for the second group to finish up their session.

 Once they were done we all kinda went to the tables and pretty much got ready to leave and people started leaving one car at a time. Of course our group was the last to leave because of Ezekiel. Eventually Ezekiel's mom came and picked him up and our group got to leave. The car ride I pretty much fell asleep waiting to get back to Daygo. Once we got back to Daygo we went to In-N-Out and we all got food and Tyler ate for free once again per usual like always very kind of Ms.Trisha. I'd recommend bringing a nice lunch and a cold beverage after the ropes course, you'll be pretty tired. It's a lot of upper body strength used during the course. You'll be pretty worn out after so a nice meal and drink would be ideal.    - The End

At the beginning when we were headed to the course I really wasn’t expecting much and besides I was asleep in the car dreaming of a monkey being left alone in the city scared and becoming friends with a dog. I woke up exactly when we were at the entrance, the fields filled with grass and there was a playground there. We entered and I saw the ropes course and I was getting nervous but I tried to not think about it.

I saw the first group get on and I already started shaking a little because I was getting anxious that Mr. Scott saw me shaking. He proceeded to tell me if I was really gonna let him beat me to the top of the course as a joke and I got dedicated to reaching the top before Mr. Scott did. During lunch I was just walking around the field and listening to music for a little while because they said that after lunch group 2 would be going up and I was a part of group 2.

 Lunch was over and I got scared and I told Omar I wasn’t going up and he mentioned about how I was all bark and no bite for backing down on reaching the top before Scott, and he then mentioned after that he even betted that I’d reach the top first which gave me motivation to go back up there and beat Scott to the top and make Mr. Omar win the bet. 

It was time for my group to to get on the course I put on the the harness which was easy because I’ve put the harnesses they use before when I would go camping and head to the ziplines, It was time to go to the course and I got on but I was scared and I reached the tight rope and got really scared and almost fell that a yelled a little but still pushed through and reach the second level which was higher. Minutes later I reached the very top because I was determined to beat Scott and once I reached the top which was the third level and almost cried because I almost fell like one of my legs slipped but I got it back up, and then I was mad at Mr. Scott because I realized he said that to get me to do the ropes course and finish it while giving me something else to focus on instead of how high it was.

 I waited for a while for the instructor to get up and connect my harness to the zipline and afterwards I was fine because I love ziplines and I easily did the zipline going down without getting scared and the most fun part about that was when you move forward it feels like you’re falling straight down and as if you aren’t tied to anything but then after 3 seconds you feel the pull which I thought was cool. 

The time was up and we went back to school but on the ride back I just fell asleep and dreamt about that monkey in the city who became friends with that dog. To be honest I didn’t really think the course was much of a risk or a challenge to me. 

People should be aware that the ropes course is pretty high and can feel unstable from here and there. I assure you though it’s safe as long as you listen to the rules the staff gives you, the course will shake a lot but don’t worry the wires you will cling on to can hold a lot of weight so if you accidently fall you’ll be fine you can pull yourself right back up.

Orange County Ropes Course is one of the biggest challenges anyone can face. It is very physically demanding. So come with me on my journey there.

I had to get up pretty early due to the tight schedule for the trip. My stomach was killing me all morning and was making me not want to go very much. On the car ride I started falling asleep on the way there and being very tired. 

Thus we arrived and the first time I saw it, I thought it looked smaller than I thought. I immediately began strategizing a plan of what I wanted to do. I also used the restroom since it had been a very long drive. Then the first group went up. I took photos of the first people doing it and I had fun looking at people.

Then we had lunch and watched a video about how Newton inventing gravity was the worst thing ever. The thought started looming above me that I was going up next. I went to line up, put on my harness and everything. I was now on deck.

People started going up one by one and eventually it was my turn. I don’t remember much of what happened but I do remember first climbing up and my shoe getting stuck for 5 minutes. The shoes I was wearing had a weird notch so I put it into the hole of the cargo net and it got me stuck for several minutes. I was squirming around for a while and my partner had to come and push my foot out to get me unstuck. After that I was on L1 for a bit and did the tight rope. However one of my friends was having a panic attack and I decided to help them and get them down. I then stayed down with them for the rest of the time.

After our time was up we started the long drive home where we got to enjoy the delight of McDonalds. I was also falling asleep again on the way back.

Overall I would say it was a fun experience but this definitely isn’t for everyone. You need to be of better fitness a bit since the physical challenge is real. If you are willing to take on the physical challenge however it is very rewarding and I recommend doing the whole course. 

When we got to the ropes course, it didn’t look too bad, but I knew it would feel much higher up once I was actually on the course. We all got our partners, and I was partnered up with Adri, who is really nice, so I didn’t mind at all. Emeli and I were both in the first group, so we both went to the back of the line, as we were only going to go up the cargo net and go back down once we got our photos.

I didn’t have any issues getting the harness on, as they have those same kinds of harnesses at about 3 other places my old school took me to, so it was my fourth time doing it, and it was quite easy.

Personally, I am very afraid of heights, so I waited until I was the last person in my group who had to go, then I climbed up the cargo net to join Emeli. I kinda panicked when I first reached the top of the net, as the platform was narrower than I’d expected. But I had been correct about my initial expectation, and the course did feel way higher up now that I was actually on it. Emeli and I took some photos together, then I went back down the net and took off my harness.

Then, it was a little before lunchtime. It was really hot, so Emeli, Judith, Adri, Brissa, Carli, Arianna, and I all went and ran around in the sprinklers, which was super fun!! Then, for lunch, I sat with Emeli, Judith, Santi, Ilyas, Martin, Alex, and Lars. 

Once it was time for me to take photos, I made sure to get many photos of Adri and a few of Judith, as well as a few of my friends who were on the ground. I had a really good time.

After Judith had finished getting off the course, hung her harness, and we all hung out for a little bit, all three of us went to run in the sprinklers one more time before we had to leave.

The drive back was also fun, as Santi joined our car. And Judith’s mom took us all to get slurpies and snacks at 7-Eleven before we got back to school.

Overall, it was a really fun day! (not so much the actual course, though)

To be completely honest, I don’t think I really thought about psychology or risk at all the whole time

(as I was too busy enjoying the moment itself, as it happened)

When considering going to a ropes course, consider asking about the minimum you have to climb beforehand in the case that you have a fear of heights.

I got to school at around 6:50 am, and I was exhausted because I had slept late and woke up really early, at 5 am. However, I was excited to see Judith and Alana, as always, because they always make me feel better. Judith was the first to arrive, and I was really happy to see her, but then we complained together that Alana was taking a long time to get to school. About 20 minutes after Judith had arrived, Alana finally made it. When I had been waiting for them, I hadn’t really thought much about the rope course because I was really tired and I just wanted to be with my friends. 

Once we were on our way to the rope course, I still wasn’t thinking about it much because I was distracted by laughter, jokes, and happiness. Also, I watched videos with Judith, then played Project Sekai afterwards. 

When we finally made it to the rope course, I was a little more nervous, but it quickly went away because I had convinced myself that it wasn’t that tall of a course (I was later proven wrong). When we went in line with our buddies—mine was Judith—they said whoever was the most afraid to move to the left. So I moved to the left, but then quickly found out it meant we were going first. I instantly started panicking, and I wanted to leave, but I couldn’t.

When I was up on the deck, I sat there looking down at the floor, realizing how high it was. When I finally stood up, my legs had turned to jelly, and then the structure shook, which made my legs shake more. So I had to sit back down and put my AirPods on to drown out everything with music.

In the end, I barely even tried to do the course, and that made me upset with myself because I knew if I had tried to push through, I most likely could’ve done it. Always believe in yourself and never give up, try pushing yourself to do it even if you think you can’t. In the end, it would all be worth it.

First seeing the OC Ropes Course was interesting. I had two main thoughts, that there were a lot of different paths and obstacles, and I’ve done taller ropes courses before. Either way, I was excited as I happily chatted with friends. Ropes courses are so much fun, and so it’s always nice to know about good ones. So, here is my experience at the OC Ropes course, and if I’d recommend it.

We paired up for the course, and my partner went first. While they were in line to get on we all just stood around. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how far back and where would be best for photos. It was interesting watching other people up there because some of them made it look super easy or were doing other cool things.

 Finally, my partner got up, and after waiting a bit for people to go so she could get to the obstacle she wanted, she took a different path than I thought she would. I ran around to the correct spot and waited to get good photos. I got about two that I thought were good, and figured she would have plenty with all the obstacles to come so I wouldn’t over do it. Or, that’s what I thought before she turned around. That meant she only had two photos, and so as she climbed down the net off the course, I had her stop so I could take a third photo of her from multiple angles as it would be hard if she chose to do it. I went with her back to the tables after where I showed her the photos, as well as the little notes I took on what she was doing at the moment, especially whether or not she was moving.

Lunch was nice, I sat and talked to friends while eating. Then I went and talked to a different friend for a bit. She was really nervous about the zipline so I sat with her and tried to help her figure out what to do. We talked for a while before being called over to put on our harnesses. Once that was done, a group of us worked to figure out what route to take on the course. We were around the middle-back of the line so we knew it’d take a while.

Once on the actual course I waited for the path to clear before starting. I went through the first obstacle pretty quick before pausing to wait for my friends to catch up. Once they were each starting I moved on to the next. That one was pretty easy so I was able to pose for photos. I then continued to the end and looked back only to see Charlotte, one of my friends, struggling to get past the midway point of the same obstacle she’d started before. I spent a while attempting to give her advice and it took a long time, but she finally crossed over it, and my other friend said I should just move onto the next obstacle. I did, and it was likely the hardest as the ropes were pretty far apart so I had to reach to continue as the side dug into my arms. I had to stay on it however because the platform was full. Thankfully, I got a spot on the platform. At this point my friends were catching up so I started the next obstacle. I reached the top and was told to just head straight to the zip line, and so I did. I went up the obstacles quite quickly. 

Then I got to the zipline. I sat down on the platform and went off. I was a little nervous for the two seconds after going off the platform in which it still hadn’t caught me, but then it did. It was fun again then, at least until I realized I was about to go straight through the sprinkler. Luckily that was quick, but then I went back through it, and again, both being much lower and slower, those were not nearly as enjoyable. It was also astounding to hear my partner took 140 photos! It was good for the project but I was not excited to look through them.

The time after all of this was pretty normal. On the drive back we played a car game and listened to Mr. Amilio's star wars headcanons, such as what lightsabers are. Once at school we helped take stuff in before heading off. It was overall enjoyable and I had a good time. I would probably go back with my family. If you go just make sure to bring long enough pants because of the harness’s positioning.

Having to wake up at 5:50am made me want to curl up in a ball and not move ever again, but I had to pack a lunch and head to school. Loading into the cars was easy for my group, as I was driving with Mr. Amilio, Martin, Lila, Charlotte, Sebastian, and Kalum. Surprisingly, I slept through almost the whole ride, which I rarely can do.

When I first saw the course, I was surprised, I thought it was going to be a lot taller. I also immediately knew that I would avoid the rock wall like the plague. Though that's not to say I wasn’t scared. About 3 stories off the ground does not sound fun to me. Learning how to put the harnesses was easy. Before getting on the course I was nervous, not scared. Waiting in line was a little boring because of how sunny it was, even with people to talk to. 

Climbing up the cargo net to actually start the ropes course was fine. If anything it was a little fun. When trying to climb from the net onto the following plank is when things start to go downhill. Trying to haul myself up from the cargo net was quite intimidating. As the plank felt really tilted and had little traction. Even once I got up, I had another issue, trying to stand and move the crab claws. It was not easy to do, standing on shaky legs, on a platform high enough to break bones if I fell the wrong way. 

I debated for a while on where I wanted to go, but decided to attempt the plain tightrope. In hindsight, I should have tried to do the tightrope with hanging ropes instead. I got almost halfway across it when people on the element above me started shaking everything really badly. This caused me to almost fall. I had all my weight on one side of the rope, I was stuck and had almost no way of getting back up. I was panicking internally, I had no clue as to what I should do. Should I just fall and re-analyze from there? Should I keep trying whatever I'm doing right now? 

Somehow, I don't know how, I managed to bring my weight back on to the tightrope before slowly making my way back over. Once back on the plank I waited for an opportunity to climb back down. Once I got down I ran to my photo partner, Lila to see if she got all the photos needed.

After removing my harness I went to the picnic tables to start eating the lunch I packed that morning. I finished eating before the other half of the kids went on the ropes course, so I went and took photos of the surrounding flowers. It was quite fun doing so. 

However, it was not as fun as running around taking photos of Lila on the ropes course. That was very fun, even with how aggressively sunny it was. Lila completed the whole course. Throughout that, I took around 138 photos of her and even got a video of her going down the zipline.

The drive back was actually quite captivating, as we(Mr. Amilio, Martin, Charlotte, Lila, and I) got to discuss things like what a headcannon is, how lightsabers work, and the ways Mr. Amilio keeps himself sane on long car rides with half asleep kids(which he does surprisingly well). Once we returned to the school we were immediately released, as we arrived at about 3:40-ish.

The next morning was fine, nothing of interest. Unless you count my internal log of what day of the week it is being horribly messed up. Alongside mild exhaustion that was quite expected. I don’t really have much of a recommendation for this conclusion. Pack a lunch you can keep down easy? Have a good friend to hold your hand? Different people need different things, try to find what helps you best.

When I arrived at the course, I saw how high up it really was, which was lower than my expectations, but still scared me. I was determined to at least get on.

I took multiple photos and videos of my partner going on and completing it and going on the zipline.

When it was my turn to go on and the harness was tightened I actually processed what was happening and this wasn't a dream.

I was waiting in line with Adri, and she was starting to freak out, saying how she didn’t want to do this and she wanted to take off her harness, and the more she started to ramble, the more I started to freak out.

I stayed calm to not startle adri and kept telling her to calm down and relax, and that everything was gonna be fine. I told her that she could hold my hand if she ever needed help on the course.

I suggested that I should go first.

But as soon as I was in front of the net, I was terrified, I hadn't even gotten on it yet.

I still pushed forward and kept climbing, but mid-climb, my leg straps were sliding down to my knees, not letting me get a good footing, so I had to one-handedly tighten my leg straps.

The only thing going through my head was “ I knew my straps were too loose “ while mentally crying and hearing Adri cheer me on in the distance.

As soon as I got up and clipped myself in, I freaked out. 

I had accidentally looked down trying to clip to the wire above me. I stayed sitting down, mentally preparing myself, but I felt the structure move and realised that Adri was starting to climb.

I yelled that I wasn't ready, and she started to back down. While she backed down, I slowly pushed myself up to try to stand and clung on to the wood in between the stand and the rock wall.

I started to tear up and realized that my fear of heights wasn’t an exaggeration. 

I told Adri unconfidently that she can come up now while I dig my nails into the wood.

While she climbed up I kept repeating to myself I couldn't keep clinging onto the wood and had to let Adri pass.

So I clung onto the metal wire and started crossing the rock wall.

I reached a simple long plank and clipped myself again. I looked across from me and saw Adri reach the top of the net and start to cross the rock wall.

I walked across the plank slowly, and I kept looking down, trying to see where to place my foot, but it caused me to start wanting to cry again. 

I kept thinking of possibilities of my harness having a problem, no one caught it, and I would fall and crack my head open, and cover the ground with a mushed-up brain.

I kept going, though I kept walking through my sobs, and as soon as I reached the pillar, I clung to it with my entire body.

I couldn't move anymore, my entire body was shaking, I couldn't breathe, and I felt lightheaded. I didn't know if it was a head from the sun and little to no food, going to pass out.

I looked back and saw Adri making the same mistake I was making by looking down. I advised her to just keep looking at me and not to look at her feet.

She countered by saying, “I kinda have to look down to see where I'm steppin”

I said, “No, you don't. All you need to do is just feel the tip of your foot, and you'll be fine.”

She kept her eyes on me, only glancing once in a while to check her feet. Once she was by my side, I kept on crying, and she kept hyping me up and I heard other people trying to give me advice on how to pass 

But it kept making everything even worse because they were debating against each other on how they crossed and which would be easier. 

Soon they quieted down and I started moving my clips to another staple, trying to lock in and pass the pillar, trying to go on the wobbly plank bridge.

It took me a while, but I eventually had one foot on the wobbly bridge and that was when I realized that maybe rope courses aren't for me. 

I retraced my steps, moved over Adri, and started to descend down the rope course. 

I would recommend trying the rope course. And if you think you will fall don't worry! Those ropes can hold up to 1000 pounds.

On the way to the ropes course the car ride was kinda boring because I wasn't with my close friends, Ethan and Liam are my friends but were not that close so there's not really a lot to talk about with them, and I was sitting in the middle so I couldn't even lay to the side on my phone, so I was really uncomfortable and bored. 

When I got there and I first saw the ropes course it looked high, but not that high. It looked a little easy. When picking partners I just picked my friends but I didn't like not being able to go on the course with David and Anthony. It was cool seeing all my friends on the course and seeing them struggle. I had fun talking a lot of crap to my friends because they were struggling badly and when they said I couldn't do it I shut them up when I went on and went through it easily but one of the parts was hard. 

When everybody got down from the first group we ate lunch and talked about the rope course, after that I played catch with my friends until it was time for me to go on. Putting on the harness was easy but I didn't like how tight it was. Once I got on I went through every obstacle easily and talked crap to my friends while I was flying through, showing them how easy it was. Only one of the obstacles was hard because John kept moving the pole, and I had to hang on tight and keep myself from falling. At that moment it reminded me of the part in rush hour, where Li was holding on to the pole and couldn't hold on anymore. It got to a point where I just wanted to let go, because of how bad my hands hurt but I knew I had to keep moving. After I finally found balance and started moving my crab claws got tangled and it was hard to get them untangled cause I had to go back a pole, and John was in the way so I just flipped directions. Once I got untangled at the last pole I got tangled twice as bad and this time I had to unclip my crab claws from the wire and it was already stressful unclipping them but it got more stressful when I dropped one of my crab claws so i had to bend down to get it and hold balance all at once. 

After I finished the green poles course I went straight to the top to get on the zipline. I was most hyped for the zipline, but once I got up there I had to sit there for a minute cause I was realizing how high up I was, and it was weird because I was jumping off a building. Which was something I wasn't used to. I jumped off to go on the zipline and it was pretty cool, and it made it better that the sprinklers were on, the zipline was a nice rush of adrenaline. 

My recommendation when going, is to go on the zipline because it gives you an adrenaline rush, and it's more fun when it's hot because they put the sprinklers on. So the water and wind hit you at the same time, and after you feel refreshed.

Before I was gonna get on the rope course, I expected it to be tall because I remember when I was little, I went to one and I had lots of fun but I remembered it was as tall as the Eiffel Tower so I was kinda nervous but excited because I had done it and now I’m older so it’s probably not even scary at all.

After the drive down there that felt like days, we got to the course even though it was dead last. When I first got a look at it, I was kinda disappointed because it was not as tall as I imagined it to be,e and it was kind of a letdown, but I was still excited and just hoped it was taller.

After the instructor told us how to put on the harness properly, she told us to put on the harness and pick a partner who would go in front of you, which I thought meant would be up there with you, just behind or in front, but sadly, it wasn’t. Not knowing this at the time, I chose Diego as my partner because I wanted to do it with him. I put on the rope and I felt it suffocating my legs. I realized Diego didn’t get one when I asked and was told that him behind me meant he would go on the rope course once I got off, which shattered my heart into a million pieces, but it’s whatever.

As I got in line to go up, I was thankfully still with Daved, so I was able to go up with him. I watched everyone go up the rope wall one by one. My adrenaline rose with excitement the closer I got. I had made it to the front and went up the rope wall. I got to the top and clipped all my clips onto the wires, and I wasn’t scared at all, more excited than scared. When I was at the top, I felt the frigid wind hitting me, and it was cold. When I started walking on the wire, I felt it scraping at my hands while I gripped it as well as the rope when I would get to those parts. I was trying to get through the whole course fast, but I couldn’t because I would get to parts where people would be stuck and scared to go, so I had to wait, or they’d be slow, those people being Omar and Daved.

The scariest part was the zip line. I was ok until that part. I hadn’t been scared at all, but then the thought of me intentionally jumping down at something where all I see looking down is death didn’t sound so good, so it did freak me out, but I did it, it was an overall fun experience.

If you want to try a rope course, I recommend going for it even if you feel nervous. The course might not be as tall as you remember, but it will still be a cool and overall fun experience. Listen to the instructions, pick a friend to go in front to, and be ready for things you wouldn't expect. And when you get to the zip line, just jump, and I'll be the best choice ever.

Whenever you feel particularly adventurous and want a challenge, it’s time to head to the OC Ropes Course. There are many paths to take and the trial of the zipline looms overhead. In other words, it’s a perfect place to test yourself in ways you wouldn’t normally be able to.

When we got to the course, sensations bombarded me. The land was green, the sky was blue, and the course was tall.

I was in the second group to go on the course so I waited expectantly on the ground as the first group climbed up and scurried like ants around the course. I followed my partner on the ground and diligently snapped photos of him as he traversed the first level. He came down shortly after and I stood in the shade to watch the first person go down… the zipline. 

Out of the first group one of the boys had reached the pinnacle first – the only problem was that the guide to the zipline hadn’t gone up yet! I looked on as the boy who practically flew to the top hugged the post of the tiny platform way up in the sky. Finally, the instructor arrived. She pointed to the ground and whispered words I never heard. I watched as he zipped down, swung to and fro, then settled. Many followed in the first boy’s path. 

Lunch was short but the break between the first and second group was too long. After the meal the second group, me included, put our harnesses on. We waited in the heat of the sun for our turn to clamber up the cargo net and begin our journey upwards. 

I climbed up the ropes steadily, crab claws slung over separate shoulders, and before I knew it, I was sitting at the top of the net peering down at the ground far below.

I went on the tightrope first. There wasn’t much support: a slack rope that brushed my neck at times and my chest at others, a taut thin wire that my crab claws were firmly hooked onto, and the tightrope itself. I was shaking like a leaf by the time I was halfway across and diligently avoiding looking at the ground. I focused on stilling my shaking legs but they trembled anyway. 

The second part was the worst. It had lilypad-like wooden circles and a hanging log in the middle. It was also where I first experienced the consequences of the zipline; when someone took their leap of faith the entire structure would tremble. 

The log was where I froze. I felt like if I let go of the ropes clutched in my hands I would fall. Two of the teachers on the ground called out instructions and encouragement. Eventually I made it across and thought, “It’s funny how being high up makes the simplest obstacle so much harder.” 

I crossed the third section, simple strips of wood, and saw my partner taking pictures of me below. Then came the rope bride. Loops of cord for feet to step in and rope railings for hands to clutch. I gripped them firmly, not daring to let go until I was across.

After that came my favorite part. Wooden platforms and a log see-saw. I found it delightful though others had a different view. I crouched down low and crept along; I fully felt the support my harness offered, which made it much easier to inch forward.

At last, I was back on the tightrope. It felt like a lifetime ago that I started my adventure on the first level. The sun had risen higher and beat down hard on my back. My legs had finally eased from shaking violently to trembling slightly – a major improvement. 

As I made my way back across the tightrope I felt a sense of peace with my progress spreading over me and a rush of satisfaction. I knew that I hadn’t gone up to the second and third levels or done the zipline. But my second time walking the tightrope was enough. It was everything the first one wasn’t: steady, focused, and as calm as you can be when you feel you’re a million feet in the air. 

I felt relief sweep over me as my feet touched the earth and I promised myself that I would never take for granted the steady, unmoving safety of the ground again.

I would recommend trying out the course, and I believe you should be satisfied even if you don’t make it all the way to the top. Just be happy with what you have accomplished, instead of focusing on what you haven’t.

Orange County ropes course is pretty awesome, especially if you fancy the outdoors and climbing. If you want to disconnect from solid ground and make one day pretty special, here's the place. Before our trip to the Orange County Ropes Course, I was anticipating the ton of fun I would have, though I was tired from waking up a little earlier than usual. That still didn't stop me from being excited, at least on the inside. I got in a car with my mom, my friends, and overall was in a pretty upbeat, happy, but tired mood. 

After driving for several hours, laughing on the journey there, we finally made it to the OC ropes course. Initially, we were actually wondering if the ropes course was even there because it looked like we pulled into an RV/campground/recreational park thing. But a couple of turns later, we came around a bend, and there it was, a magnificent towering thing of beauty. The ropes course, where we would be having fun for the next few hours, we saw Saxon and his car group waving at us, beckoning us over. So we thanked my mom for driving and rushed to check it out. It had rope fastened to every obstacle, long wooden pylons supporting every element of the structure. It was ominous, looking like a giant spider web, but it looked inviting and bright because of the sunlight coming from the morning sun, making it look warm-toned. Not to mention the nice cool air along with it, which felt very refreshing after being in the car with a bunch of freshmen for an hour and a half. Meanwhile, I was wondering if I was even capable of making it to the top; after all, it has been a little while since I have done a ropes course.

Everyone slowly arrived, and eventually we were called to gather up to learn about what we were doing, along with some safety requirements and practices. The people managing our group for the day were Morgan and (forgot name). They first told us how to use a harness. Then told us to line up with a partner and have the one who was the most scared come up and grab a harness so they could get it over with first. Juan, my partner, urged me to go first… so I did. I got my harness on, following the directions they gave us, and we met in the center of the ropes course, having our final safety talk. Then we were sent to line up right behind the cargo net to start climbing.

After waiting for a couple of minutes, it was now finally my turn to go. I reached for the first part of the climbing net and started climbing up. My foot kept getting stuck in the rope, but that didn't stop me, despite the lack of the normal force! I climbed and climbed, used the skills from practicing with the crab claws, and hooked the first wire of many! I was 10 ft off the ground, I shimmed all the way to the first element, and almost forgot to clip my crab claws one at a time. 

Then the rest was no problem. We had lunch, and I tried Nutella and a peanut butter sandwich for the first time. I took photos, watched other people climb, and showered in the spinclers.

After a long day of exercise and fun, we made our way back to school, exhausted. We talked in the car, and Alex convinced my mom to get McDonald's. For the memes, I tried the Big Arch burger, and it actually tasted like it was (for the most part) not made in a lab - even though I know full well that it was. Like always, I remember that this, this is just a memory now, a really good one.  

Sooo, before you head on over to Orange County Ropes Course, make sure you come prepared, with the right equipment and sustenance, probably wearing some breathable pants, because you don't want to be hot and sweaty. Also, like I have been saying, check the weather, preferably go on a cooler day, you last longer getting more out of your experience. Bring good food to keep you going, like Nutella and peanut butter sandwiches! Drink water as well! Another thing I always like to say is bring people who you are comfortable with, and who have your back. They are the ones that make your experience ten times better. Don't forget to push yourself; you’ll learn that you are capable of so much more. No matter what you do, you will find some sort of way to have fun with your friends, with the people you bring.

The story starts when I get out of Ilyas’s car and see the ropes course tower in front of me. Anxiety washes over as I look at the structure. It towers above me, multiple levels with many routes to take. I'm in the second group to go up, so I have to wait till after lunch. When the first group goes up, I get to see how hard it's actually gonna be. Everybody looks like small flies from down on the ground. After lunch, I was getting my harness on and ready to go. I was one of the first people to get ready because most people needed help getting it on.  When we got to the start of the course, the lady told me, “Go up there and be the example.” My heart immediately skipped a beat. I didn't want to be the first one up. When I got up there, my nerves seemed to go away, but as soon as I stepped on the first section, they came back. I had done ropes courses before, but this one was higher up and a lot looser than the others.

 When I stepped onto the first section, it felt like the world evaporated from under me. The farther into the ropes course I got, the scarier it got, but it became easier. When you looked down, it seemed like the earth was getting close to you. 

Once I reached the top, I got strapped in for the zipline. When you jumped off the platform, the zipline wasn't that tight, so you fell for like half a second before the rope caught you. When I was falling, the air blasted into my face, and it felt like forever until I finally came to a stop. When I was going down, Santi had asked the lady to turn the sprinkler on right as I went over it. When I finally came to a stop, I was soaking wet. They kept the sprinkler on for everybody, thanks to Santi.

 On the way back to school, Ilyas’s mom stopped for McDonald's for lunch. When I got back to school, I was tired, but I still had to walk back home. This morning, when I woke up, my upper body was really sore, and my right arm hurt a little bit.  I would definitely recommend this to other people. Even though it was kinda scary, it was still incredibly fun.

I was having a hard time falling asleep because I was so excited to go to the OC ropes course! I was tossing and turning in my bed, and the next thing I knew, I got woken up very early in the morning by my Mom. I was wondering why my Mom woke me up so early, but then I remembered that we were going to the OC ropes course.

 I was driving up to the ropes course with Ilyas, Alex, and Red. The whole car ride up to Orange County, we were talking about the ropes course. Once I saw the ropes course, it was way bigger than I imagined. I had a choice to go on the ropes course before lunch or after lunch, and I chose before lunch.

 After we had a safety lecture, we were able to line up for the ropes course. When I was waiting in line, I was very scared but also very excited. Once I got to the first floor of the ropes course, I realized how high up everything was. I was nervous doing the first obstacle, but after I finished the first obstacle, I got used to being up on the ropes course. I ended up doing every part of the ropes course from the first floor all the way up to the third floor. Some of my favorite elements from the ropes course were the little tunnel thing that you crawl through and the spider web near the top. While I was climbing on the ropes course, the thing that I was looking forward to the most was the zip line down. Once it was my turn to take the zip line down, I was nervous but also super excited. They had me take off my clips and put me into a different clip for the zip line.

 When I was sitting on the edge I realized how high up the zip line was. Even though I was very scared, I still pushed myself off the ropes course. When I was going down the zip line, it felt like I was free-falling at the start, but eventually the zip line caught me, and it was a super smooth ride. Right after I finished on the zip line, I went to lunch. For lunch, I had a sandwich with Nutella and peanut butter.

 After lunch, I had to take photos of my partner Alex. I got lots of good photos of him. After lunch, the weather got very hot, so for the people going down the zip line, they put a sprinkler at the bottom so people would get splashed when they went down the zipline. After Alex finished the ropes course, we were able to leave because our whole car group was ready.

 On the ride home, the ropes course was for everyone in our car group. I got back to school around 3:50, and for the rest of the day after the ropes, I just lounged at home. For anybody who is planning on visiting the OC Ropes Course, I would definitely maximize your time on the ropes course. I am talking about doing every element the ropes course has to offer. I also highly recommend the zip line, even though by the end of the ropes course, you're really tired, you should definitely still go down it, it's super fun! 

I arrived to school at 6:50. 6:50 in the morning. Our school starts at 8:40 am. You might be wondering why I was at school so early, today was the day we went to the orange county ropes course. When I walked into the commons, everyone was quiet because it was so early and most people were very tired. The wait for everyone to arrive and get into car groups felt like a lifetime. By the time we left school, I was even more tired than when I had arrived. 

The car ride was very mellow. Next to me, Adri and Brissa, were dozing off on the 2 hour ride. I was on my phone, finding art inspo. After a little bit I also closed my eyes. The car ride went by slowly as I gazed out the window, watching the ocean go by. When we finally arrived at the ropes course, I was in awe. As I peered up at the massive structure, I was confused. There seemed to be no specific path to take to the top. I let that thought go as I busied myself with applying sunscreen. Once everyone had arrived we gathered around one of the instructors as they told us what we needed to know. We paired up with a partner, one of us would be on the course while the other was on the ground taking photos. My partner was on the course first, I helped them with their harness and anything else they needed. We took a group photo and off they went. I did my job and was taking photos. 

Fear still had not settled into my bones, which I thought it would have by now. In the past I have been really scared of height, to the point where my legs would shake. I felt none of that. I was living my best life taking photos and talking with people. In the back of my mind I was waiting for the fear to kick in. To feel fear lock its claws onto me and not let me escape. It never did. 

When everyone in the first group had finished the course. We took a break for lunch. I settled down with my friends and ate my food. I still was not nervous and I was almost starting to look forward to going on the ropes course. When we finished lunch, I grabbed my harness, put it on and got in line to climb the cargo net. The cargo net was the first challenge. It was the only way to get onto the course. I climbed the net and strapped myself into the ropes with the crab claws. I had to wait for people to clear off the obstacle I wanted to go on. After a brief pause, I walked onto this tightrope with hand holds. I was expecting fear to appear. It never did. I realized I was not scared, almost unfazed. I was doing fun obstacles, my brain not processing I was 40 feet in the air. I made my way around the course, until I ended up at these loops. I decided to stop in  the middle of the obstacle course, lowering myself into the splits and sitting there for a few seconds. Then I got up and continued on. I made it to the top, I was really excited about going on the zipline. There was no wait and I was quickly hooked into the zipline. After I got the go ahead, I was off. At the start it felt like a free fall. Then the line caught me and I was slowly lowered to the ground. When I got down from the zipline, dopamine immediately flooded me. I was happy and proud of myself. 

The drive back to school felt like an eternity because of traffic. If you choose to go to the ropes course, be aware of the traffic. It also did get pretty warm, bring lots of water. 

When I was told we were taking a field trip to the orange county ropes course with obstacles up to sixty feet high I was ecstatic. I had experience with ropes courses since I had gone on a very similar one a few years ago. The adrenaline I experience when completing the obstacles is one of my favorite feelings. I feel like the lion king when I'm able to do something difficult, like I've collected the final infinity stone. Although I was pretty confident and felt positive about the trip I still felt kind of nervous. I was worried 

I was overjoyed when I found out my car group was small, consisting of just me and two of my friends, Carli and Arianna. The car ride was chill and cozy. Carli had fallen asleep and the car was fairly deaf with small talk here and there. Our driver, Arianna's mom, was the best. I had met her when she had driven us to Kwaay Paay and immediately loved her personality. She was the sweetest and also offered snacks and beverages.

When we got to the course I was so excited. I reunited with my other friends and also discussed who was going first with my partner. I offered to go first since I had experience and wanted to do it before the weather got warmer. A few moments later one of the ropes course workers stood on a table and had everyone gather around it. Once everyone was quiet, around the table, she began to yell out instructions on how to get on your harness and also how to treat/use it the right way. I was able to slip my harness on pretty easily except for the moments when it had gotten caught on the cuff of my jeans. 

As I started to get higher and higher at the ladder to the first level I started to feel afraid of the height I was at. My heart was racing, I had butterflies in my stomach, but I was able to do most of the obstacles pretty easily. I was worried I would slip, fall, and die at some obstacles and had to keep reassuring myself I was attached to the ropes course. The hardest obstacles for me were the green plank and x’s, the green swinging logs, and the u-shape rope bridge. 

After the ropes course I took backup photos for my friends and photos for my partner Mani. On the way home, I felt accomplished and happy I had done it. Although, I do wish I did more of the obstacles and gone on the third level. 

Some tips I have for anyone considering visiting the OC Ropes Course are: wear shorts, remind yourself you’re safe, listen to instructions closely.

The drive to the ropes course was fairly uneventful. My mother dropped two other guys and me at the place right when everyone else was getting there. Everyone was looking at the magnitude of this ropes course from the ground, the thing was huge. 

Our teacher leading us through this, Mr. Amilio, then showed me the camera I was gonna use to take photos. I’d had some experience using it beforehand so it was pretty easy to understand. It also had an extended lens to get good shots of people on the higher up sections of the course. We were then split off into groups, one would be going up the ropes course first, and the other would take photos of their partner from the ground. I was paired up with Mr. Amilio in the end. I wasn’t confident in my climbing or height tolerance, so I let Mr Amilio get the first turn. 

The people who worked at the ropes course then gathered everyone in a group in order to explain the rules of the course. Stuff about how we were always supposed to be clipped onto the cables when above, and how once we reach the second story of the tower we were committed and the only way down would be the zipline on the third floor. 

Then everyone put on their harnesses and headed off for the beginning of the course, which was a fairly tall net climb. I was one of the people in charge of taking photos of everyone climbing so I started getting to work. 

It was a real workout running around and snapping photos of everyone, especially when everyone was finally up the net. Though I will admit it was somewhat fun. Eventually everyone made it down and it was time for lunch. I just sat with a friend and ate in mostly quiet, made some small talk, but that was about it. 

After that was inevitably my turn to go up. First was putting on the harness, which wasn’t that taxing but it was tight. Then me and everyone else got in line to take our turns, and one by one they all made it up the net. Then it was my turn. I grabbed onto the ropes that comprised the net and slowly made my way up. It was a slow and stressful ascent upward, but my nerves got the better of me and I could barely make it halfway up the net before heading down. I then went back to my duty of taking photos of everyone in order to make sure they had them for the physics assignment. 

Then once the new batch had made it down we all gathered together to make the long way back to school. By then my mom had arrived, so one of the guys and I (the other one went into another car I think) started heading back. The entire experience made me pretty sleepy so I was in and out of rest the entire time. Eventually though, we made it back to the school… 20 minutes after school already ended. Traffic was rough that day.

My mom and I were about to head home when we realised the time to get back was gonna be a whole 50 minutes. So we both decided to just eat some Dennys and wait for the traffic to die down. And eventually, it did.

If you’re someone who likes taking risks and isn't afraid of heights, then the OC ropes course in LA might be a fun experience.

Ropes Course, the most terrifying words I've ever heard in my life. I was already thinking of how many things that could happen, then my mind reminded me of all the final destination movies. When it was the day to go I was sweating a ton, and the motion of the car was not helping.

 When we got there I was hesitant about even stepping foot out of the car. But when I did I saw the fifty foot tall toothpicks attached with flossing string, it was almost more terrifying than parent conferences. Before getting to the course I was terrified, because I remembered how the last time I did this I immediately went down when I saw how high it was. My worry increased because everybody kept warning us that if we reached the second level there was no going back down; I was not confident about this. I was indecisive about going up or not. When we were listening to the instructions they said for the people who were more afraid to go first, which meant I had to step forward to my demise.

 I was panicking so much that I tried deep breaths, which didn’t work. I told myself that the crab claws were strong enough to carry two cars to calm myself down. Going up the net and getting to the top was scary, I felt like I was going to give up, I felt like I got myself into deep water. Then I remembered that this was graded so I forced myself to complete the first level. Every time I had to switch I had to unclipe myself which was terrifying. I had to pass a thin cable which was easy if you went slowly, I headed down the net and unclipped myself.

 After eating lunch, taking pictures, and packing up we started heading back to school. I did have fun even though I was sceptical of the rope course. If you were going to the OC Ropes Course bring water, it's very sunny and hot.

When I first saw the course, I was a little disappointed in its height, but nonetheless I couldn’t stop anticipating what to do on it. I sat there at the table chatting with my peers about our different interests.

I got really excited at that point because Alex and Saxon caught interest in Bee Swarm Simulator and as the bss fanatic I was very eager to show them around the game. I was impressed that Saxon had already made some progress, but even more proud that I was able to guide Alex through his first steps in the game. I was feeling like a parent when their child picks up their interest and when I sent him off I jokingly said “*sigh* they grow up so fast”. 

In all seriousness though after Julian got harnessed, I frantically ran around the course for good angles of people. My goal being to get pictures of everyone as a backup or extra help. I tried figuring out the rest of what Julian’s cam did like the record feature but ultimately I failed on that. I saw people go down the zip line trying to prepare myself for it and I kept thinking about how much it bounced. 

Later at lunch, I spent even more time guiding Alex through Bee Swarm Simulator and I was super happy that he managed to almost max out the first shop. We were then called over to get our harnesses on and I waited patiently in line for my turn to head up the course. I was more bored than scared because I very much wanted to do the course but eventually I made my way up the cargo net and was on my way. 

I felt almost nothing on the course: a very small amount of dopamine if anything, but I think I got desensitized by every other ropes course and height I’ve been on in the past. I did an experiment at one of the poles where I clipped myself to the end and leaned off the side. It was weird being in such a position that I could easily fall and yet feeling secure at the same time. I made haste on the way up the course and people commented as I took the fastest route to the zipline. At the top there was some human traffic so I took a loop around to the spiderweb element. John was already there struggling on it so I sat down and awaited his completion of the element. 

While the other obstacles I took down no sweat, the spiderweb was absolutely horrendous. I got rope burn, achy hands, & I almost fell multiple times. Eventually though I got through it and there I sat at the top waiting to get clipped in and scoot off the edge of the course and into the air below me. I zoomed down the line and for a second it felt like I was falling straight down until the line eventually caught me and I boinged three times and flew straight through the sprinkler's warm water. I lost momentum and started slowly rolling back dead into the middle of the sprinkler until I was rescued. 

I packed up and shared my photos with my friends before we drove back to school. We chatted with Mr. Amilio about the physics of lightsabers and other shenanigans on the way and I thought back to every reasonably unsafe thing I did back at the ropes course and I laughed a little.

I was thinking about what I’m going to eat after the rope course in the car and I slept the whole ride there. When I got there it was beautiful and very exciting. I felt wonderful and ready. As the day kept going by I felt more excitement seeing the beautiful ropes and looking up at the sky aligned with the zip ropes so far up was simply impeccable because it looked like danger and fun. I was scared and I thought going to be more scared means you go last but you instead go first so I went first and it was so scary but I put the harness on and that was easy peasy lemon squeesy. 

To put on and once i know i would be safe I was ready to take on all the risk and i turned to my right and Arianna looked just as ready as well and gia was too so basically me in front of Saxon and I could see what he's doing which allowed me to trust a lot more. So basically I followed his lead and Ari followed mine and Gia followed hers and the first one was challenger but after everything went smooth. Being on the rope course I felt lots of friction on my hands and I was able to regulate stability very quickly which was amazing. I felt the hot ropes get hotter because of the sun and the metal steel was even hotter. 

Everyone looked so small from up there and it was so cool to be lined with the stress every step was just getting closer to the beautiful zipline and that's what truly motivated me because I had never been on one  and being to one sounds so great and first time experience handed to me and I couldn't give up so I kept going and used every of survival I knew of and i kept going in a matter of time I had hit the zip line.

 I see the lady ready to set me off and I knew that all that was worth it so I sat down and she let me push myself which was so fun and I remember feeling the wind on my face and braids after All the sweat it was refreshing and great I enjoyed it the lady another workers grabbed a ladder and took me off. You should know if you need a road trip and some rope thrill! You know where too go.

Drive there 

On the way up, I was in the car with Saxon and Conststantine.

Saxons' mom put on music, and we all jammed out.

Arrival 

We were the first ones to the gate, and there was no way in, so we left and drove to a gate at the end of the main road to look at directions. Then, we realized we were in the right place, and Saxon started arguing with his mom for no reason. After there argument we turnd back around to go back to the gate and thankfully one of the staff was there to help us in.

Watching & taking pictures

Originally I was supposed to go up first and when we lined up with our partners she picked Saxon’s line to go up first, and I remember feeling a bit annoyed and thinking to myself “what the heck". Watching Saxon was fun especially with the couple times he fell making for funny yet good pictures of Saxon.

Lunch

Eating lunch was pretty relaxing and it was nice that Diego had the idea to bring nutella. It honestly made lunch so much better. And during lunch I went and sat with ilyas and red and we all sat around red's phone watching something like a history skit that was pretty funny.

Going up on the course

Getting on the ropes course I was excited with a bit of nerves mixed in but with the excitement the second it was my turn to climb the cargo net I flew up it.

Drive back

The drive back was  really nice because everyone was so tired but we asked Saxon's mom if she could take us to McDonalds and she did. At McDonalds we went in and the wait time for Constantine's food was horrible, like 5-7minutes long. After that we all hopped in the car and ate on the drive back to school.

I have my head down on the mid counsel of the car. My sweater is being used as a makeshift pillow, and my hair covers my face, since I was too stubborn to put it up.

 There's the sound of blasting music and the car driving down the freeway. I also faintly hear Gia's phone as she flips through TikTok, and Instagram reels. Carli appears to be asleep, although I can't actually imagine she is with the music playing. I'm in the front seat Gia is behind me and Carli is on the other side in the back. My mom is driving and thumping her thumb on the steering wheel. I yawn, I had to get up earlier than usual, it really hadn't felt like much of a struggle earlier, but now the tiredness was kicking in. I'm going to a rope course in Orange County. I'm excited I think, but I wouldn't say I'm bursting with anticipation. 

Looking up I'm struck at how small the course is. I hope it will feel bigger when I'm up there but the rope course I went to before was a bit bigger at least in memory. I'm looking at it from beside my car. We hadn't got out of the car right away since we had all been tired but a few minutes ago I had forced myself into opening the door and stepping out.

I'm handed the harness, without catching the last of the instructions. I have no idea where I'm supposed to put this on. Other people are just grouped up in small bunches, all shoving their feet into the loops and pieces of the harness. I give it a try and begin putting on the harness from what I remember of the example, but the blonde lady who was clearly in charge tells us to go over to our partners. So I pick up my harness and carry it over to Hannah trying not to let it drag on the ground. She contently holds the two clips that attach to the rope as I pull the harness up over my hips. I then hear someone yell that we have to put the ropes over our shoulder, so that's exactly what I do, annoyed that as I walk it hits my back.

I pull myself up from the cargo net, moving the clips from one wire to another, one at a time. Carli is yelling at me what she is supposed to do so I reach over, and one at a time move her clips so there on the higher up ropes, then we move aside so Gia can join us. Gia is in a state of calm not panicking or worked up in the slightest. Carli on the other hand is muttering under her breath, and then yelling not so under her breath.I watch as Carli takes her first steps onto a long skinny piece of wood. Grabbing at the wire above to maintain her balance. I am somewhere in between the two, both physically and mentally I am definitely not as calm as Gia is, but at the same time not screaming “ohh my god, ohh my god, ohh my god.” Every five seconds either. 

Once Carli is a couple steps away I begin walking. My first step is a gentle jolt and forces me wide awake. Unfortunately while my mind is up and moving a mile an hour, my body is not, my legs are strangely tense, and constricted, like the nerves aren't receiving the message to move. I do my best to, one by one, drag my leg forward. It forces small steps because my body can't keep up with my brain (it rarely can).

Later after I had finally come down from the rope course, giving my shirt to Carli we run, going through the sprinklers, Adri and Brissa are right behind us holding hands, and ducking a bit to avoid the water. We're all laughing as we run through the water soaking wet, I ring out my hair pulling out the hair tie. My shorts are completely soaked but it was more than worth it. Finally cooled off we all grab our lunches and eat under a tree, still soaked, but also still laughing.

It's really hot, like really, really hot. I feel an enormous amount of sympathy for Hannah and everyone else who was taking photos first. I try to avoid the sun as I go between standing, sitting in the shade, and taking photos of Hannah plus anyone who looks like they are about to fall. I feel the sun burn already making its way across my nose, despite the sunscreen.

Flip, flip, flip. I'm back in the car too tired to even sit up, this time I'm in the back seat after switching with Gia. I'm watching youtube shorts, and I'm just exhausted. The girls are begging to get food, but eventually everyone's just plain tired. Carli is fast asleep and even Gia is resting off of her phone. When coming to this ropes course, put on sunscreen and stay out of the sun as  much as possible.

I was thinking this rope course was going to be a pretty basic one after me being to multiple courses before. I thought the teachers just found one that was easy with a bunch of pieces of wood in between platforms and enough rope to not reach far for some. 

The drive over there was nice and memorable because I like the drive to LA I often go on. The rest of the drive was good with the majority talking with Kaden, Saxon, and his Mom. They were playing rock music most of the time which I didn’t care about even though I only listen to Christian music. I was flexible to allow them to play this just Anza Borrego when I was flexible too. A bit later Saxon’s Mom, Ms. Katrina asked me what music I listen to and I said “Only Christian music”. It hit me when she actually was willing to put on Christian music so I said put “Do it Again” and she did. I enjoyed it and Saxon thought it was peaceful so that was my highlight of the car ride. 

When we got there we went outside to be greeted by a fairly big rope course. I did not picture this rope course but a rather shorter one that was easier. However this looked like the one I did in New Mexico which I enjoyed a lot so I was looking forward to this one too now. I went out with Saxon & Kaden to go look around the rope course. The course had many sections and was pretty tall, the first impression made my excitement skyrocket to the moon. 

About like 10 mins later everyone came and the time came for the famous safety lecture all rope courses do. Later I picked Devin as my partner but he wanted to go first so I just let him while I took pictures on the ground for him. When we got to the starting line of the cargo net, Devin was one of the last people to get on a hook his carabiner to the top of the net. Devin took a while because he was pretty scared of the ropes which to be honest was fair since mostly everyone was. I took his pictures and he went up all the way to the zipline so the time came and he got on it. When he finally got to the bottom I thought it was my time to go, but unfortunately I had to wait till after Lunch. 

I was ready once lunch finished so we did the lecture and I put on my harness ready to go. I was ready after the long line to get on the cargo net and I went fast on it which was already good. Once I got on top and clipped both carabiners to the wire I was clipping fast to other wires because I have done this before. 

I went through the first level pretty fast with just one left of the u-shaped rope section which looked hard. But I started it and knew I had to do a partial split with my legs so I became an acrobat and stretched my legs to get to each rope. It wasn’t that hard and a bit later I got to the 2nd section. It was kind of easy just like the 1st level for me so I passed through it. 

Then came the 3rd I started feeling anxious for the zipline because I was closer and you couldn’t go down once you got to the second level you had to use the zipline to go down. I loved the rope course but I was scared of the zipline. After I did all the sections I found out it wasn’t that hard for me at all because I have a lot of experience. I finally got to the zipline and getting off the platform was crazy because it drops you like 10 feet. The fall makes you feel like you got pushed off a cliff. Then the actual zipline part happens and you zoom to a pole where the middle was a sprinkler. The sprinkler was nice and got me completely wet and I came back to the middle where I was taken off the zipline. That was honestly the best part of the whole trip.

On the way back we stopped at Mc Donalds after deciding between there or In and Out. I wish we went to In and Out but I am grateful we got to stop. After getting a whole meal I loved it even if I was eating in a car. The ropes course was great and I would recommend it to anyone who is willing to do crazy rope courses.

Before we got to the course I thought I'd be able to finish it no problem. My sister did the same course and completed the whole course. So I had an ego thinking it’d be a piece on cake since it also wasn't my first time doing a rope course.

 I told everyone I would have a problem finding it and that I would be the first one done. As the day came around to head over there I did NOT like the idea of waking up at 5am just to smoke everyone in a rope course. But as I woke up for it and headed to school with kaylum and diego and just loaded up the cars I thought about taking a nap to regain the sleep I lost. Couldn't do that, we got there faster than expected. 

We were the 2nd group to arrive. Once I saw the course for the first time in person it looked smaller than I pictured in my head. So my ego kept rising as everyone arrived, we sorted ourselves into groups and gave all the safety instructions to everyone and also showed us how to put on our harness.

 As my partner put his on,I watched carefully. He was up there I watched how he was doing and how he did and made sure to take lots of photos of him. I really did take my time taking photos of him because I didn't want people taking bad photos of me while I was up there. I was also watching others do this course. I found it cool. Everyone was going at their own pace and not rushed, some were going up and not down. After his turn was over we had lunch. It wasn't the best since I didn't eat anything and I was really dehydrated.

 And I finally got to talk to people from the first group since I couldn't while they were up there. Other than that lunch was pretty relaxing and chill. When my turn came I put on my harness. It felt weird and scary knowing I was really gonna up there.

 When I was on the first level I felt good because I was also watching others do it and I knew I could not be the only one out of my friends who doesn't do it. The first obstacle I found hard had to be the ropes. I didn't know how to get through them so I just risked it and got my first step and went from there. When I got to the 2nd level I got a good feel of the course and decided to keep going up to the last level. I fished the whole thing and went down the zip line. After the course I felt tired and sleepy and over it since I had to wake up early for this. After school I felt the same way I just wanted to rest and sleep. The next morning I woke up sore and tired but managed to get it back by taking naps. I wouldn't count what I did on this course a risk since I was going to be safe but I did feel the domain and adrenaline rush during this course. Many things you should know before going to one of these. Things you know know are you can't be scared of heights, you're going to need to fight that fear. BRING WATER last but not least knowing you're going to be okay and that you're safe. Bring breathable clothes and shoes.

Seeing the course for the first time I thought it was gonna be bigger. It looked pretty small. I thought, “meh, meh, light work I could prolly could do it easily.” Getting harnessed on it was easy and I thought I could probably finish the whole thing with ease. Going up the net felt easy, light, like never been better. I went up  fast but my friend Abril was in front of me and she was slow and scared so I had to wait. We both made it on  top.

 I have a calm lil fear of heights but I  didn’t think it was this bad. I've never been more scared, like I said Abril was in front of me. Lowkey, I wanted to go down but I couldn’t do worse than Abril so I followed her the whole way up to the zip. Sitting before I jumped off I said, “I'm like ready to die.” I felt like this was the last thing I'll ever do. It was so fun, a sprinkler came on in front of me with it being so hot it felt like I got regenerated. Brando my partner kept yelling at me for taking the worst angles and worst pictures ever.After lunch while the next set of people went on, me and Damian ran to the sprinklers doing circles getting wet. 

We were waiting to leave with everyone cleaning up me kaylum and brandon saw a small mountain of straight rocks. We walked to get on top of it looking at everything and felt like I climbed the biggest mountain. But like all good things it came to an end. Thrisha told us to come back to the rest of the people. The calm ride would go back again. But only with snacks you'll get pretty hungry on the ropes.

Before the Ropes Course 

Before the ropes course, I was assuming that I was going to go through it pretty easily,, and I was just thinking that it was going to be fun and just enjoyable and not very challenging for me because I thought that it wasn't going to be challenging. The car ride wasn't very fun for me because it was like a 2-hour car ride, and it's pretty boring, and I had my friends in the car,r but it still wasn't that fun. I do think that once we arrived at the ropes course,we could have gotten there earlier because we were literally the last people to arrive at the ropes course.

At The Ropes Course 

As I was at the ropes course, I was ready to go on the course. As I was on the ropes course, I was trying to go at a normal pace, but then I started to slow down on the more challenging parts. As I was on the course, there was this one part where it was pretty challenging because you had two clips and then you had to put one clip on the next cable, and then you had to take the next clip and put it on the same cable as that one. But overall the ropes of course was pretty nice and then going down the zip line that was very fun because you just hear all the wind in your ears and when you get on the ground, you're like uncertain cuz you haven't been on the ground for like an hour or two and just overall jumping off felt like an accomplishment because the course took a long time and it was pretty challenging but it was fun overall. I do regret a couple of things. I wish I had taken more risks, and I wish that moving forward, if I do anything challenging, I want to take more risks in life, even if it can get me in trouble, and that's what I learned from this ropes course.

After The Ropes Course 

As we left the ropes course, I was pretty happy with what we did, and I think that I would definitely do that again. I think it was very challenging, but as I said, I wish I had taken more risks. I do think that it was a good field trip, and I could have been better in certain ways and in certain situations, but overall it was pretty fun, and it was definitely an experience.

The ropes course was a big challenge but one of the most fun experiences with friends. 

Before the ropes course, I felt ready and didn't really know what to expect because I didn’t know the actual size of the course.

At the course, me, Gia and Arely were a little nervous. It was a slight breeze but hot. I was hungrier than ever and I forgot to bring a water bottle so I wasn’t as prepared. I took Gia’s pictures and I got some really good angles. 

Before getting on the course, I had a hard time putting on my harness and it felt super tight. I started to get more nervous and at the top of the net and like I was going to fall. The trickiest obstacle was the skinny rope one because it was the first obstacle I started on and I was really shaky trying to balance and stay calm. There were a lot of times where I felt like I was going to fall but the majority of the time, I was trying not to look down because that was more scary than actually completing the ropes course. 

During lunch time, I had a peanut butter sandwich because I couldn’t eat the jelly. Lunch was really good and it felt nice having some time to relax. I enjoyed the zipline and the sprinklers were on so it felt nice ziplining through the water. After getting off and still watching others on the course, they made it look really easy and although some parts were easier than others, overall the obstacle was really challenging. After the ropes course on the way back to school, the ride wasn’t as long as it felt the first time and Me, Gia, Arely, April, Brandon, Damian, and Tyler were all playing games for entertainment. 

On the way back, I was really tired and hungry so I tried resting but had a hard time relaxing while on the road. When we got back to school, I had to hurry home and rush to practice which was also really tiring because I was already a little sore and had conditioning plus 15 minute 400 meter laps. In the morning I had really bad arm pain but at the same time was really happy that I got it over with and I was able to complete it, plus going to practice feeling fine. I would do it again but I would want it to be a little cooler because it was really hot. 

After this field trip I feel like those kinds of risks are less challenging because now I am familiar with the course. Risks relate to the ropes course because there was a time I had to jump on my injured leg in order to make it across and I could’ve hurt myself or not have made it across. I think this field trip helped a lot of people face their fears and help them build that confidence and risky skill of trying new things.

At first glance, the course appeared easy. But it looked high. At the moment, I didn't want to do it because it looked boring. And I was exhausted from the two-hour car ride, which felt like it would never end. I was really sore from the practice I had the day before. Then I started 

Getting your harness on, and I thought in my head that I had to do it even if I didn't want to, and then I realized that I was going with my friend Diego, then I realized it was not going to be boring, and that I was going to have fun. We started going up, and we decided to go to the right, and there was a thin rope we had to walk across.

An obstacle I encountered was a log hanging with a rope. It was very hard to do. My friend and I were on it, and it was swinging so much I almost fell. We got talgold, and I had to unclip Diego, and his life depended on me, and I was really nervous, but I did it. After that, we kept going, and we didn't give up. Once we finished, we gave each other a high five and kept going.

Once it was lunch time, Diego came up to me and told me Mr Amilo brought nutella and I got happy because I love Nutella. Once I got to the sandwich section, the first thing I did was make myself a Nutella sandwich. I had it, and it was delicious. Once I finished my sandwich, my friend and I started playing catch with a tennis ball we got from Ethan.

As I was watching others on the course focus on my partner David, and he was having the time of his life. Then I saw my friend Anthony on an obstacle, and I started throwing Skittles at him, and he was catching them, then eating them. Then I remembered I had to start taking photos of my partner, so I yelled out his name to find him. Once I found him, I took a photo and then another till I got the perfect three pictures. 

Then I was done, and I sat down and took a break because it was really hot out there, and my hands were really sore from the ropes course.

On the way back to school, I was exhausted, and I got knocked out in the car. Then I woke up mid-ride, and I had a great conversation with Sebastian, and we kept talking until we got there. After school, I went straight to soccer practice, and I was exhausted.

Once I got home after practice, I went straight to the shower, and I took a nice, cold shower. After my shower, I brushed my teeth and went straight to bed, and I fell asleep right away.

The next morning I woke up, and I was really sore, and I was really stiff, and I had to stretch for a bit, and after that I went back to sleep. Then I woke up to my dad telling me I have to go to school, and I didn't want to, and he made me go. At school, I did not feel like doing anything, but I had to. I pushed through and did what I had to do.

Now I think when you take risks, what really happens is that you get a lot of adrenaline. Also, when I have a lot of adrenaline, my reaction time improves to catch myself with the ropes.

On this day, we went to the OC Ropes Course for physics to understand free-body diagrams.

When we got there,

I was highkey scared because I wasn't expecting it to be that tall. I was very nervous after they told us the instructions. I was really scared.

I told Liam I'm not going first, so he went first, and I was on the ground with Arley, taking pictures of Liam. He was like the second person up there and one of the first people down, and I watched him go down the zipline. I thought to myself, damn, now I gotta do it. He eventually came down the zipline, and we just hung out till it was my turn. We also had lunch, and it was chill. We ate, then Liam told me what it was like. They put the harness on me.​

I went up the cargo net and I remember the tight rope was hard I eventually made it to the next obstacle and that was easier after that I had to steps that lead up to the second level. It was really hard for me to go up the steps, but I eventually made it to the the steps to the 3rd level, but I went down the zipline and I screamed the whole way down. It felt like I was falling forever before the zipline caught me. It was so much fun tho after that I just watched more people finish, then we went home.

​

If you ever decide to go to the ropes course, it's really fun and scary, but it's worth it, trust me. The only scary thing about it is going down the zipline and going up to the zip line. There are lots of obstacles, and they get harder the more.

 I was nervous on the drive over to the OC Ropes Course, but at the same time I was excited; this was my second ropes course ever. I was ready to try new things and stir up the day. Sleep was ebbing up from the bowls of my body, and Kaden was talking the whole way. When I first got the ropes courses, I looked around and then began to climb a nearby tree. As I got higher in the tree, I could see more people showing up for the course.  As I climbed down from the tree, I had to use the bathroom. As I was running back from the bathroom, I saw Illyas, Lars, Alex, and Juan. 

 When everyone finally showed up at the OC ropes course, we could get started. After a short safety debriefing, we got onto the course. My first thought was, I wish I were not chosen to go first.  On the first level, I thought this was easy. I have jumped off heights this tall. I will be fine.  As I rounded the bend, I got to the part where you start to go up. It was ok until nearly up the long path. I do not know if it was waking up or something, but it was dawning on me that I was getting nervous about the height, but I persevered and made a round on the second level. 

At last, I went to the third level, and I was silently getting more nervous on the wire with just a rope to hold me up. The third level was so sketchy, I kept thinking I was walking on a wire like it was a tight rope. As I got over to the zip line.  My legs were wobbling and shaking as I got to the zip line area. I was standing on the platform, and I felt like I was on top of the world.  Then the lady who helps with the zipline told me to jump. I was so scared at that moment, I felt like I was jumping into an abyss, but when I did, I was scared for about half a second, and then the rest was fun.

 The reason I could have more fun at the ropes course was that teenagers are more inclined to take risks. I played around in the water after I took a few pictures of Kaden, and was mostly just chill after I went. After I went on that ropes course, I thought to myself in the car while I was with others that this is a lot of fun, and I would like to invite more people to do this. This would be a great birthday activity.  I played around in the water after I took a few pictures of Kaden, and was mostly just chill after I went. At school, all we could talk about was how much fun it was. I'm looking forward to doing something like this again. 

Heights are terrifying to me, especially when the only thing keeping me up is a metal wire. But I have never done this before, so I was willing to do it anyway. When we got to the Ropes Course, I was shocked to see how tall the structure was, but I was willing to be the first one to go up there while my partner stayed on the ground, taking pictures of everyone. My legs were trembling even on the ground, and I was anxious about whether I was even motivated to get to the top. After Morgan explained all of the instructions, I felt less afraid. Waiting for the 4 people to go up first felt easy, but it just made my anxiety worse. 

When my legs finally got onto the first level, they immediately started to tremble in fear as if they had a mind of their own. The least I wanted to do was fall, even if I was attached to the metal bars. The first few elements were fine, but it took awhile to wait for the people in front of me to pass through. But I knew that it would be worth it to get on the zipline; the second level, however, was a pain to get through, even with the shortcut. I couldn’t imagine what it was like to go around the entire course. 

Getting to the top was easy, but it was the waiting that took forever. While the people on the structure were still going in the loop, everyone else on the ground was watching me hanging onto the wooden structure on the top for dear life, waiting for Ashley to get up. It took 10 minutes just for her to get up, and when she finally did, I automatically regretted my decision of getting up there in the first place. I began to sit on the platform, hanging on to my life support, and with a push, I finally went for it. At first, I felt like my body actually was going to fall to the ground, but the zipline immediately broke my fall, and before I knew it, I was flying. Afterwards, I finally got to have lunch and hung out with my friends. 

After lunch, I started to take pictures of everyone, but I knew my camera’s battery was going to run out soon, so I was very cautious, still waiting for Martin to go down the zipline. I managed to take videos of people going down the zipline, including Mr. Omar. When Martin finally went down, I got myself into a good position to record without any interruptions. The day finally ended, and I was so happy not being in the heat anymore.

If you really love to rock climb or parkour courses, you would love this. The weather is chill, the people there give good instructions and are really nice, and the course itself is fun, unless you shake it. To those who don’t like heights that much, I wouldn’t say the same thing, just maybe do level 1 and maybe 2, and you're good.

Have you ever been 100 feet up from the ground? Well I experienced something similar, and it was on the OC Ropes Course. This was my experience on what felt like my steps to death.

The morning was the start to my challenging day. I spent all night watching a show, acting like I didn't have to be awake in 6 hours. 

On my way to school, I felt pointless. Why was I awake before the sun was even out? Trying to keep myself up was difficult. I felt like I was babysitting myself.

The car ride to OC Ropes Course. I felt like a clump of emotions. I was afraid of falling during the ropes course. I was always so tired. I felt like I only slept 1 hour. During the car ride we started playing this game imposter. It was challenging and funny. You don't know who is imposter and who is innocent. We were all blaming each other and saying we were all imposters.

Once we arrived at the ropes course, I started expressing that I would be to the top in the blink of an eye. Although I didn't keep that same mindset for a while.

Once I got started making a line waiting my turn I felt more and more nervous. This didn't seem as easy anymore. I kept on thinking how much do I trust myself unclipping and clipping my life on a single wire. Having that huge responsibility made me more and more nervous. Clipping up I felt my heart pounding stronger and stronger. Before I could even blink twice I was so high up I started screaming like I just saw a lion.

Waiting my turn was the worst; there was no actual place to stand. When I started my first challenge from the course I kept on screaming and everyone who was trying to talk me through it, I kept on telling them to shut up I just needed to focus. 

I was on a single wire and I didn't believe I was going to make it through without crying and falling. Although before I could even tell someone to shut up I was already at the top ready to zip line down.

Looking down made my heart drop to my toes. I never have been afraid of heights until then. I knew I just wanted to get it over with. Going down was the funniest part just feeling that strong win felt amazing. It quickly calmed my nerves. Once down I felt amazing. I couldn't believe I went through all of that without crying and falling.

While waiting to go back home I spent my time talking to brissa about her experience because I noticed she was crying on the course and was terrified.

I gave her some advice and what I told her is something I know she will be able to use anytime she faces a problem. I said “well now you know what are your limits when it comes to heights, and guess what you never have to do this again this is just a one time thing. You tried it out and now you know this isn't for you and you know to avoid it now. Luckily you will never have to go on a ropes course again.”

Before I knew it we were on our way back to “daygo” as Damian likes to say.

On the car ride back we played imposter again, while having conversations about in n out. I felt tired. I felt like I hadn't slept in days. Once we arrived back to sunny San Diego we got In-N-Out and that first bite of the burger and fries felt like heaven. I didn't realize how hungry I was after this long day.

Once I arrived home I felt so tired. I quickly showered and fell asleep. I was supposed to go to a soccer game later that day but I was so tired I didn't wake up and just chose to sleep over anything. 

In all, even though I was scared for my life and didn't go through the full course, it's something I would definitely try again. Why if I was so terrified? You may ask but it's because I know this is a fear I would definitely want to overcome because I don't want to fear everything I know I am capable of overcoming anything and everything.

Overcoming your fears is one the best things you can do for yourself. If you are afraid of heights, definitely stop by to visit the OC Ropes Course. 

Each step you take you will be overcoming that fear.

The date was March 11, 2026, when the two teams, Sage and Oak, gathered in the valleys of  Los Angeles to attempt the infamous OC Ropes Course. Before I arrived, I imagined myself finishing the entire course, which didn’t play out later on, but were thinking about how it was going to work for me. When I arrived at the course, it was not what I had assumed it would be while daydreaming on the way there. When everyone else slowly started to arrive, I was playing with Martin on Super Smash Bros for a good 2 games until it was time to discuss the basics and how to put on our harnesses. Putting on the harnesses was easy, but tightening them was a little difficult, so we could move around and stay secure during the course. 

As I started the course, climbing the rope was pretty easy; the only downside was that it was steep to climb. The most difficult part was the rope near the end of the first level; it looked scary, but I told myself to try it later. The rock wall was pretty easy, but also scary because of the two loose rocks, which made it seem frightening. I attempted both, but I was too scared to move on. My whole body shook from how high I was above the ground. In the end, I made the choice to give up on the course. When I got down, I grabbed my water bottle to refresh myself, which felt nice and refreshing to have after all of the obstacles. 

Lunch time was really chill. For the most part, I just hung out with my friends, but I had been on my phone beforehand. Everyone gathered for a photo, and then the second group started getting ready for the obstacle course. 

While the second group was on the course, I was taking photos of some friends to help out with references for their free body diagrams. My partner Vincent was one of many kids that was on the course and decided not to try the first level and gave up, but I at least took some photos to help him out with his free body diagram. After a few minutes, we started to pack up our stuff and head back to the school. 

When we got back, I was tired and worn out from the course, but also regretting my decisions from not pacing myself. The morning after, I felt a little bit sore from the course and how much I was gripping the rope. I wish that I were able to go through the first level, but I’m glad that I attempted to take risks.

If you want to spend time in the valleys of western LA, & want to try risk-taking. I highly recommend going to the OC Ropes Course if you’re interested.

On March 14th 2026, 9th grade students from High Tech High went to a ropes course to learn about facing fears and having a way to reflect on scary situations. I will now get into my experience about this field trip.

Before getting to the course I was feeling a bit of nervousness and excitement, I figured it wouldn’t be that hard. After seeing the course I quickly assessed which routes would be the hardest, after my analysis I already knew I wouldn't be able to handle the majority of the course so I decided on only doing level one I didn’t decide that out of fear it was more of my logical decision making deciding it for me. Which is what I told myself in truth it was out of fear. Juan Salazar Jr was my partner and I managed to convince him to go before me because I was scared and I wanted to assess how other people would do the course. I took a few pictures of Juan and hung out with Santiago for the rest of the time before lunch. I was bored and the scared feeling that loomed over me was unnerving. 

In order to stop this fear I reverted back to thinking logically about the course. I didn’t eat during lunch and I just ended up thinking more about the course. Soon after putting on my harness I was annoyed by how tight things needed to be and the bulge created by the pressure from the tight harness was utterly embarrassing and dreadful and I wanted to go home.

 As soon as I climbed up the cargo net and stood up I felt okay at the start and then as I was moving to go to the rockwall I grabbed onto a rock and almost fell because the rock was not screwed in properly. As soon as this sudden shock happened a wave of dread loomed over me. I was thinking about potential outcomes and the risks I could take and the potential possibility of me falling, feeling the compression of my soles from trying to press firmly against the wood as I tried to stabilize myself by holding onto the wire. 

All at once I was thinking and feeling these things hastily while processing the fear. I already knew my brain was being fatigued and that I wouldn’t be able to continue. I decided to move back and then Kaden yelled for me to just slide my way across the rockwall. 

I managed to halt my thinking and do as Kaden instructed me, but as I got to the middle of the rockwall I realized I was terribly unstable physically as well as in mind and I could not balance myself. I knew I wouldn’t be able to get past the next area because the wire would not be on the side of me to hold onto. This caused me to admit my limit mentally and physically and I did not want to risk spiking the chances of me falling. I already knew it would be inevitable for me to fall and dangle from the wire if I had chosen to keep on going. This prompted me to go back down and I did exactly that, I felt glad as I got back down not because I was safe but because I processed the situation logically and with my self awareness I realized my limits which has been one of my personal goals I knew I could eventually accomplish and this experience was clear fact of that.

I was also happy to get out of my harness and then I could settle down for a bit. Later we got in Sophia Salazar’s car, Devin, Juan, and I felt like we could finally relax and we then got McDonalds which was good and allowed me to calm down in the delight of the food. The car ride was annoyingly tedious but I was glad I could see a Navy base while driving on the freeway which was cool. I could imagine myself potentially being there in 1 to 2 years.

We finally got back to school and I later got home slightly tired and bored.

The whole field trip was solid and I didn’t completely mind it to get out of school work. I highly recommend this course or any ropes course for adventure and just overcoming fear. It’s also a good way to spend time outside. I would recommend bringing sunscreen, a simple lunch and water. I would also recommend stretching before the course to ensure high mobility.

As we got there with the little mosquitoes flying around us, I looked up at the rope course. I've been on a rope course before, but this one was bigger and I was slightly scared. That I was going to forget something they had said for what to do. I stuck with my friends laughing and making jokes, until they had told us to get into pairs. Since me and my friends are a trio putting us in pairs was difficult, it was until the teacher called someone over making us separate from each other. As we lined up with our partners they asked us a question, who's more scared to get on the rope course. I was truly not as scared so my partner had gone up first.

As I stood with her and my other friend in line to chat, I was cheering them on as they got up to the first level. I noticed they were both very scared of continuing onto the other obstacles. I stood with my mom as we cheered them both to continue as I took photos of them for physics as the sun hit my face many times. It was chilly enough to wear a thin sweater, but the sun was very warm as it hit your face feeling nice until awhile. 

As I took many photos with my headphones in my ear listening to music, I heard music randomly stop before my phone screen went black… my phone died on me.  

I continued to watch them until I noticed them climbing off, I was expecting them to at least try something out, not just backing out from it but I at least got 3 photos of them enough for the project we will be needing them for. 

Before lunch me and my friends were running in the sprinklers having fun and talking together, until my mom told me to eat before I could get hangry. 

As we ate with our other friends it was silent since everyone was just on their phones, I truly didn’t mind much but it felt boring. I only had gotten a few bites in since lunch was nearly over by then, it was very upsetting since I couldn't have enough time to enjoy my lunch.

After lunch it was my turn to go on. I stood with my mom grabbing the harnesses waiting to get checked, I felt myself get nervous. I made and idea of how far I would go and how mant going to do, and had laid out a squire in my head of the obstacles I was willing to do. I got my place in line, which was in the back. I didn’t want to go up before many others so I just planted myself to the back. The temperature had gotten higher since it was in the afternoon making it hotter then in the morning, it was ok until the line felt like hours. I watched as many climbed on but the sun hit my eyes every time I looked up, with the sun hitting the side of my face making it feel unbearable. 

As I waited in line with the hot sun hitting my body and face it was finally my turn to climb on, I felt my legs shake with every move, as my breath was the only thing I heard as I got up. When I stood up I looked down. Oh.. it's really not that bad. I planned out what I was going to do. I got on the first thing, I wrapped my hands around the wire as I moved, taking small steps as I moved and I finally finished the first one and went on the second one until someone asked me to stop since she was trying to make her next plan, she seemed scared. I waited for a while feeling my fingers get tired from being wrapped around for so long, I went to the next one as I saw my mom going higher up. As I was on my third one I felt it easy there until my last one, I had thought “oh this will be fine.” It was not… I wiggled around with every step feeling like I was about to fall any second, I focused on my breaths not wanting to get so scared, then I finally got off. As I climbed back down my friend was waiting for me, then we watched my mom fly down the zip line and hearing her laugh with excitement she had through it all. 

I liked the rope course, it was truly fun and I wish I was able to push myself more to go higher up, but I was fine on the bottom. I would do it again in the future and help my friends through it more if we were on the same time. Many would enjoy it even if you're scared, it's good for facing any fear of heights.

That's it!

Judith  

When I woke up, I was nervous because I had to go to a ropes course. The reason the ropes course made me nervous was because I didn’t like Heights. But when I got to school I felt a little bit better because everyone else was nervous too, so that made me feel a bit better because I wasn’t the only one nervous.

When I got to the rope course I started talking to my friends that got there before me. When it was time to put on our harnesses, I wanted to go first but my partner also wanted to go first, but he decided that I could go first. When I was putting on my harness I had a little trouble putting it on so I asked my partner for help. When I got it on, the instructor told everyone to gather up and she told us what to do when we got on the rope course.

When it was my turn, I started climbing the cargo net but when I was putting my hook on Saxon started running up the net shaking it and almost making me fall, but I got on safely. When I got up, there were two paths I could go on, a rock wall or a tight rope. I picked the safer option to go with the rock wall. After the rock wall there was a plank I could walk across.

After that I went on a course with logs and a seesaw but that was pretty easy. But the next one there were a lot of unstable platforms that was hard but I got through it. The next one was an easy bridge across the level. Then the next one was probably the hardest one I went on, it was a bunch of small ropes that I would have to cross and every time I made it on to the next one I would start swinging around and the rope was far apart from each other so I would swing myself to the next one.

After that one I went on my way to the second level. The way to the second level was pretty easy. When I got on the second level I immediately went to the third level to get to the zipline. The path to the third level was pretty easy with a big black rope and a couple of lily pads.

After that I got to the zipline, the instructor at the zipline hooked me in and told me what to do. After she was done talking to me I went and as soon as I went, I felt like I was dropping but then I remembered I was hooked in so it was alright. When I got done with the zipline, the instructor helped me get off. I took my harness off after that and went to go talk to my friends. And after that we packed up and went into the car. On the way back we got mcdonalds and I got chicken nuggets, a chicken sandwich and fries. When we got back to school I was so tired and sat around and did nothing. When it was time to leave I left immediately. I left and got into my moms car and left with her.

If you like ropes courses I would recommend this place because it's a really easy ropes course and it has a zipline at the top. And the environment is beautiful with all the trees around it. But if you go, make sure to bring sun screen because it can get hot out there.

I wasn’t nervous at all… until it was my turn. I was in Orange County. There was a huge ropes course in the middle of a campsite. The ropes course went all the way up to 40 feet high!

At school before going on the ropes course I felt ready and not nervous at all. Once I got to the actual place I saw the ropes course for the first time but that didn't change the way I felt about it. I still felt more prepared than ever, but there was one obstacle that had caught my eye.

The workers had split everyone by two teams and I was in the second team, which meant I had to go on the ropes course after lunch. I remember looking at the first team getting down a zip line and that was how it became the part I was most excited for. It just looked thrilling and rewarding after a long ropes course. While I was down I had to take pictures of my partner that was on the ropes course which was super challenging, because there were so many people and obstacles covering her. 

When lunch time came around I had made a bet with one of my classmates. The bet was if one of us does the hardest obstacle we will give each other five dollars. The hardest obstacle was the one that had caught my eye. 

It was getting close to putting on my harness and that's when the nerves started to kick in. Now when I looked at the ropes course I felt scared and I wasn't prepared. My stomach was filled with butterflies but that wasn't going to stop me from getting on so I put on a harness. The harness was supposed to get a little tight once the workers checked it but that harness felt like two walls were squishing me, it was the most uncomfortable thing ever. 

There was a net you had to climb in order to go on the ropes course and once I climbed all my fear went away. I started doing every obstacle I could. They were all good until I got to the bet obstacle, it was a string and wobbly circles at the bottom. Since I had made a bet I told myself I would do it but if it got too hard I would go back. I started getting on the first circle, but there was no way I could get on the second circle so for a while I was just hanging and pulling myself up. Hanging wasn't as terrifying as it sounds, since the workers said that the rope could hold me so I had a lot of faith I would have been okay.

Thankfully I made it and had gone to the zipline base, the part I had been waiting for. I remember I was all ready to go and thinking “I got this”. It was time to push myself and when I did it felt like I was jumping down a building. There were sprinklers at the end of the zipline which substitute for the awful free fall feeling.

The OC ropes course was super enjoyable because it was something out of the ordinary, that everyone should do at least once in their lifetime. One piece of advice if you ever go on a ropes course, make sure you have faith in yourself and know that the ropes will hold you.

I was extremely tired, that I remember. I rushed to get ready, surprisingly, I was the first one awake, disrupting the peaceful silence that consumed the household at five thirty am. There’s something comforting about quiet mornings, even if they may be rushed. 

Flash forward to a few hours later and we got out of the car after a bit more than an hour. I was so relieved to be able to move around. Taking in the sight of the ropes course, I felt a little better about the height. I was expecting something way taller, however, I was paranoid about the ropes. Everything looked so thin, hard to grab onto.

The next few moments were a blur. I was partnered up with Alana and took a few photos of her and Emeli in their harnesses. Since me and Carli’s project for physics was a video, we had a shared digital camera for taking videos and photos of people on the course. 

I ran around trying to get videos of everyone on the ropes course. Carrying Amilio’s camera around my neck. Unfortunately, the lens was having trouble focusing on people, so not all of the shots I got were clear. 

After a while, me and Brissa ran towards the sprinklers. At first, I didn’t think she was serious about running through them, but she was. We barely ran through them the first time, like little kids sitting near the pool, too scared to go in. We ended up running through the sprinklers again with more people, all holding hands. It was a silly moment but an enjoyable one. 

After lunch, our time approached us. I put on my harness, processing all that was to come. One of the employees there helped tighten my harness. It was incredibly tight, I felt like I was wearing one of those Victorian era corsets, well at least the bottom of one. I slowly approached the course, waiting in line with Brissa.

I was panicking, Brissa was trying to calm me down, which I find ironic since she’s deadly afraid of heights. I remembered how she mentioned she silently panics. But I didn’t realize it until we made it up on the net. 

She climbed through the rock wall side, I followed her shortly after, focusing on clipping my crab claws to the right cords. There was a plank that led to a shaky bridge. Brissa started panicking, well more so evidently panicking since she was already silently panicking. 

All of the fear in my body immediately washed away. I suppose something switched on in my brain. I was determined to get her down. Everybody was shouting at her, some even taking photos of her as tears streamed down her face. Like guys time and place gosh. 

I helped encourage and guide her back down, although I myself did not go down just yet. I took a risky step around the pillar dividing us so she could have a more stable pathway. Somehow, I wasn’t shaking or terrified, I just was simply there. Being able to help a friend out. 

I went around the first floor of the course for a bit until I felt the shakiness of one of the obstacles and decided to just go back. I had deep paper cuts on the insides of my hands where I was gripping the ropes. The whole time I was up there, my bandaids kept sliding up and down, it was an uncomfortable feeling for sure. I was able to ignore it for a bit, but then the rope started to dig into the cut.

I still wanted to go on the zipline, but since everyone was already leaving I settled for a bit of the first floor then headed back. 

I was really worried I’d regret it a ton. But, weirdly, I was sort of content.

It may sound a little silly, but being able to stay calm in a situation where someone I cared about needed me, filled the part of me that told myself I’d regret not doing this, not doing that. 

So as we all got down, sitting together near the tables. Me and Brissa sat up and took a little walk to the bathroom before having to sit down for over an hour in the car. Stumbling across a sprinkler, we looked at each other, hand in hand, and ran. 

For me, that moment sealed the whole field trip experience. It just felt so freeing.

I’d recommend going on a ropes course, but I wouldn’t recommend this one. The ropes were rough, some of the obstacles were a little scary, and it being outside was also something I was not a big fan of. Overall, I wouldn’t visit this place, at least not for a first ropes course.

Arriving at the ropes course with a solid two hours of sleep I step out of the car to see the giant ropes course towering over everybody. I start to think back to the last ropes course I went on in 5th grade where I was too scared to fully complete it. 

I partnered up with Ezekiel and they put us in a line. They asked who was more scared, me and Ezekiel looked at each other and I could tell he was a lot more scared than me but I had a hunch that the more scared one was gonna go first so I said I was more scared. I put my harness on and I was directed to the cargo net where we started. I got in line right behind Ethan. Second in line I climbed up to the top and immediately my mind started racing. Which way should I go? Am I holding up the line?

I started on the first obstacle shimming my way across the wire drawing a lot of attention with me and Ethan being the only people up there. I made my first loop around and started heading up to the second level. The steps to the second level were so wobbly and there were so many steps. After seemingly forever I made it to the second level. I did a couple of the obstacles but I really wanted to do the zipline so I went to that. Sitting up there I was waiting for them to section of the area so I could go and the whole time I was just anticipating what it was going to feel like. I finally got the clear and dove off the platform. 

It felt like I was gonna fly straight through the ground until the tight zipline slung me up a little bit and I rode it all the way down. I took my harness off and it was time for lunch. I ate quickly then watched the rest of my friends go up and eventually come down. After most people were done we loaded up our car and headed back south. If you are going to OC ropes course I would recommend going down the zipline. It was my favorite part and most other peoples highlight.