Since my skydiving adventure, I’ve been on the hunt for a new thrill. When my mom told me about the “Go Ape” Ropes course, I figured it’d be the perfect thing, considering I’m super scared of heights, and chickened out at the last ropes course I did.
So I set off on my adventure with my brother’s girlfriend, thinking it’d be a perfect bonding opportunity. It took us a little over an hour to drive all the way towards Cleveland from my home in North Central Ohio. Go Ape ended up being in a park- a rather large park that our GPS didn’t end up working in. The GPS took us to the park, but after that we were on our own. We had to use our navigating skills, ones that I obviously don’t have considering I get lost at every opportunity. Once we read the directions off the website and figured out where we were, we only wasted about 20-30 minutes driving around. Oops. It’s a good thing I left early.
Reading the website I was led to believe there were different courses for the different age groups, such as ages 12-15 in on one course, 16-17-year-olds on another, and ages 18+ on a different course. Which I absolutely loved considering I don’t really like spending my time with annoying 10-year olds. Ha! Once I realized I was in a group with all ages and everyone goes through the same course, I was a little less excited but proceeded to gear up.
We set out on our adventure. The thought did cross my mind before visiting that I would need to rely on my physical strength, which I don’t have a lot of. But I wasn’t going to let that stop me. And it didn’t stop me all through the course. There were definitely times that a little more upper body strength would have come in handy. Those include the Tarzan swing, where you swing from a rope, catch a rope net, and then climb up the net to the next challenge. Once I climbed up the net I sat down for a little chill time.
We had arrived for the first tour and were ahead of everyone we could go as slow or as fast as we wanted to. Our competitive nature won out and we decided to challenge ourselves and went as fast as we could. We finished the course in a little over an hour. If the Tarzan swing doesn’t sound fun to you, no problem, there’s another option so you don’t need to feel as though you need to do something if it’s beyond your physical capability or out of your comfort zone.
Unlike a zip line only course, the challenge course is on you. You’re trained for about 30 minutes by staff members so you know how to strap yourself to the tree and make sure you don’t die. Guides are around and are only a whistle or yell away if you need help, but they don’t go through the course with you step-by-step.
Overall, the course wasn’t the thrill I was looking for, but in fairness, I’ve zip-lined through some pretty impressive mountains since that first failed ropes course experience and you know skydiving is my new obsession.
I do feel this would be a perfect course for younger ages or for older people who are zip-lining or experiencing a ropes course for the first time. So if you’re looking to do something for the first time this would be perfect for you and will provide just enough of thrill and challenge. I should add that my brother’s girlfriend really enjoyed the course and thought it was a lot of fun. I also think this is a great activity for a group of friends to do together and the more friends the merrier. You could laugh at each other and encourage each other on.
About Go Ape:
A Go Ape Treetop Adventure Course is an outdoor experience that provides participants 2-3 hours of outdoor fun and exercise. The course allows participants to explore the park from an otherwise unobtainable vantage point while navigating 40-50 feet up in the air using zip lines, obstacles, and Tarzan swings. Kids have to be 10 year-old and 55 inches to participate (except in Williamsburg, which has a junior course)
Go Ape has 12 locations in the US, making it one of the largest chains of outdoor adventure courses in the country.
The mission of Go Ape is to encourage everyone to live an adventurous life while treading lightly in our parks. All Go Ape’s courses in the US are located in public parks. Courses are designed to have minimal impact on trees and are inspected annually to ensure the continued health of the trees.
Find a Go Ape location near you on the GoApe.com website.
I visited the newly opened Mill Stream Run Go Ape location in Cleveland at 16200 Valley Pkwy Strongsville, Ohio. This is Go Ape’s first treetop adventure course in Ohio. The course includes 5 zip lines and 42 obstacles which include 2 Tarzan swings, a spider’s web and jungle crossing.
Thanks to Go Ape Zip Line & Treetop Adventure for providing tickets to me so I could share my experience here at The Traveling Praters.
