If you were at Camp during the early-middle 90's, anytime hear somebody mention the swing, you think of only one thing. You think of jumping off this thing in the pictures below, trying to sit down on this little piece of round wood tied onto a rope, all while swinging down a big hill.
Well, today when I was out at Camp, I had the opportunity, with Ty Ford, to bring the old swing in from the woods, putting an end to its time in a tree. This swing hasn't been "The Swing" for almost 13 years, but it was always "The Swing" for many people. Sometime in the last few weeks, the branch that the rope swing hung from fell down, and with it an era of Camp ended. This swing was the last one that had real danger in it. It didn't have harnesses or clips to hold you in like the swing today has to have. Me and Ty talked today about the times we went off this swing when we were campers, and both of us remember vividly how scary it was to be standing on the platform, reaching out for the rope and then to go whooshing down the hill. Although neither one of us had been on it in many years, we were still reminded of its thrills when we would walk by it during the summer. I had intended to highlight all of the swings of Deer Run's past, but since this was what I considered "The Swing", I felt it deserved its own post. Good-Bye Old Swing.
Hail, Dear Ol' Deer Run,
Sparky
The "Swing" will be missed. I had the fortune of falling off of it New Year's Day 1993. I was showing some hopeful incoming staff how it would hold anyone. When I jumped I yelled Geronimo and knocked the seat out of the way for me to sit on it. I didn't panic and held on like a dummy. On the way up on the down hill side of the arc path my little pinky snapped and I lost grip falling through the tree tops. On the way down I just kept telling myself don't stick your arms out, don't stick your arms out. I turned around and did a couple of back flips when I fell down and jumped up in excitement that I was alive. Only thing that happened was my pinky was now looking back at me. I climbed back on and did it one handed. Knew I would never do it again after that.
ReplyDeleteThe look on Christie's face, my 8 1/2 month pregnant wife, was scary.