Ok, we're insane ... but now the details.

For some time we have looked at the brochure for a place called the Scenic Caves Eco Tours near Collingwood about 20 miles from here. Sounded interesting and it even included a zip-line ... which from my helicopter days should be fun ... see some caves and do a zip, eh.

Here's our class posing at the lodge prior to embarking on our "Eco Tour."

Well, wait, what is all this paramilitary gear crunching up into my groin and why am I not really smiling anymore? It took about 20 minutes for the initial suit-up and safety class.

Then off to the real "ground school" where we learned how to hook up the multiple caribiners to the multiple safety cables to keep us from dying .... woah ... just a second! The instructor kept saying, "make sure you only unhook one clip from the cable at a time as you go around the trees ... " Uh, OK?! What happened to just walking around the trees on the ground and talking about them ... ?

Then we were off on one of the most fun, harrowing, work, exciting and challenging experiences of our lives.  We climbed a ladder up  a tree for about 25 feet to the initial platform and then began the "tree walk." It was incredible and incredibly strenuous!

Here's Jo walking along the 2X10 planks holding onto the two cables as we went from tree to tree, sometimes 60 feet above the ground ... swaying with the breeze. You can see how far between the trees the boards are stretched with some of our classmates far in the background.

And here you can see a corner as we struggled past the 15th tree. Somewhere I thought there were supposed to only be 6 trees we were to traverse ... my mistake, eh. You can see a classmate behind Jo about to make the corner in space by unhooking his safety cables and re-hooking after the 90 degree turn ... all 60 feet up in the trees. This whole trek took well over an hour and we were exhausted ... the pace was fast, relentless, and scary ... wow that was about it for these two old guys!

We finally reached the 16th tree and rode a practice zip line down 300 feet to take a well deserved break before hiking to the caves. The day was a beautiful 75 degrees ... nice day for a stroll among the maples and grottoes and was a pleasant relief after the tree thing.

We then hitched up for the finale which was a 1,000 foot zip to the valley below. Here's Jo getting her last rites ... rather the last rules on how not to die once you step off that platform into space.

And jump she (we) did! Actually you just keep walking down the stairs ... and as the saying goes ... "watch the last step, it is a doozy!" The trees here are about 200 feet below you and it is really wild but fun experience.

Like I said it was an adventure of a lifetime. We'd do the zip lines again as they were just plain exhilarating fun ... but the tree walking part could have been about an hour shorter to still enjoy it without the seemingly endless trek. The whole afternoon was about three hours long and something we will never forget ... Tarzans we aren't!