To most people, I’m classified as a daredevil; an adrenaline junkie. I search the world for any and every activity that will cause my body to rush with adrenaline. Bungee jumping, skydiving, ziplining. Ziplining...the beginning of my long life as a daredevil. Sure I’d been on rollercoasters and don’t get me wrong I loved them, but I’d never felt anything like this before. It was my 13th birthday and I decided I wanted to take a trip somewhere instead of get presents. I was going to Manitou springs.

The Plan: Stay in Manitou Friday-Monday, bring Julia (my best friend) and Andrew (my cousin); Do anything I wanted. Now that sounded like a pretty good plan after all they had to do anything I wanted to do (as long as it wasn’t that expensive). Eventually we got to Manitou, searching for a place to eat lunch. We were starved. Julia and I walked along the sidewalk in front of Andrew and my mom, when a bright yellow and orange sign caught the corner of my eye. I read, “Zipline tours call 123-456-7890” (I can’t remember the actual number). It was destiny that I saw that sign. I shot around screaming, “THAT! THAT! I WANT TO DO THAT!!!” I guess you could say I reacted like a two year old. So, my mom got out her phone and dialed the number.

Sunday: my birthday. We pulled into a dusty lot. Julia, Andrew, and I got into a beat up jeep with an older couple and a younger man in Bermuda shorts. The younger man, our instructor. We waved goodbye to my mom and drove off. The instructor warned us about how bumpy the road was and I guess I chose not to listen. I was sitting next to a large open space in the jeep; a very large window that took up the whole side of the car. We hit a rock and I slammed my head against a large black pole at the top of the window. Of course Julia and Andrew just sat there laughing and calling me a “Tard”. Well, 10 minutes and a headache later, we reached a shack. Everyone jumped out and followed the instructor over to some human shaped holsters.

“Put your legs into the two large holes and pull the gear up like a pair of pants. Now put your arms in the two smaller holes and connect the buckle in the front. Now it should be a little tight and if not pull the two straps on the sides to tighten it. Don’t make it too tight unless you don’t want to breathe for about 2 hours.”

Thank god he was showing us too, otherwise I would’ve been totally lost. Once everyone got their gear on, we began to hike up the mountain. We hiked for about 5 minutes until we reached the first Zipline. The instructor hooked a large metal clasp that was attached to his gear and hooked it onto the Zipline.
“Now do you see the strap hanging off of your Clasp? That’s your brake so that you don’t have to use your hands. Near the end of the line, you want to start pulling that slightly. Don’t yank it or you will get stuck in the middle of the line and have to come in by hand. Is everyone ready?”
We all nodded our heads.
“Now who wants to go first?”

Of course Andrew pushed me forward so it looked like I wanted to go first. The instructor grabbed my clasp and hooked it onto the line. It was too late to turn back now. I was running now, running straight for the edge of a cliff. I was inches away from the edge and I jumped.

Those few seconds after I jumped, I was free falling, falling to my death, falling to the bottom of a canyon. Those few seconds felt like minutes, hours. My stomach did flips, my palms were sweaty, and my body shook in fear. Fear of the line breaking, fear of my gear coming loose, and fear of falling. Finally, my gear caught.

My body flung around like a rag doll before it smoothed out. I glided across the beautiful canyon and beneath me was a small stream surrounded by jagged rocks and small trees. Flowers, shrubs, and luscious green grass formed together to create the perfect habitat for a family of deer that sat below drinking the cold stream water and relaxed in the shade. This scene was the most beautiful thing I ever saw. It looked like something out of a movie, a fairy tale movie in a faraway land with unicorns and princesses. I will never forget that scene.
The end of the line was near so I pulled the brake a little and started to slow down. I reached the end and my feet slammed in the dirt creating a cloud of dust. I turned around and saw Julia and Andrew waving and giving me thumbs up. Next it was Julia who shrieked at the top of her lungs and held onto her gear as tight as possible. Then Andrew who also gripped onto his gear as tight as possible and complained that his “balls hurt from the gear” when he reached the other side. When everyone was across, we started hiking and rode 3 more ziplines before the trail split into 2 parts.

“Now this trail goes along the edge of a cliff with a steep hike and takes around 5 minutes, it’s…well…dangerous. Now this trail goes around and takes around 20 minutes, an easy trail. It’s your choice which trail to take.”

We decided to take the 5 minute trail.

He wasn’t wrong when he said dangerous. It was almost straight up, with sharp turns, big rocks, and we were inches from the edge of a large cliff. Julia, Andrew, and I led the group up the trail.

“OH MY GOD!!!!! WE SHOULD'VE TAKEN THE OTHER TRAIL!!!!!”

“Julia calm down, we’ll be fine.”
“WE’RE WALKING ALONG THE EDGE OF A CLIFF!”
“Seriously Julia we’ll be fine! If the instructor didn’t think we’d be fine, he wouldn’t have given us this choice!”
“Well...I guess...”

As of now I could see the zipline a few feet in front of me. We were all tired and hot so we all rushed to the Zipline. Andrew bumped into my and my foot caught on a rock, causing me to fall to the ground and scrape my knee. I thought to myself, “WHAT A TURD”.

I could already tell that this Zipline was different. It was longer and higher up, so high in fact that we had to climb onto multiple boulders just to get hooked onto the line. You didn't have to run on this one, you just had to jump off the pile of boulders. The instructor told us to “try something different” on this line. Andrew was the one to go first this time, but before he went the instructor whispered something into his ear. When Andrew dove off the rock, he made himself spin in circles. He looked like a torpedo. I was next. I dove off the rock and let go of my gear, leaning back. I went across the zipline, upside down. Julia said I looked like spiderman, but I don't know how.

We did a total of seven ziplines that day, each one more exhilarating than the last.Something clicked in my mind that day, something dangerous. I liked the feeling that came with riding the ziplines. The feeling of your stomach dropping and your body shaking in tremendous fear. That day was the beginning of my long, exciting life as a daredevil.