Category: Obstacle Course

Obstacle Course Step 5- Rope climb/swing

The most dangerous building project yet. Dangerous because we bought a 25′ rope and 25′ turns out to be incredibly high in the air. It was pretty touch and go as we lifted this 16′ beam into the air. It turns out we only went 17′ into the air. Even then, very scary endeavor! We had some nice tips to help out this time though.

The first tip given to us was to put some boards up ahead of time to hold the beam in place while we get it situated. We had some spare 4x4s I screwed up with 8″ lag screws. It worked perfectly. Then we used the same lag screws to tack the beam into place while we bolted it in. Unfortunately I did not get any pics of the bolting process, but you get the idea. Same as everything else we’ve bolted in.

We intend to put three ropes up. I have a swivel bracket on the very edge, overhanging. Two ropes will go in the middle.

We intend to dig a pit on one side of the obstacle and pile the dirt on the other for a ramp. That will make swinging on the rope easier, as right now it’s pretty iffy if you’ll swing nicely or hit a pole. The bracket that hangs on the outside of the poles will be the climbing rope, no pit will be dug there.

Obstacle Course- Step 4- Ladder Climber

The ladder climber is one of the funner and more dangerous obstacles we’ve completed so far. Of course, it’s not completely complete but a work in process.

Buying the threaded rods already cut down to a smaller size was expensive. I needed to find a cheaper way. They do sell threaded rods in 4, 6 and 10′ lengths for cheaper. I decided I could buy several 6′ rods and cut them to length. My father has a band saw and it worked incredibly well.

To figure out what length we needed I took the circumference of the two poles and figured out the diameter the rods needed to be. One pole is much thicker than the other. I cut the rods into 12″ and 18″ pieces to fit the two poles.

I purchased 2x6x12′ boards. They are untreated and we used a sealant on them. It has the added benefit of making the boards a wee bit more enjoyable to grab on to.

I drilled and mounted one side first and then used the level to mount the other side.

I tried to measure each board to be 2’6″ from the top of one to the top of the next but, I do suck at measuring and putting things in where they should be. So they are ABOUT 2′ apart.

The kids have strict instructions to only go 2 boards up when we are not with them. When we are with them they can go 6 boards up. We are currently 8 boards up and can do 3 more. Right now it stands at 18 feet high.

Obstacle Course- Step 3- Zip line

The kids and I have been working for several years to get Husband to agree to let us build a zip line. He just keeps pointing out the risk for injury and death.

So, all these telephone poles were an opportunity to try again. The poles that are 50′ apart were ideal for talking Husband into a zip line. He relented. I jumped on it and immediately bought everything we needed. I bought a 250′ spool of 1/4″ airline wire. I settled on 1/4″ wire because I wanted to appease Husband’s fears of wire breaking by getting the thickest possible and the carabiner I purchased could handle a maximum of 1/4″.

I did consider buying a zip line kit but I figured out it was cheaper to buy everything separately so that’s what I did. I had a nice spool and pallet I’d used previously for the bees so I rolled that on over to the poles as our platform. The wire is simply as far up as I can possibly reach on my tippy toes. It does enable the tractor to go underneath it to maintain the path.

Needless to say, we all love it, even husband. The kids spend endless amounts of time on it. We had to purchase walkie talkies so they could go out and zip line and we could call them in for meals and bed.

As you can see it’s the perfect height for the kids to ride down, hop off and take the seat back to the next person.