obstacle course – Peacock Orchard

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.

Obstacle Course step 2- Trees!

We decided the path could really benefit from the addition of some trees for shade while we are sitting and watching the kids play. So, we ordered 25 American Plum trees, 5 chokecherry trees and a single Eastern Red Cedar (because that’s all they had for sale).

Planting was a family affair. Daughter drove her car with the trees in the back and shovels. Husband and I would dig the holes and the kids would work together to plant the trees.

The problem with getting out there was that Daughter had ice cream and Carnitas the pig really, really wanted it.

It’s been a few months since we planted the trees and it’s been not great. They were eaten. We put tree collars on them. They were smacked and broken by hail. They were potentially eaten again, in spite of the collars. We have maybe 8 left. /sigh

Obstacle course part 1- swings

I wanted to immediately put up some swings for the kids. Give them something to keep them occupied on the property.

I bought a 4x6x12 board and 1/2 inch x 2 feet threaded rods.

I also bought the swings and the swing brackets off Amazon.

I put the board up at 10 feet because that is where we intend to have the platform for this section start.

This is where things get tricky. I left the kids with Husband and went out with the hammer drill to drill holes in the pole and put it up. Turns out I neither had the right drill nor the right drill bit. I thought using a paddle drill bit would be the best idea but boy, it’s not. I had to pull it out every few seconds to get rid of the wood chips so it wouldn’t get stuck. It took FOREVER to drill a single hole. Then it killed the drill. It got so hot drilling that hole that I had to stop and let it cool down before doing the other hole.

The next problem is hoisting the board up there alone. It’s really heavy. So I propped it up and bolted it loosely to one side. Then I put a rope around the other side and started hoisting it up for the second bolt. Now yes, it should have two bolts on each side. Drill couldn’t handle it though so I settled with one and the intent to put another in later.

I got it done though and they love the swings!

Obstacle Course/ Home Leisure Project

Covid-19 has changed a lot of things in the world. Our property can now be added to the list. Being stuck home with the kids we decided we really needed more to do. It had to be on our property because the oil drilling has made it uncomfortable to walk the road like we used to.

So Husband took the tractor out and made a path. We made some plans. Planted some flags and had the electric company out to put up 24 telephone poles along the way. We had this large pile of telephone poles we got for free from the railroad.

They got them all up quick and then we wandered the path admiring their work and dreaming.

This is a large structure that is going to have four platforms on it just for hanging out.

We have two separate structures going up near each other. This pic shows husband evaluating the distance between poles for accuracy. Our measuring is on point, obviously. This set of poles will be a rope swing. The one near it is going to be a ladder climber.

Next on the path are the two poles I was most excited about- the zipline!

50 feet apart these poles will have the zipline going over the path. You can see the corner tower poles in the back there. Husband envisions a rustic lookout being built here.

On to the teepee climber. These poles will host a triangle climber structure with the middle left open for the tractor to go through.

This is the exact center of our property and will have a clubhouse tower on it that I intend to put a larger zipline up on when we put the rest of the poles up on the other half of the property.

As you can see we have a lot of plans. Expensive plans. We believe it will take years to finish all of these. This is the back part of our property. We have more poles and more acres to add on to when this half is finished.

Stay tuned because I’ve started building already.