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Exploring the Summit (also taking down tents)

It's official, I have been living here at the Summit in West Virginia for exactly 1 month. A whole lot has happened since I moved in this summer and every bit of it has been extremely exciting. In the past month, I have climbed and jumped off cliffs into the lake at Summersville, I have had exquisite meals in downtown Fayetteville (I still need to make it down to the Secret Sandwich Shop), and I have discovered how people just chill out and relax at the local bar called the Riverman every Saturday night. Another thing that has happened since I moved here; there are so many stars in the sky! Every night around 10 p.m. to 1 a.m., people can just look up at the sky and be awe-inspired by the star cloud of the Milky Way Galaxy.

This week, I did a good amount of work cleaning up after Venturingfest by taking down the tents and rolling them up. I feel it is a very zen-like activity and it passes away the time. I believe I rolled up maybe 100-175 this past week. It was very exhausting, but I stayed determined and I finished up on Saturday morning.

As for my days off, I set out on an adventure filled with High Adventure Activities. On Tuesday, I headed to the Rocks, which is a climbing course deep in the woods of the Summit Property. I race climbed a transfer staff member from Philmont and lost, due to me slipping my grip. I really didn't care. All I wanted was to have fun. It had been a long time since I rock climbed before Tuesday. By the time I finished at the rocks, my forearms were figuratively on fire. In the same area, I did a course called the leap of faith. The leap of faith involves strapping someone to an automatic repelling device on a platform which is 40 feet in the air. The next thing the participant has to do is push the repelling device in front of them while running off the platform. By doing so, you are airborne for 10 seconds before being caught by the repelling line. After, jumping off about 7 times, I headed over to the canopy tour. The canopy tour involves being trapped to a zip line whilst riding down these wires at 40 mph. The rest of the day involved me paddleboarding in the evening.

For Saturday, I headed back to Summersville Lake and really put my climbing skills to the test. The cliffs at Summersville Lake are limestone. Limestone is a very tricky type of rock to climb on. If submerged in water, limestone can be very slippery. When dry, it can take friction, but can also cut your skin. I got a few scratches while climbing the cliffs, but I made it to the top of these 30 to 40-foot cliffs. Mind you, I have no climbing harness on and my only footwear are a pair of wet Keens. The next step in the process is to build up as much courage as you possibly can and jump off from the rocks into the dark blue water of the lake. It is both terrifying and exhilarating at the same time. Next week, we might go to a place called Pirate's Cove where there is a 60-foot jump-off point. Don't worry, I'll be careful.

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