From Go Ape I expected to confront a fear of heights. I expected to be awed and to experience things I never had before. Trust me when I say I got all that and surprisingly so much more. My Go Ape adventure started out as an idea over a year ago with my boss and co-workers. We were looking to create a truly memorable team building experience together that got us out of the office and out of our comfort zones.
I should mention, that though I immediately jumped on the “Yes, lets go zip line” bandwagon, I actually had no idea what Go Ape was or what exactly a “treetop” experience meant. And it wasn’t until the final days leading up to the trip that we realized 3 out of the 4 people going had pretty significant fears of heights. But with climbing gloves in tow and a #teamworksmakesthedreamwork attitude we piled into the car an hour late ready to enjoy a day of driving, food, trees and zip lines.
We made our first stop at Milktooth located in Fountain Square in Indianapolis, Indiana (stay tuned for a full review of Milktooth, it’s worth the wait!) for mouthwatering brunch items, to die for pastries and house-made signature cocktails. After we were all good and stuffed we made our way over to Eagle Creek Park.
Go Ape partners with public parks for a location site and provides a percentage of each ticket sale to the parks and preserve partners to reinvest back into their local communities. The very idea behind Go Ape was to find a way that they could give back to their local communities through adventures that were outside and environmentally based. Now they have locations in 14 states, with our local Go Ape hailing in Eagle Creek Park. With almost 4,000 acres of land and 10 miles of paths to explore, Eagle Creek Park is one of the largest city parks in the nation and the largest park in Indianapolis. Located just past the Earth Discovery Center, the Go Ape course offers a 2-3 hour Treetop Adventure.
Though most of the Treetop Adventure is self-guided, you start out the experience with an on the ground walk through of your gear, how it works, how to work it, and to always remember to STAY ATTACHED. After the on the ground walk through, our tour guide walked all of us through a 3 foot high version of what we had gotten ourselves into. Our particular tour guide brought an amazing sense of humor to the walk through that eased a lot of the anxieties and gave you insightful tips that made you feel confident in what you had learned.
After that, they let set you free to enjoy their 5 zip line courses. Throughout the courses there are a challenging combination of rope ladders, tarzan swings, and nerve wrecking treetop crossings. But after it was all said and done I found that I was officially hooked, and immediately wanted to schedule a trip back. I was surprised how my fear of heights lessened as I mastered each course and how empowering it felt being up there. Go Ape’s mission is to inspire everyone to live life adventurously and that life is just better with adventure…and I couldn’t agree more!
-B.
