On Rock? Rock on!

It was a humid and sunny day as I looked out over the largest bend in the Ohio River in hundreds of miles. If I took just a few steps forward and I'd fall eighty feet to my death, or I would have if I wasn't tied to a belay and two large trees behind me. Welcome to Van Buren Overlook in Otter Creek Park. "On Belay?" I asked.

My counselor grinned, "Belay is on."

I nervously stepped backwards to the edge and gulped. I could feel the wind blowing on my back and smell the pungent Ohio below. "On Rock?"

My counselor looked at me for a minute. "Rock on!"

The thing most people don't realize about rappelling is how hard it is to make that first step. For one thing, you can't actually see where you're going as you rappel backwards. Another thing is the knowledge that you're scores of feet above the earth when you do. I'd experienced this feeling before when I rappelled a smaller cliff in the park that was about thirty feet, but there is a big difference when you add those extra fifty.

I was with Camp Piomingo and it's important to mention that Van Buren is sort of a sacred place for any Piomingo veteran. Camp Piomingo is a residential camp in Otter Creek Park that offers eight sessions a summer of week-long stays. You're almost always told a story on your first night there called Lover's Leap, a Romeo and Juliet rip-off with an American Indian twist. When it comes time for the counselors acting as Romeo and Juliet to commit "suicide", they jump off the cliff onto a lower ledge that isn't visible when sitting on the top of the overlook. Thus Van Buren has a certain mythical quality to it.

It took a few steps to get adjusted to this new, horizontal world. The rock was slick enough to not provide traction to your shoes but rough enough that when I slipped and hit it, it had no trouble in bloodying my knee. I regained my footing, relaxed and continued. As I did, the adrenaline hit. A couple more steps and I was at an overhang where there was no footing, so I sat in the harness and lowered myself. After this, there was only a little wall left to walk before I hit ground.

I've got to tell you, it's an awesome feeling when you hit ground. I unhooked my carabiners from the belay rope, took off my harness, brushed the rope burn off my shirt and difficultly walked back up the trail to the top of the cliff. When my friends asked me how it was, I explained to them they had to try it. I sat down on VB and helped my friends go down. As we prepared to go to sleep back at our cabin, we each recounted the day's many minor injuries and awesome moments. We will share that experience as friends and fellow campers. The adrenaline, the happiness, the bruises and cuts. All ours.