Earl Plato
A Walk In The Clouds
What lay ahead of us was more than I expected on this clear, bright July morning in the Haliburton Forest Reserve. We had all paid our $65 for the “Walk in the Clouds.” We, the six senior Fort Erieans, were all determined to complete the “Walk.”
There we were standing in a circle as Tom and Kyle, our guides, passed out our mountain climbing gear. Mountain climbing? Yes, we each l received the harness, belt, the two ropes and the two cable snaps. You real mountain climbers know the name for these snaps (karabiners). They are essential to our safety as we will find out to use them again and again. Practice and practice. As usual wife, Elaine, had to help me. With belts and harness tightly on and the two ropes slung over our shoulders we all started the tortuous walk up to the starting station. Roots, many roots, sharp stones, twisted path and no walking stick for me! Elaine had brought hers. Now I am really tired.
We caught glimpses of the walkway up in the pines as we gradually approached our starting place. Are you kidding? The boards on which we were to walk couldn’t be more than ten inches wide! We heard noises above us. No pileated woodpeckers but they inhabited these woods we were told. There were two young men working with drills on part of the lower platform to our left. Working? Was there something wrong with the walkway, I silently thought.
A simulated procedure of what we were to about to encounter was carefully carried out by Kyle and Tom. All of us went through the operation in pairs. I had my capable wife and I glad that I did. She listens and follow instructions better than I do. She took her first cable snap and hooked it on the lower cable then followed with the second one. I had to watch each operation. This was important for safety reasons. I followed next - first one safety snap then the other on the upper cable. We approached our first exchange point, Remember we were still on the ground! Elaine unhooked one fastener and placed it on the next section of cable. Then the second. Remember I did not do anything until she had made the complete exchange. I followed the same pattern only hooking on to the higher cable. We were ready to start up! Were we?
As we looked up we saw section after section of narrow walkway stretching off higher and higher. Seventeen sections in all up to a height of 70 feet! 17 sections with four safety snaps to be transferred at each new section. That’s 68 unhooks and resnaps! Got the picture?
Writer’s Note: Unfortunately the Toronto skilled canoeist who sat by me on the way over found that the height was too frightening and rather than go on decided to come back down. She said to us, “I’ve skydived four times but this is different.” Better that she decided then than 50-60 feet into the canopy.
Next: No turning back