Jumping off of a Train Trussle

This is one of my Absolute favorite things to do!!! Every year since I can remember my family vacations at Norris Lake in Tennessee. It is so beautiful there with the green glass-like water and its never congested with people. There are a multitude of exciting things that we can do there (many of them will come up later on this blog).

Coming out of the boat dock, we'll pass the 1st trussle (one pictured above) and a little ways farther is the 2nd trussle, practically identical to the first. The only difference is that next to the 2nd trussle is a rock cliff about 15 ft high in the summer that the younger children enjoy jumping off of.

In order to reach the top of the trussle, you have to swim to the far bank and climb up a rocky path full of overgrown weeds. It is a foot-wide path, with a sheer drop to one side and the mountain to the other. Once at the top, a white sign warns you of the possible dangers you could encounter if you were to proceed up the trussle. In addition, if you are caught, there will heavy financial consequences. Once you reach the top of the trussle, there is not turning back, since the path is too dangerous to attempt in reverse.

The most chilling part, at least for me, is having to navigate myself to the middle of the bridge. Having only the cross ties of the railroad to walk on, with each step taken I am privy to the immensity of the plunge to the water. Because of the uneven wood, it is that much harder to remember why on earth I talked myself into leaping from this ridiculously high trussle. The suspense builds with every step that takes you closer to the seemingly bottomless section of the lake, the safest point to dive off.

As for me, when I am about to step off the edge, I indulge delusions that I am not as high up as I really am. Then it all crunches down to that single second where I ignore the voice in the back of my head and inexplicable courage surges through my body, allowing me to take that final step. I shoot through the air with uncanny speed, like a dart reaching its target and I am engulfed by water.

Another aspect that adds to the thrill factor of this is that trains are periodically scheduled to pass through that area. We have a friend who loves to boast and yet never follows through with his claims. He climbed up the trussle swearing he would jump and ended up just sitting there for hours. Off in the distance we could hear the sound of a train approaching and we fervently tried to warn him. Not believing us at first, simply thinking we were only trying to force him to jump , he did not heed our warning. The train rounded the bend and belief flooded his eyes, while he raced back across the tracks the way he had come instead of just taking one step off. Luckily, he just barely made it off the tracks before the train overtook him.

I give this thrill a rank of 9.5. It is so AMAZING so get out there and try it!!!

Paintball

So this summer I finally got the chance to go paintballing. If you haven't ever been yet, it is well worth it.

I went with a group of 9 people from my work, around the ages of 18-22. I've never shot any type of gun before this, so when we get there and they hand me this heavy paintball gun, (that to me looks a little more real than I imagined) it was a little daunting. White River Paintball, the place we went to, is located in Anderson, IN for any who care.

All the fields were outdoor. The first field was called the Fort. The scenario was that half of the group lived in the fort and were protecting it, while the rest of the people had to run in and out of the trees to try and grab a flag in the middle of the clearing. Once they got they flag they had to take it back to their side. Furthermore, they had to complete all this without getting hit by a single paintball.

I first thought that that'd be easy, not to get hit by the paintballs. I mean, there's only 4 people shooting at our four people and the paintballs have a diameter of one inch. Well, when you are the only one who is moving and all four people's gun's are aimed for you, let alone you don't know where your enemies are, it gets very difficult. For all of you scared about whether it hurts or not, well only about 2 out of the 15 times I got hit really caused me pain. It depends upon where it hits you and how close the shooter is to you. Word of warning, if you don't want to get hurt and end up like this guy, make sure you don't take a trigger happy, paintball pro along with you. We had one of those in our group who, just for fun, would run right up to you and shoot you multiple times even after you've yelled that you've been hit.

Overall, it was an amazing experience and I can't wait to get out there and try it again. I would give paintballing a rank of 7. Any fun experiences or disagree let me know.

Scuba Diving

Ok so I personally have never been scuba diving, although I hope to eventually. The information comes from my best friend that I interviewed. She grew up on the beautiful island of Puerto Rico. She was wanting to apply for an internship at the zoo and one of the requirements was to become a licensed scuba diver. So this past summer she went and trained with an instructor on the beaches of Puerto Rico. Here is an account of her experience:

In order to a get a scuba diving license, I first had to read an informational book and then take a test over it. I had to pass the test in order to proceed in the training. Then, I had to complete 5 requirements: basic skills under water, basic retrieving and reviving, how to descend and ascend from the water without damaging my lungs, the practice of different emergency scenarios, and how to communicate with fellow divers under water.

The experience was awesome. It's a big thrill just being able to breath under water. At first it is a little daunting, but eventually you get used to it. Also, the marine life you see down there is beautiful. My tutor, who has been going down there for years, would always feed the fish. Now, they've come to recognize her so when we were down there a huge herd of fish was just following us as we swam. Just imagine a school of fish, 2 feet to 3 feet long, surrounding you as you try to swim along.


In the instructional book, it talks about how seeing a barracuda while your underwater is not at all uncommon. They are usually 3 to 4 ft in length and extremely curious. If they see something shiny, then they will follow it for quite awhile. Luckily I never saw a barracuda, but it was always a big fear.

On a scale from 1 to 10 I rank scuba diving as a 10 although I might be a little bit biased. I just can't think of anything that would be more exciting then scuba diving!

Agree or disagree with the ranking? Leave a comment and get out there and try scuba diving for yourself!

Climb a mountain at midnight with NO flashlights

Ok, just to be clear here, I am talking about a mountain that's not covered with snow. It doesn't have to be very high. Also, every time I've been, we have stuck to the trail so. Be my guest if you want to go and find a uncharted way up some unknown mountain by yourself at midnight, but I think I'll just stick to the ones with bunny trails.

Again this is one of the fun activities me and my cousins do on our family vacations in North Carolina. The mountain we climb is Lookout Mountain, in Montreat, N.C. It's always fun! They have a bunny trail which can get kind of boring in the day and then Suicide Trail (which is now deemed illegal) which is a big thrill all in itself to climb in the daylight. I don't even want to try to attempt climbing it without any light.

Anyways, in the daytime, it's takes a good hour to hike up to the peak of the mountain. Usually we bring one or two flashlights in case of any emergencies. Once we get to the beginning of the trail though all lights are turned off and we wait awhile for our eyes to adjust. We hike up the dirt trail avoiding all the tree roots, rocks, and logs (which are used to make a sort of stairway at points along the trail) which are scatter around everywhere. Going up can get a little boring, so in order to add some spice to the trip, we always try and run back down the same trail, still without any flashlights. This is always my favorite part.

I give this activity a rank of 6 . It's not extreme and out there but I can be pretty scary being in the mountains when it's pitch black, running down the trail. Agree, disagree, or Questions? Leave me a comment.

Midnight Hole

Midnight Hole is located in the Smokey Mountains of Tennessee. Every year my family vacations in Asheville, NC for a big family reunion. We found this place on the internet and decided to try it out. The driving direction will take you down this country road that snakes around in all directions. At the end of that road you will come to a camping area with a parking lot where the Big Creek Trail Begins. Hike 1.5 miles on Big Creek Trail. The hike seems forever long but eventually you'll see a small, rocky opening between the trees, leading down towards the creek and Midnight Hole as seen in the picture. Since the creek is in the Smokey Mountains, the water is freezing cold. That's what makes this such a thrilling adventure!

The red arrows indicate where we usually jump off from the rocks. Although, a few people have gotten to the middle and jumped off right into the waterfall. I personally don't like to jump from there because the water is very shallow at that point and it's very dangerous, but hey if your up for it, be my guest! The main place we jump off of is from where the red arrow on the left is. It is the easiest to get to and you can fit the most people there at one time.

Getting to the rock is the hardest part. The water is about 60 degrees or less but it feels like 0 degrees. The easiest way to get in I feel is to just dive right in. That way you can't back out and you can get the shock of the cold water all over with at once. You then have to swim against the current of the waterfall and make it to the area circled in blue. There is a big rock slab underneath the water here that you can stand on to help you climb up the rock. It's very hard though because the rock is covered with moss and it's very slippery. When standing on top of the rock looking down, the water is so clear that you can see the bottom. I always jump in where the water is foamy from the water fall. Your body falls into the icy water and it feels as if your lungs are frozen (which they probably are). Just keep moving and eventually you won't feel a thing since your whole body is numb. Then just swim back over and jump off again! Watch this video!

On a scale from 1 to 10 I would rank this activity as a 7. It's pretty exciting to jump into a mini waterfall and the whole freezing water factor really adds a lot to it. So get out there and check this thrill out and leave me your feedback on whether you agree with the rank I gave it or not.

Introduction

Welcome to Thrill Seekers, a blog about fun, exciting, and/or dangerous activities that either I or someone I've interviewed has done. Each week I will post a different activity, like sky diving or white water rafting, and share with you my experience or the experience of another person and then at the end of the post, I will rank the activity from 1 to 10 according to how much fun I believed it was. Feel free to comment on the posts to let me know whether or not you believe I am right. Or if you simply want to make a remark about something on there, feel free to. Also, if you have any fun activities or thrills that you've done, let me know. I would love to post them on here.

I picked the topic of Thrill Seekers because I was thinking about all the fun things I've done and was trying to brainstorm about what else I could do. Reading a blog that contained all types of different, exhilarating activities would have been very helpful. This is one of the main reason's I am making this blog, so that all you Thrill Seekers out there don't have to search and hunt for your next activity on your agenda. You can just find it all here on my blog.

You might be asking me, "Who are you to say which thrilling activities are more exciting than the next?" or "How can you be the expert on these things?" Well, I don't claim to be an expert at all and as I said before, when I rank them, it is by how exciting it was to me. People all have different opinions and I would love to hear them. Out of my family, I am usually the most daring and adventuresome. I am always looking for something new and fun to try out. Therefore, I feel like I will have a wide variety of exciting things for you all to explore. So dig in, enjoy, and most importantly, get out there and try some of these things for yourself!