NO Adventure

This was one of the dumbest things I’ve done in recent history. Out of desire to “do it,” I climbed to the base of this antenna tower over water. Really stupid. First off, while trying to set the anchor rope on the tower, the guide rope(a skinny cord kinda like a drawstring on a laundry bag) got jammed up in the steel on whoknowswhat.

Yeah, I know I may look like I’m having fun, but I’m actually terrified of what I have to do. The current was a little strong going out to sea, so I had to moor up my boat and hitch into my climbing equipment for the rope ascent. I also decided to rock a life jacket(for once) in case the jammed anchor rope became un-jammed and I splashed into the brackish water with a bunch of ropes and metal attached to me.

I’m off. I had to get my feet wet(I wasn’t planning on it). Notice the water dripping off the figure eight on the back of my harness.

Success! I made it to the top and saw the tiny rope that was holding me(not the one I climbed, but the little string you can barely make out in the photos).

I couldn’t really enjoy the view from the top, because I was too busy trying to think of how I would answer the Coast Guard’s questions. This is not something I wanted to do, I was merely retrieving my stuck rope. Now it was time to work on my descent. I crossed the concrete bar on foot to the other side of the tower base.

Time for danglin'(again)! I made a MacGuyver-style “loop ladder” to climb down. Sweet socks, dude! I bet those boys felt awesome soaking-wet in January.

Mission: accomplished! Afterwards, it was easy to smile about the events that transpired that day. I learned alot of lessons – most importantly, “it’s not illegal if you don’t get caught.” Notice my wet pants(only most of that is urine).