I asked my 14 year old son if he’d be interested in helping to build a challenge course on our property. He has recently gotten interested in his fitness, working out every day on our elliptical machine. I have yet to get on the thing for any extended workout. I prefer to have actually accomplished something after expending so much energy, like getting from point A to point B, lifting something, moving something, climbing something, GOING somewhere. Otherwise I just feel like a bit of an idiot. But when it’s 30 below or raining buckets into a sea of mud, I’ll use it.

But given my preference for practical uses of one’s energy, I’d like to build a boot camp style challenge course on our property. We have about 150 acres of fields, woods and assorted scrub-brush. I’d like to get some jogging trails cut into the hardwoods and set up some challenge stations there. Start small, with simple things like jumping stumps, a climbing/swinging rope, low ropes to traverse, half-buried tires for “hopscotch”, over-under hurdles, etc. Maybe eventually we can add a high ropes course, a climbing tower with auto-belay ropes, cargo nets and all that fancy stuff.

My husband – who is good at thinking of things that I do not – was a little concerned about our liability, having such things on our property. Even is someone is trespassing, if they get hurt goofing around on this equipment, we might be held liable. I think it’s ridiculous, but apparently what I think of it has little bearing on what actually IS. If anyone has any opinions about this, I’d love to hear it.