Ontree Adventure Park

A couple weeks ago Kirk and myself decided to go on a date to Ontree. If you've never heard of Ontree, the best way I can describe it is as an obstacle park up in the trees. We went to the one about 30 minutes from where I live at the local ski hill. We got there and could only see a couple obstacles basically on the ground, and a small building. Our first impression wasn't super great, and when we found out it was over $40 bucks each.. We were kind of iffy and unsure if it would be worth it. Eitherway, we had already driven that far and are always open to try new things so we stayed. The instructors helped us get strapped into our safety harnesses, and brought us over to the obstacles on the ground that we had noticed earlier. These turned out to only be used as a training guide.

We were taught how to clip on and off, and how to use our rappelling line. I felt very safe as there is a locking system that prevents coming undone without a key that's located at the end of each course, making it impossible to fall off anything once your carabiners are hooked on.

Here I am on the training course. You can see the 2 carabiners hooked onto the wires, which was the same throughout the course.

After completing the training we were concerned that the instructor would be required to be with us at all times, however we were sent on our way, solo, and told we had 3 hours (but that we probably wouldn't need it all since generally people get tired by then). Once we passed the training area and fully entered the park, we were amazed by just how many courses there actually were! There were many easy ranked ones, medium ones, and a few black diamond (similar to a ski hill design). We started off with some easy ones..

And eventually felt the need to be challenged a bit more. I was impressed by just how different and original each course was. There were also TONS of zip lines within each one you completed, covering a lot of area, even going over rivers. We tried out a couple of the black diamonds, and safe to say - they were tough! My arms sure got a workout that day!

This black diamond was particularly hard because the rock wall was free floating and shook back and forth as you were climbing!

The picture below was another black diamond, the logs swung.. A LOT.

The day ended up being such a great workout, and such a fun date! Before we knew it we were at the 3 hour mark and had to return our stuff. I guess this was a good thing, because like the instructors said would happen, I was exhausted!

Here I am on a black diamond course, looking very focused.. And pretty tired haha.

Overall we both agreed that it was well worth the money. We will definitely be going back as the park was so big we couldn't even complete all of the courses within the 3 hours! We could have stayed longer for a few dollars more, but both of us were tired and starving and pizza was calling our names haha!

If you go, I would recommend bringing your own gloves (I have small hands and mine were pretty lose.. Plus we had to pay extra for them). Also, we had brought snacks (black cherry caffeine bloks yum!) but I forgot them in the car.. Fail. Definitely make sure you have water and snacks handy if you plan on staying all day. Plus layers.. Cause you'll probably get sweaty! Definitely a great autumn date idea if you're an adventurist.. And not afraid of heights ;)

Keep climbing friends,

The Rural Runner