Repelling in the Desert

One of the great things about living here with boys is the unique opportunities they will have through Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts, such as trips to very cool places. I really don't know much about it and won't pretend to be knowledgeable. But I do want to show you some pictures of one of the trips the Boy Scouts took this year to do zip lines and repelling. This is somewhere in Saudi Arabia, in the southwest area I believe.

They drove out in a convoy of SUVs to a place with a landscape similar to the Grand Canyon. The vehicles were driven to opposing sides of the canyon and somehow hooked together with thick cables to make zip lines. Some of the vehicles just had the cables attached to the hitches (?) and then the kids used the cable to repel down the canyon walls.




Doesn't this look like fun? My first question, after when will Michael be able to participate in something like this (answer being when/if he crosses over from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts), was, "Do the parents get to have a go???"

Apparently they also camped out somewhere in the vicinity of the repelling. Desert camping is a very popular activity here. It sounds really boring, I agree. But friends tell us there is a lot more to do while you are camping in the sand than you think. Fun activities include sand dune skiing, digging for sand roses and geodes, 4wd driving in the sand, etc. I'm not convinced, but at some point I'll probably give it a try. I'd be especially willing if some of this action was involved!