After dark
Nighttime adds an extra spark of adventure for Ohio thrill-seekers.
BY JAMIE RHEIN
A
s twilight comes, the rugged cliffs, crevices, and outcroppings at High Rocks Adventure add a sense of mystery to what’s already an adrenaline rush.
With expert assurance, staff member Kayce Swepston guides a lanky teen down a rocky outcropping — the beam of his headlamp illuminating the scene as darkness settles in. Swepston’s husband, Jason, stands below, holding the belay rope as she calls instructions: “Straighten your legs and lean back,” she says. Night rappels are trips into the unknown. “You can’t see the bottom of the cliff, so there’s a lot of trust needed,” says Kayce, a member of South Central Power Company. Sometimes, the trust pays off with even more thrill — one
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time during a solo rappel, with her headlight turned off, a screech owl’s wings brushed silently past her face. Typically, however, the creatures that come out at night are the small kind. Peepers and tree frogs chirp in crescendo, and with just a quick, cursory pass near the base of the rappel, Jason’s flashlight reveals cave crickets, millipedes, and a wolf spider roaming. “You can see its eyes reflect like a cat’s,” he says. When it’s really dark, the lichen texturing the craggy boulders glows, silhouetting the sassafras and black birch trees in an eerie shadow. Sometimes, however, the nighttime sky explodes in a shower of meteors — and August is a particularly good month for them, with the
