Mosi Skytrail Ropes Course

Mosi Skytrail Ropes Course
Tampa, Florida, USA
Open Everyday
Monday - Thursday: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Friday and Saturday:  10 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Sundays:  10 a.m. - 6 p.m.

After living down the street from Tampa's Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) for four years, it was finally time to mosey on over (yes, I really made that joke) when the Skytrail Ropes Course opened last week.

First of all, MOSI is awesome!  Why did I wait all this time to go there?  Billed as a children's museum, the website makes it seem like if you remember Ronald Reagan, MOSI is not for you.  This is not true.  Walking around the museum on our way to the Skytrail, I was disappointed in myself for not visiting MOSI earlier in my Tampa tenure.  Maybe I'm just a sucker for large dinosaur bones and bicycles that float over open air, but it looked like there was a lot of interesting things to do for people with a few grey hairs.

As for the Sky trail:  For $10 per person, you get to climb on stuff and wander around with the apparent danger of falling, minus the risk of death.  What could be better? 

Waiting in line for my turn to face destiny, I watched people make their way across the swaying bridges.  I couldn't help but wonder why some people appeared to hesitate at every step.
"Do you think it's as scary up there as those people are acting like it is?" I asked Matt.  I mean, honestly, some people are so ridiculous.

It turns out they were not ridiculous.  Despite wearing a belay, walking across a swaying rope that cuts into your all-too-thin sneaker, all while shifting back and forth in the breeze is surprisingly scary.  Previously, I was never impressed with the common adventure movie scenario in which the hero faces a rickety rope bridge which invariably breaks.  I understood the apparent danger, however I never really knew what it was like to walk across something that I wasn't quite sure I should be walking across.  If anything, the ropes course is worth visiting just to gain a greater appreciation of action movies.

The Mosi Skytrail Ropes Course is three stories high, with various types of bridges and ropes and different types of hand-holds, so everyone can test themselves and face their fears.  I have to say, after successfully maneuvering most of the bridges in the course, I felt slightly more confidant in my outdoor abilities.  This is something I don't gain from my usual activities of movie-watching and eating. For ten dollars and an hour of your time, it's a great break from the usual weekly activities.  I would definitely go again!