Before lawsuits, insurance companies, and other things became such a strong part of our society, the Scouts used to allow us to build some cool stuff, this was a tower we did at Camp Lyle one summer, by today's standards it would be hard to impossible to do. I remember making a monkey bridge as a youth and we jumped on that thing till we pulled the anchores out of the ground and it came crashing down, no one was seriously hurt, but we had a fun time. I still remember the laughing we all did at the time. I often look back at that as an adult, and think, what kind of crazy leaders let us do something SOOOO stupid. Someone once said adventure is taking fun to a dangerous point that no one gets hurt and no farther. In this case, we succeeded, but it wasn’t always that way with others, hence why the rules have changed over the years.
"Adventure is taking fun to a dangerous point that no one gets hurt and no farther."
-Tim Falendysz
Wow, what a great observation about some of Scouting's most memorable experiences. The challenge is in minimizing the risk, while maximizing the fun. From everything I've ever heard, T-161's adult leaders did a great job of walking that tightrope.