Swallow Cliff... sledding...
That was prob a blast. Have you ever been to Shelbyville? Growing up in Pana, we'd go to the Shelbyville Dam every winter. Frickin fun and crazy. Last time I was there 12yrs ago or so, a friend and I cleared the bottom road on a 36" tube!! lol
No, haven't been to Pana.
I just hate to see the old toboggan slides gone. They were great! If you see from the one picture looking down, that was pretty steep. They were a tradition around here since the '20's. Part of why they were not redone is there were 5 lawsuits since '94 from people getting injured. It's a shame that so many people are sue happy nowadays that now we can't have things for everyone to enjoy.
They weren't that dangerous. The person in the control tower at the top would not let the gate down until the other people ahead of you were off the track out of the way, and all of your riders were properly loaded with your legs wrapped around the guy in front of you and no hands or legs hanging off. Then there was a bridge at the bottom above all of the lanes that you went up on to get off the tracks and back to the parking lot.
It would also be cooler if they would let them sled down the whole hill instead of just the bottom half... It's great exercise for the kids, and they don't even realize that they are exercising as they are having too much fun sliding down the hill.
During the summer, there is a crowd there just climbing the steps. They are flagstone and different heights (on purpose) which gives a great workout. The die hards claim that it is harder than a stair master. Go up one floor in your house and count how many steps it takes to get to the second floor in your house. Now divide 125 by that number of steps, and that is how many stories high the stairs are. 125 stairs to the top... Pant, pant, pant....
Here's a picture showing the bridge at the bottom of the slides so you could exit the track so the next person can go.
View attachment Swallow Cliff Toboggan slides_2.jpg
