Back Yard Swing

My kids have been wanting a swing in the back yard/woods for a while, but where we live, the only weight bearing trees are mature trees growing straight up - no horizontal branches anywhere.



The best one I could find was a large branch about 40 feet up on a huge beech tree over the small creek in back of our house. So I got a long rope and a 4x4 piece of wood with a hole drilled in the middle, and decided to make a swing.





The biggest problem was getting the rope over the branch. The rope was too heavy for me to throw that far up, so I tied a rock on string and tied the string to the rope. However, each time I threw the rock, it seemed to fall just short. I was getting frustrated, so I got my daughter's bow & arrow and tied the string to that. It only took one shot to get the arrow & string over the branch- it was like magic. My 15 year old son and I tied the rope and tested the line. It held our weight, but the swing would go over the creek - a lot of fun, but what if they got caught in the middle and couldn't swing back. I decided to have the rope continue through the seat and back to the tree, allowing a safety line.





It's been a big success! The kids love it, and my son has gone on it hundreds of times. It's been a great way to get the kids to spend more time in the woods.

Nice pics. The swing reminds me of my youth in the days before the internet and the xbox. This is the kind of stuff my friends and I used to do. Great memories!

Nice swing man. We had an awesome one growing up. It involved lots of steel cables, ball bearings, and a small ravine. Needless to say it was a very smooth ride.

sweet swing to bad the creek isnt deep enough to dive into off of it.

The creek gets over its banks when it rains really hard, but it's not a time you want to be swinging into it

It sure is a fun place - lots of nature to explore. Just tonight my son was telling me about damage done by the last storm. He wasn't happy that the big dead tree that he's been hacking on and throwing knives & tomahawks into is now down.