What better way to recover after a long hike than playing some Mario Kart. Not the video game, but actually being the one driving the Kart. When my dad first proposed the idea of ending that way to me, I said to him, “wait, you want to do it too?” Everything has always been me doing and him watching when it comes to these types of activities so I was shocked.
When we first got in line I was a little sketched out. It was honestly a really long and caught me off guard. The people running the thing said the track was over a mile long. At this point my dad was starting to go back on his word and didn’t want to do it anymore, but I said “how scary could it be?”
After signing our lives away on a few waivers and getting a not-so-well-fitting helmet placed onto our head, we headed to pick a kart that matched our sizes. The instructor explained how to use the things and we got a little push to start, and off we were on the little gravel path on the side of a mountain.
I didn’t think they would be very fast, but man was I wrong. Once we got on the downhill track I took off and was sorta scared, slamming on the breaks. I quickly got the hang of it an took off. Flying through the air with my GoPro strapped to my helmet and the wind hitting against my face. For most of the ride I was focused on the road but every once in a while I would take my eyes off the road and look at the view. It was honestly breathtaking. The height of the mountains made me feel so insignificant on my small little kart.
Halfway thought I learned how to drift on my kart. I started to pick up speed going into a turn, then at the last second turn my kart to the side, slam on the break, and just glide. Nothing has ever felt more fluid and just seamless in my life. The sound of the wheels against the gravel made everything in the moment perfect… and the fact that my dad was so far behind me I couldn’t see him.
At the end of the ride, we hopped off and heard my dad say something I’d never think to hear him say, “When does this close? I wanna go again!”
That sounds like lots of fun. The only go karting I have ever done is indoor. The carts were all electric so they went really fast too.
I’ve only karted indoors, but outdoors seems like much more fun because you can feel the wind and experience nature while you’re racing. It does seem more dangerous though, but I guess that adds to the excitement. And yeah they’re so fast it’s crazy.
This seems so cool and a lot more fun than hiking all the way back down a mountain again. I’m glad your dad decided to do it too! What mountain did you do this at?
Mario Kart was my favorite game on the DS and Wii so I was super excited when I read your title. Doing it in real life seems so cool. The video you got on your go-pro is definitely amazing.