"Let's hear it for Murphy!" was the first cry to well up from a 2-acre sliver of low-lying property bordered by parkland and a parking lot in Savage.
High-pitched hoots and squeals filled the air.
"Who remembers Murphy's dance?" continued guide Andy Brash, playfully inciting 20 fifth-grade girls to gyrate and swivel in reply.
Then a third command rang out from the gathering.
"Don't die, Murphy!" called out one of the revelers to the first girl in their energetic group to bravely tackle the Challenge Course at Terrapin Adventures.
The weeks-old outdoor adventure center, which borders the historic Savage Mill retail complex and Savage Park, played host on a recent Wednesday to classmates who were relishing a mid-week day off from Glenelg Country School.
They were celebrating the 11th birthday of Shelby Patrick of Clarksville, on what appeared to be an overgrown jungle gym.
But there's quite a bit more to the 48-foot-high, four-level course than climbing on playground equipment.
"It's designed to be challenging," said Columbia resident Matt Baker, a former health-care consultant who co-owns the place with his wife, Jeryl.
"The higher you go, the harder it becomes," he said.
As a house painter who did "high work" on the upper stories of homes during his college years, Baker said he doesn't have a fear of heights, "yet, I wouldn't call myself fearless."
For those who do have a touch of acrophobia, this piece of equipment could certainly bring it on.
At the course's zenith are three wooden platforms sparsely strung between two 30-foot-long cables. Called Islands in the Sky, the trembling trio of two-foot-square stepping stones makes up one of 18 different traverses between resting points resembling crows' nests on a ship.
With names like Wobbly Log and Heebie Jeebie, the various crossings are intended to pump up adrenaline, not fear, he said. Guides on hand to supervise climbers can also help with the mind-over-matter aspect, Matt Baker said.
Once the young adventurers' harnesses were hooked to a continuous cable called a belay line, they were free to try all levels at their own pace. Most of the pioneering girls were game for everything, though a few were a bit more cautious.
Aside from the challenge course, there is also a 43-foot climbing tower with a dozen different ascents, a 330-foot zip-line ride through the forest canopy, and an oversized three-person swing which exerts double the force of gravity on its passengers as it plummets back to Earth from its 40-foot apex.
