While we were up on the hill, I looked around for another of my favorite rides from my last visit. It was called the Squirrel Cage and I remembered it being up on the hill near Paratrooper. I�ve never seen a ride like this before or since, and I was really looking forward to riding again. At the time I was there, the Squirrel Cages were a light brown color. They were shaped like giant, human sized hamster wheels. I found a trip report from Dave Althoff, Jr. on his website where he describes the Squirrel Cage. He visited in 1999. At that time, the cages had been painted red. Click HERE for a pic of the cages from Dave�s trip.

Here's a quote from his webpage describing the Squirrel Cage (Herschell Looper) better than I ever could:

"For those of you who don't know, a Looper is a Norman Bartlett invention. The ride has, um, I think there are ten sweeps coming out from the center to the platform around the perimeter of the ride. At the end of each sweep is a large wheel, about 5' in diameter, which rolls on the ride platform as the center goes around. Coaxially mounted with the wheel is a passenger tub, which looks rather like a large dryer drum with two seats, facing each other. Riders sit on these seats and are secured with extremely wide (on the order of 6") seat belts which are clamped down to the side of the seat with a no-nonsense cam mechanism. At the center of the tub, where it attaches to the end of the sweep, is a brake mechanism which, when engaged, ties the tub to the wheel, causing the tub to spin about its mounting axis. The brake is operated by a foot pedal in the center of the car, conveniently enough, adjacent to the riders' feet. Moving the pedal in almost any direction...forward, backward, or up...will apply the brake. A loading lever located on the outboard side of the tub, up near the axle and just below the handlebar, is supposed to latch the brake in the "applied" position to serve as a loading brake..." To read the rest of his Trip Report, click HERE.

The Squirrel Cage was one of my favorite rides because it was so unique. Unfortunately, it has been removed, and I'm not even really sure where it used to sit.

We found this guy alone in the middle of a cleared area in the trees. It looked like he used to be connected to some sort of ride, but I didn't remember anything with a dinosaur theme on the hill. It was very odd looking the way every bit of the ride had been removed, except for the lone dino.

Heading back down the hill, we noticed that Colossol Burger was now open. (Several hours after lunch time! Argh!) I love the retro look of the facade. It reminds me of the Hamburglar playground toy from McDonald's when I was a kid.