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Ohio zipline course provides thrill seekers with fun and excitement
By Bob Downing
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Sunday, Sep 20, 2009
ROCKBRIDGE: Tarzan has it all wrong.
Vines are so passe. So dated. So uncool.
Ziplines are the newest and hottest way to get from tree to tree.
One place in Ohio where you can fly through the trees is at Hocking Hills Canopy Tours. The company, in its second year, will take you — at speeds up to 40 miles an hour — over 10 ziplines through the treetops. There are also five sky bridges that connect parts of the course.
It is one of about 30 zipline courses in the United States. And dozens more are on the way.
The sport blossomed in Central America as a way to explore the jungle canopy. There are an estimated 400 courses around the world, including 175 in Costa Rica alone. They are popular in Hawaii and the West and are spreading to the Midwest and East.
The Rockbridge course is the older of two Ohio courses. It opened in 2008. The Ozone Zipline Adventures at Oregonia in Warren County opened this year. Also new this year was Tree Tops Canopy Tours in Lansing, W.Va., at the New River Gorge.
The courses are popular with families, not just thrill seekers. They are fun, exciting and not scary, though they take a little verve, a little daring.
The Rockbridge course sits along the Hocking River between Lancaster and Logan at the edge of Southeast Ohio's Hocking Hills country. That's 40 minutes southeast of Columbus off U.S. 33 in Hocking County, less than three hours from Akron.
The 10 ziplines, set in the woods next to a golf course, together cover about 3,300 feet. The longest zipline is 572 feet; the shortest, about 200 feet.
On a few of the ziplines, you can't see your destination through the heavy leaves and it is a little unsettling to zip off to who knows where.
You are up to 73 feet off the ground, although you are constantly clipped onto galvanized steel cables attached to the trees at the wooden platforms where you land, or cables atop the bridges.
The company was formed by three couples after two of the couples had run a zipline course in Alaska, said spokeswoman Julieann Eckel. The plans were finalized at a football tailgate party at Ohio State, she said.
The course on 53 acres was designed and built by Michigan-based S.T.E.P.S. Bonsai Design LLC and was created as a canopy tour, not just a zipline course, she said.
The guides go through heavy training and are certified by the Illinois-based Association for Challenge Course Technology, a trade group working to upgrade safety and training, Eckel said.
Three-hour trips
Hocking Hills Canopy Tours is taking up to 250 people per day on the guided three-hour trips.
Our group consisted of nine paying customers and two guides: Shawn and Tess. They welcomed our group and got us fitted with the gear: safety helmet, work gloves, a chest harness and a hip harness, a pulley-like metal block called a zip trolley that is attached to your chest, and a set of lanyards with clips.
The trolley is what attaches you to the zipline and you end up in a sitting position. The lanyard clips are then attached to the trolley. You put both hands atop the trolley and you're ready to go.
The only brake the passengers control is using a gloved left hand on the cable to slow down.
After Shawn and Tess got the gear on everyone, they took us to a small station — a sort of ground school — to show us how they would attach us to the cable and how Shawn would raise both arms from his body when it was time for customers to brake.
We also got a chance to zip about 30 feet for the first time and to haul ourselves hand over hand up the cable.
Then our team hopped aboard an ATV and got a short ride to the course, which began with one of those less-than-steady up-high bridges of steel cables and wooden slats. As someone not overly comfortable with heights, I was fine on the ziplines but less comfortable on the bridges that connected parts of the course.
On the course, Shawn would head down first to greet us at the next wooden platform.
Tess would hook up the customers one by one and send them down the zipline after hearing from Shawn on the hand-held radios that it was clear.
Shawn would then unhook people from the zipline and attach their lanyard clips to cables around the tree, so that everyone was safe on the wooden platform, which often got a little crowded with 11 people.
When you are on the ziplines, you are, obviously, moving fast. The sensation is pretty cool.
You are watching out for Shawn's braking signal and if your legs are long, remembering to raise them as you approach the platforms to avoid painful and unwanted legs-on-wood collisions.
Your speed is determined in part by your weight. The heavier you are, the faster you fly. A wet cable is faster than a dry one. If you scrunch your body into a cannonball, you will fly faster.
It really was an aerial tour through the canopy, flying over ridges and gulleys and caves and along the river. The scenery is pretty but that's not why people go zipping.
We also had our obligatory photo stop, where a company photographer took pictures of everyone at the end of one zipline, crossing a bridge and a group photo sitting on a rock. You pay extra for the photos, of course.
Back on earth
The route ends on a platform about 20 feet off the ground. You grab a rope attached to a friction block and slowly (and easily with the guides' directions) lower yourself to the ground.
Then it's back on the ATV for the ride back to the clubhouse to return the gear, get a certificate, tip your guides and perhaps buy your souvenir photos or T-shirts.
The flying season in Hocking County runs daily during daylight hours from April into November. It is open daily the first week in November and then only on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays for the rest of the month.
The price is $85 for adults. Children 10 to 15 fly for half price on Tuesdays and Thursdays — one youngster per paying adult. Discounts are available on weekdays for groups of eight or more. The minimum age is 10. Children 10 to 15 must be accompanied by an adult.
The zipline course is designed for people of average mobility, fitness and strength who are in reasonable health. No pregnant women are allowed. The minimum weight is 70 pounds; the maximum is 250 pounds. Closed-toe shoes are required.
Wear comfortable clothing. Shorts are acceptable, but Daisy Duke short-shorts — that's the way the telephone receptionist described the issue to me — are not.
Leave wallets and valuables in your car. The guides will secure vehicle keys before you depart.
Your camera will be strapped to your body, although getting it in or out of pockets may be difficult because of the harnesses.
For reservations and information, call 740-385-9477. You can also check out http://www.hockinghillscanopytours.com or http://www.zipohio.com. Write to 10714 Jackson St., Rockbridge, OH 43149.
To get to Rockbridge from Akron, take Interstate 76 west to Interstate 71 in Medina County. Take I-71 south to Columbus. Follow signs for Interstate 270 toward Wheeling. Go past the exit for Wheeling and head southeast on U.S. 33. At Rockbridge, look for a Valero gas station on your left. Turn left. Just past the station, you will turn right at the entrance sign. Proceed up the hill. Check in at the clubhouse.
Note: The company does not recommend MapQuest for directions within one mile of the course.
The course is also home to a tree-climbing program, EarthJoy. For information, call 740-385-9477 or go to http://www.treeclimbingkentucky.com.
For Hocking Hills tourist information, call 800-462-5464 or go to http://www.1800hocking.com. For information about Ohio's Ozone Zipline Adventures, call 513-932-3756 or check http://ozonezips.com. For information about the West Virginia course, call 877-811-5321 or go to http://www.newrivergorgecanopytour.com
Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.
ROCKBRIDGE: Tarzan has it all wrong.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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Canton, OH
Posted 08:23 PM, 09/21/2009
Not for me, dude. . .
