A light mountain breeze wends its way through the leafy canopy, dispersing some of the summer heat. The air is fresh, and around you life bristles and buzzes blue above, green all around. A long deep breath feels good. Being outside in open spaces, you feel alive. Your family or friends are with you. You’re all tired of the same old thing. You want to challenge yourself, to feel some real excitement in your life, and you’re sure that zip lining will fit the bill.
So here you are standing on a platform 300 ft above the ground about to launch yourself down a 3,000-foot cable that looks sturdy and strong just above your head, but as you look down the line toward the bottom platform, it seems to dwindle into a thread of spider’s silk before disappearing entirely into the trees.
Now you’re sweating, but not from the summer heat now your nerves are starting to get, well, nervous. Your stomach decides it’s time to start butterflying and before long your heart is thumping heavily, as if it wants to escape its doomed host.
You look down the line once more and despite the friendly sun and the easy chatter of others around you, you’re convinced that the line does become spider-silk thin and as soon as you’ve screamed half way down the cable, it will snap. Suddenly this fun and exciting outing seems like one of stupidest things you’ve ever done, except for that one time you almost went skydiving. So what’s it going to be: stay and zip, fight or flight? All I can do is tell you what I did.
I wanted to spend some time with my son, quality time, father and son bonding over something that requires signing a waiver, you know, just normal stuff. I may have been a bit nervous, might have questioned this particular life choice, but I wanted to challenge myself, push through my fear of heights and not look mousy to my offspring. So, being the fearless and intrepid adventurer that I am, I endeavored to push down the rising fear, tried to quash my body’s natural warning system, alerting me to the fact that what I was about to do, to voluntarily and with forethought do, could very well be my undoing.
Nonsense, I, captain of my fate, retorted, desperately trying to ignore the abnormal amount of sweat streaming from forehead to feet. Hadn’t a little girl recently sailed down the line full of smiles and giggles? I took a deep breath, looked over at my 15-year-old son, who in my terror I’d somehow forgotten was hooked on the second of the parallel lines, and smiled one of those reassuring dad smiles. He beamed a smile back, which was actually more of a smirk.
I rallied. There was no way I was going to let my son out-brave my bravery. I appealed to reason and probability. My body harness had been checked and secured. I knew this. The course is regularly maintained, inspected for safety, the crew is trained, and has made the trip hundreds of times. I knew this as well. Hundreds, thousands of people had done this and they’d had a great, exhilarating time. The appeal was weak, but the time had come.
With her walkie-talkie, our guide confirmed with the down-slope platform that everything was a go, and asked if we were ready. My son, who was clearly neither afraid or even nervous, sounded off with a confident, “Yes!”
She said, “Okay, you’ll go on three. One, two-”
“Hold on, wait a minute,” I said. Are you sure my harness is tight enough and secure.”
To which she replied with a slight laugh, “If I touch it again will it make you feel better.”
That was my cue to get a grip and man up, so I prepared to let fate take charge. One, two, three and my son and I bounded off the platform 300 feet above ground and almost instantly we both began laughing and yelling, and my fear turned into absolute fun. With wind and smiles on our faces we flew at 60 mph over half of a mile (that’s 10 football fields). Gravity and friction, plus the great crew, brought us to a safe and easy stop.
It was a priceless day of joy, adrenaline, high-fives, laughs, and time with my son in the simple beauty of the mountains, and it was worth all the nervousness, fear, sweat, and not a little mockery this old adventurer had to endure.
I think Kurt Damron, CEO of Highlands Aerial Park, expressed it perfectly. “People are yearning to get outside and be disconnected from modern-day life and being electronically tethered to technology and social media.” He added, “As humans we’re wired to be outside and experience the outdoors, and this generation gets so little of that.”
You might think that zip lines are something new, but versions of them have been used for hundreds of years in many countries around the world. They were used to transport people, goods, and materials over rivers and rugged and mountainous terrain. However, zip lines as we know them today were first used to study the jungle canopies of Costa Rica in the 1970’s, but weren’t popularized and used recreationally until the 1990’s. Today their popularity is growing and there are several hundred in the US alone.
My son and I had our daring endeavor at Off the Grid Mountain Adventures in Elizabethton, Tennessee. Owner Monie McCoury and his crew were great. He welcomed us with a huge smile, a few jokes, and made us feel comfortable and right at home. Of course at home I don’t have three zip lines, including a monstrous 3,000-foot dual zip line, giant gravity swing, stunt-bag jump, or go-kart track.
McCoury goes on to say, “If that’s not enough adrenaline, we have a 60-foot tower in the sky which is also a part of your zip tour. You can zip back out, belay down, or for those that dare, take the leap of faith. A tether is attached to your harness and you walk the plank, step off, and freefall 20-plus feet before a quick jump device kicks in and lowers you safely to the ground.”
By the way, if you’re feeling exceedingly hyper brave you can try the Jebel Jais Flight, which according to Guinness World Records is the longest zip line in the world. It is 9,290 feet or 1.75 miles, and it’s possible for riders to reach a speed of 93 mph. It is located at Jebel Jais, in Ras Al Khaimah, UAE, and was opened on January 31, 2018.
Zip Line Companies
To help in the search for your ideal zip line adventure, we’ve included a small sampling of zip line companies, encompassing most of the Southern Appalachians. This is by no means an exhaustive list. There are numerous great companies out there to discover. While our focus has been on zip lines, most companies have many other onsite activites as well, such as sky bridges, giant swings, climbing, rappelling, kart racing, ATV tours, nature walks, among many others.
Red River Gorge Zip Lining
Campton, KY
606.268.9376 · 606.268.1272 • redrivergorgezipline.com
Zip lines: 5, including
2 side-by-side racing lines
Longest line: 1,900 ft | Highest line: 300 ft
High Gravity
Blowing Rock, NC
828.266.0176 • highgravityadventures.com
Zip lines: 5
Longest line: 1,000 ft
Navitat
Barnardsville, NC
855.628.4828 • navitat.com/asheville-nc
Zip lines: 9
Longest line: 3,600 ft | Highest line: 350 ft
Off the Grid
Elizabethton, TN
423.707.6022 • offthegridmountainadventures.com
Zip lines: 3
Longest line: 3,000 ft (dual line)
Highest line: 300 ft
Highlands Aerial Park
Scaly Mountain, NC
828.526.8773 • highlandsaerialpark.com
Zip lines: 8
Longest line: 1,550 ft | Highest line: 250 ft
Anakeesta
Gatlinburg, TN
865.325.2400 • anakeesta.com
Zip lines: 3
Total length: 2,600 ft
Wears Valley Zipline
Sevierville, TN
865.428.1545 • wearsvalleyziplines.com
Zip lines: 8
Longest line: 2,000 ft
Highest line: 300 ft
Nacoochee Adventures
Helen, GA
706.878.9477 • nacoocheeadventures.com
Zip lines: 7
Longest line: 2,500 ft
Highest line: 100 ft
ACE Adventure Resort
Oak Hill, WV
877.787.3982 • aceraft.com
Zip lines: 9 dual lines
Longest line: 800 ft
Highest line: Over 100 ft
Hungry Mother Adventures Zip
Marion, VA
276.781.0780 • hungrymotheradventures.com
Zip lines: 5