{"id":1315,"date":"2015-07-29T21:55:03","date_gmt":"2015-07-30T05:55:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.prwriterpro.com\/blog\/?p=1315"},"modified":"2015-07-29T21:56:43","modified_gmt":"2015-07-30T05:56:43","slug":"zip-zip-hooray","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.prwriterpro.com\/blog\/alaska-news\/zip-zip-hooray\/","title":{"rendered":"Zip Zip Hooray"},"content":{"rendered":"

Zip lining, like sky diving,\u00a0has never been high on my bucket list of adventures. I just didn’t see the attraction of dangling from a cable and whizzing above, or through, trees at 35 MPH. Rather than a bird’s-eye view of a forest, I prefer a\u00a0shrew’s-eye view, meandering along, often\u00a0traipsing\u00a0on my hands and knees, smelling\u00a0wild flowers, picking wild berries\u00a0and scouting\u00a0for mushrooms and\u00a0mosses to photograph. Mushroom meandering is my favorite fall past time when the floor of the<\/span> Tongass National Forest<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>spews forth\u00a0its annual<\/span> mushroom eruption<\/a><\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

One of my favorite mushrooms haunts is on Douglas Island amid the\u00a0ruins of the once prosperous Treadwell Mines complex. Many of the ruins are just below\u00a0Alaska Canopy Adventures’<\/a> <\/span>zip lines and sky bridge.\u00a0I often thought, “I should try zipping,” but never thought about\u00a0it once I left the forest. Recently however, one of my Gastineau Guiding co-workers mentioned she\u00a0once worked\u00a0for Alaska Canopy Adventures and suggested I give it a try.\u00a0“You will love it.” \u00a0Love it? That’s \u00a0a stretch, but then\u00a0thought I should at least try it once. So I did.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\"Aleta<\/a><\/dt>\n
I can fly!<\/span><\/strong><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

My decision to zip with<\/span> Alaska Canopy Adventures<\/span> in Juneau was the right choice, so much so I am looking forward to other opportunities to zip line.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The equipment, staging area, bathrooms, launch platforms and lines were well maintained and in safe condition.\u00a0I checked closely. The staff was professional, courteous and patient. We had a woman in our group who was afraid to launch, but after some tactful encouragement from our guides, Marcus and Miriam, she zipped off confidently and playfully. <\/span><\/p>\n

I never thought much about soaring on a zip line and\u00a0expected to\u00a0be\u00a0speeding along on\u00a0just one line, but Alaska Canopy Adventures has multiple platforms and a mile of lines, some 600 feet long, rising 185 feet above the forest floor. I\u00a0was pleased to learn\u00a0that the\u00a0excursion starts with a short “practice run” to ensure guests\u00a0know how to launch and land, and what to do if\u00a0one falls short of the landing platform, which happened to me.<\/span>\u00a0The\u00a0zip segments start out short and gradually get longer. Overall, I was feeling pretty\u00a0comfortable\u00a0by the time I graduated from the orientation platform to the \"Zipline<\/a>actual course. I thank Marcus and Miriam for my confidence. They are good instructors and amiable partners. <\/span><\/p>\n

Billed as Alaska’s Ultimate Canopy & Zipline Expedition<\/a><\/span>, the 3.25 hour adventure\u00a0<\/span><\/span>begins with a\u00a0jet boat ride from downtown Juneau to Douglas Island where guests disembark on the beach. Guests return to town the same way. After the equipment fitting and safety briefing, guests are transported to the orientation platform in an\u00a0all terrain truck. The\u00a0truck trip includes an introduction to the\u00a0temperate rain\u00a0forest\u00a0and historic gold mining ruins and relics.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"IMAG0713\"<\/a>
The zipline adventure includes a walk over a sky bridge.<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Because I have exhaustingly explored the history and ruins of Douglas Island, and because I lead whale watching excursions, the jet boat and 4×4 ride were a mediocore experience for me, but\u00a0my fellow zippers\u00a0were much more engaged. For me, the actual zipping was the highlight.\u00a0Sure, the\u00a0zip\u00a0speed and wind in my face\u00a0had my adrenaline pumping, but the serenity and silence of the forest were calming and my favorite part of this adventure.\u00a0Admittedly, I didn’t\u00a0“sight see”\u00a0the first couple\u00a0segments,\u00a0preferring to concentrate\u00a0on making it to the landing platforms, but toward the end I did look down and take in the forest from a\u00a0different perspective.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I will say that I was overly cautious about slamming into the landing platforms and pulled up short several times requiring Marcus to reach out and pull me to the platforms. Once I stopped so short I was out of reach, dangling\u00a0more than 100 feet up, 20 feet short of the platform. Marcus and Mariam\u00a0warned us\u00a0that this could happen and what to do about it. I followed Marcus’ directions to spin around and pull myself to the platform hand-over-hand until he could grab me. Easy.<\/span><\/p>\n

I highly recommend this Juneau adventure, but keep in mind that\u00a0height, weight\u00a0and health restrictions apply, so check out Alaska Canopy Adventures’<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0website before booking this adventure. Cost for zipping through the Douglas Island rainforest start at $189, but\u00a0a discount may be available.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"I<\/a>High-5 to the entire Alaska Canopy Adventure crew: Dock Rep Chelsea, Captain Chris, Operations Manager Derek and guides Kathryn, Marcus and Mariam.<\/em> <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2666\u2666\u2666\u2666\u2666\u2666\u2666\u2666\u2666\u2666<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0All text or photos copyright by Aleta Walther\u00a0<\/strong>
\nor respective copyright holders, 2015<\/strong>
\nNaturalist, Outdoor Excursion Guide, CIG, CTA, ATG<\/b><\/span><\/b><\/strong>
\n<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/b>CONTACT: <\/span><\/strong>\u00a0aleta@prwriterpro.com<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Zip lining, like sky diving,\u00a0has never been high on my bucket list of adventures. I just didn’t see the attraction of dangling from a cable and whizzing above, or through, trees at 35 MPH. Rather than a bird’s-eye view of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1319,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[22],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.prwriterpro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1315"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.prwriterpro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.prwriterpro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.prwriterpro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.prwriterpro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1315"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"http:\/\/www.prwriterpro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1315\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1370,"href":"http:\/\/www.prwriterpro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1315\/revisions\/1370"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.prwriterpro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.prwriterpro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.prwriterpro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.prwriterpro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}