I'm a little bit tardy in actually posting this, but over the Memorial Day weekend my family went zip lining to celebrate my Dad's Birthday which is actually today. Kind of confusing, I know. The last couple of years, instead of doing the traditional dinner and gifts we have had an experience to celebrate his birthday. Last year we went on a wine tasting tour in the hill country - this year it was zip lining in Wimberley, TX. My parents had previously zip lined through the Jamaican forest on a trip with my dad's company. My Dad told us not to expect that it would be exhilarating but that we would enjoy ourselves nonetheless.
We reserved an the earliest time in order to beat the heat. They started us off on what they call the "bunny" run which is similar to the tamest slopes when snow skiing. We gradually worked our way up to the longest and fastest lines culminating in the "Big Kahuna" which spans 900 feet and provides for speeds up to 30-40 mph they say.
Before you start, they give you the whole spiel about how the lines will support weight up to 5000 lbs and that all of the gear is rigorously tested for safety. I never once even half considered that I was in any danger. Looking back on it though, when you are soaring hundreds of feet above the canyon supported by a couple of straps, a pulley and a one inch line, I probably should have given it a bit more caution Ignorance is bliss, I suppose.
It was a lot of fun. There were a couple of back to back runs where I got going pretty darn fast. Since you are out in the open and flying through the sky with very little to use as reference for how fast you are going, you really dont realize it until you go to stop. The last couple of lines on our way down went through the trees and using the foliage and the ground as a reference, you understand you are going much faster than you thought.
I put together a brief video of our experience. The last part of the video I asked one of the guides to hold the camera for me while he went down. They wouldn't let us do that ourselves but he said they do it for people all the time. I think it turned out pretty good. If you want more information just google zip lining and Wimberley for the website.
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