One of the things that I love about my children is that they are so much braver than I ever was as…read morea child. I stand in awe at the risks they are willing to take. Even though the things they do make my hands sweaty, I don't want to stifle their spirit or curiosity, so we often do adventurous things that I would never do when I was a young girl.
One of those things was going on a zipline canopy tour in Bruceton Mills, West Virginia. You're probably thinking, "That's nothing! Ziplining is perfectly safe!" And I'm sure it is, somewhat. But sometimes, I'm still that timid little girl who is afraid to get hurt. And I try to avoid doing anything that requires me to sign a waiver, wear a helmet, be strapped in by trained personnel, be high up off the ground, etc. So, yes, I was being a good mom and taking my kids to do adventurous things, but I let them have all of the adventure while I waited safely on the ground.
Kids can zipline and traverse the canopy tour by themselves as long as they weigh at least 70 pounds. They also have to be able to make it the whole two hours of the tour.
When we visited, it was very cold, and even colder once you get high up in the trees. If you visit on a cold day, bring some thin gloves and a beanie!
The people who do the tours are students at West Virginia University. The three students we encountered on our tour were super knowledgeable and good with kids. They made sure my kids had all of their safety gear on correctly, showed them the basics, made sure they understood how to zipline safely, showed them what to do if they got stuck in the middle of a zipline (ay, dios mio!) and checked in with them throughout the tour. I felt like safety was of the utmost importance to them, which I appreciated.
The canopy tour consisted of four zip-lines, seven platforms up in the trees, an aerial bridge, aerial ladder and a rappel station to exit the course.
It was a fun time! No one died or fell and became paralyzed. (I mean, what kind of paranoid sicko would even think that sort of thing?!) The only thing I would do differently is visit on a warmer day. At the end, my oldest child said he couldn't feel his fingers and he was actively shivering. So, visiting on a warm day would probably make the experience a lot more enjoyable.
