Last week I wrote a blog for Black Rock Oceanfront Resort about a Zipline Eco Adventure Tour I took with my sister outside of Ucluelet on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Here is the post:
The water in the Kennedy River was high and raging as I soared above it, like a bird flying over waterfalls and between the high stone walls that make up the Kennedy River Canyon. All I could hear was the sound of moving water and my zipline trolley whizzing along the cable that brought me from one cliff edge of the canyon, over the river and onto another.
I was on the Zipline Eco Tour with WestCoast Wild Adventures, just east of Ucluelet in the Ha’uukmin Tribal Park. We arrived at their base camp and were transported up Highway 4 in to start the tour. The tour consists of 6 ziplines. Our guides walked us through the old-growth forests of the park between each line, explaining the natural history and the First Nations history and culture in the area.
The zip-lines go through the canyon that has been carved deep by the Kennedy River which runs into Kennedy Lake and eventually into the Pacific Ocean. At each zip our guides hooked us up to the line at a metal platform; most of them peer over the steep edge of a cliff overlooking the wild river below it.
“It’s the most fun if you run to the very edge of the platform and leap off!” said our guide after double checking my 5-point harness and securing my trolley to the line…and that’s what I did.
It was exhilarating and maybe the closest feeling I’ve had to actually flying. The mountain air was cool on my face and carried my laughter through the canyon as I approached the landing point. When I made it to the landing platform I was all smiles.
“Wait until you go on zipline number 4,” said our guide, “that one is my favourite.”
Eventually we zipped our way back to the base camp. The last zipline runs along a widening and calmer section of the river. I spun backwards in my harness and flipped myself upside down. The river and forest sped passed me as I looked up at the clearing sky.
This last zipline dips below and under a bridge that was once used for logging those parts of the forest many years ago. There were spectators on the bridge, already geared up and wearing helmets ready to go on their tour.
“How was it?” one of them yelled down at me from their viewpoint after I had landed.
With a massive grin on my face I shouted back, “It was AWESOME!”
