Becoming
Batgirl
zip-lining
through the dark
By Debi Lander
B
y the time we climbed the
third platform, darkness
prevailed. I couldn’t see
anything in this moonless
night, so thought of myself
as an owl flying towards prey. In this
case, the prey was a distant glow
coming from a flashlight held by the
attendant at the far end of the line.
A brochure from ZipQuest promised,
“Take a short drive to a big
adventure.” For me, the adventure
required a long drive; one from St.
Augustine, Florida up Interstate 95
to North Carolina. But ZipQuest
delivered on adventure.
My 23-year-old daughter and I were
headed to the Outer Banks of North
Carolina, and decided to split our
long journey over two days and
spend the night in Fayetteville,
North Carolina.
I’ve previously let loose my inner
child, feeling jungle breezes whizzing
past my body while zip-lining through
a rainforest. But Laura had never
experienced the Tarzan-like
adventure of flying while clipped to
a steel line. So after dinner, we drove
to Zip-Quest, ranked as one of the
ten great ziplines in the United
States by USA Today. I was intrigued
by the scary fear factor of soaring
in a night forest.
We only needed to arrive about
10 minutes early for our 8:15
reservation, since ZipQuest very
efficiently processes wavier and
release forms via email. We met
our guides and shimmied into our
harnesses and donned hard helmets
which had headlights on the front.
Safety first, the group was given
a lesson and then each person took
a test run on a very short hipline,
barely hovering above ground. We
learned how to slow down, stop and
reverse direction and pull ourselves
in- should we get stuck somewhere
before the end of a run.
As the sun was setting, the group
walked down the trail and climbed
up a platform for our first treetop
adventure. Laura, like the other
newbies, was getting the hang of
the sport: the clipping in and out of
the cable. When she completed her
first aerial zoom, I saw a smile creep
over her face. The second span ran
much longer and faster. Whoa! We
were airborne like eagles.
At this point, darkness had
descended. I couldn’t see anything
in front of me, so conjured myself
into a wise owl and headed toward
that glow at the far end of the line.
Whew, I made it. However, when
I watched Laura swooping in behind
me, she looked more like Batgirl;
confident and on a mission.
To be honest, I personally think
ziplinng in the day is more fun. For
me, the joy is being connected to
nature and the trees. I love perching
in treetops like a bird and peering
below. At night, you miss that
perspective and beauty, but you
do gain the challenge of releasing
your comfort zone, and shall I say,
spreading your wings in the dark.
Facilities at Zip Quest offer fantastic
floating staircases and platforms
anchor VBF