Last Sunday my girlfriend managed to convince me to go ziplining in Spicewood, about 45 minutes west of Austin. I will say right away that I am afraid of heights, to the point that I am not particularly fond of flying and was quite frankly pretty apprehensive about the whole trip. However, she had been wanting to go for a while and I knew I'd get over it...eventually.
We had our tour scheduled for 12:30 and arrived there to find we'd be going with 5 other folks in addition to our guides. 2 of them were a mid-30's girl and her 60+ father would had been there before and were eager to zip again while the other three were a couple not too much older than us and their 9 year old son. We had two guides, one who would zip the line before each of us and give us braking signals while the other guide would follow us. The guides were very patient and knowledge about the local flora and fauna and pointed out various natural features along the tour.
They brief you on zipping procedures and let you go on a short line about 3 feet above ground to familiarize yourself before sending you across the canopy. Gloves on both hands, and right hand on the trolly at all times with left hand on top; the left hand is your "brake" that gently applies pressure to the line (er, steel cable) when signaled to halt your momentum. You are harnessed in the whole time so if you, I don't know, get entirely scared and let go with both hands you won't be in a 50 foot freefall to the ground like I was kind of worried about.
The first line takes you out of a building and onto a platform maybe 25 yards away and then you have to cross an Indiana Jones-style rope bridge to get to the next platform. Then you get to cross another Indy bridge again, albeit backwards...I should mention that they are lines across the bridges too that your harness gets clipped onto so its not as scary as it seems. Now that I've survived both.
The fourth line was about the time I started to feel really comfortable. It is also the longest at about a football field's length and takes you up to the oldest tree in the park. There is a natural, eco-friendly honeymoon suite you can book in the trees by the fifth line but the curtains were drawn so we could not see inside to get a feel for its decor. The sixth line is the last and the guards let you zip it however you want, i.e. backwards, eyes closed, one handed, but I was just going to finish it, nothing special. One more rope bridge and you're done.
It cost $70 and was about two hours in duration and all-in-all I had a great time. I'd recommend it to almost anyone; there were two 75 year old ladies in the groups after us who were being briefed when we returned. I'd definitely go again, but not for a while at least to recoup the cost; lunch afterward at Opie's Barbecue in Spicewood is recommended as well! Apparently there's an outfitter in Wimberley too-we'd probably have to go there before we went zipping anywhere crazy in Costa Rica or anything.
http://s764.photobucket.com/albums/xx285/clea_015/Zipline/http://www.cypressvalleycanopytours.com/canopy-tours.php
