Ziplining in Gatlinburg – Fun Adventure

Until our daughter mentioned it I had no idea what a zipline was. After Karen explained it to us, something about hanging in trees and zipping around like a dememted Tarzan, I said "sounds like fun, why dont you make a reservation and go". She made reservations for three, Karen, her Mother and Me. Me? I'm too big, too old, too gray, not tipsy enough. Any excuse will work. Daughter Karen would not take no for an answer so on Sunday morning we got up early for a Family Adventure flying thru the trees in the Smoky Mountains.

I know that I've done tougher things but I really can't remember when. (Did that just sound like a Johnny Cash song?) After we arrived things started happening. A check list was called out: Harness, Helmet, nothing in your pockets...no ID? In a forest with bears, snakes and wolves? No cellphone? This doesn't sound good Tonto. All this went thru my head for about 30 seconds, after that my comfort level began to rise.

What changed me from near panic to "this might be really cool"?  It was the staff. Nick and Brett were our guides and Makella was the photographer who tried in vain to take pictures that were at least somewhat flattering. The staff was professional and easy going. They explained everything several times and demonstrated what we needed to do before we tried it.  They even have some code words so we didnt feel too skinny or fat: Alpha (small people and children) Betta (normal sized people) Gamma (for us big and chunky folk). I didnt know Gamma was Greek for Fat.

We did several lines, walked on a rope and wood slat bridge and rode a standing swing. The fear went away kind of like the second or third dring at happy hour.

Before we knew it the entire thing was over and we were back on the short bus (there is a joke in there somewhere) back to the Zipline Office.  At the office we turned in our rigging and helmets in return for our personal belongings. The staff told us how good we were and made everyone feel great. You were certainly not pressured but if you wanted to there were t-shirts, CD's of your trip and some other goodies available and you could always sign up to do it again. I opted for an early start to Happy Hour.

The Zipline trip must have been fun because were are still talking about it. If you ever get to Gatlinburg I hope you set some time aside to Zip thru the mountains.