Longtime onbalance readers may remember my blog post about my family adventure to Cypress Valley Canopy Tours. This company had some damage in the 2011 wildfires, fortunately, the owners’ home and other buildings were saved. The canopy course is nearly back to full function.
For Central Texas zipping enthusiasts, there is more good news: Lake Travis Zip Adventures opened in late July 2011. I’ve been to LTZA three times already, with my most recent visit being last week. I gave my parents, brother, sister-in-law, and husband gift certificates to LTZA for Christmas last year. We finally redeemed them, and what a beautiful autumn day we chose to do so.
Our adventure began with a short boat ride from a marina to the zipping location on the opposite shore of Lake Travis. Central Texas is in an extreme drought right now, and with lake levels continuing to drop, the boat ride may not be necessary much longer! It was simultaneously depressing and fascinating to see so much of the lake bed exposed.
There are seven zip lines on the property, which is located on the shores of Lake Travis in the Balcones Canyonland Preserve. Most tour groups do only five zip lines, as one is a training line and one is the equivalent of a bunny slope. The five lines we did were fantastic, ranging in zipping time from about thirty seconds to over two minutes. Several of the lines go over inlets of Lake Travis, and it was a thrill to zip through the trees and then pop out over the water.
The final zipline is a tandem (side-by-side), so zippers can race one another. I think my husband’s 60 pound weight advantage was definitely just that.
The zip lines are only part of the adventure, though. The owners have taken great care to make very nice cedar trip trails between the zips. While there isn’t much need for fitness to do the zipping, some of the hiking between zips got some of the folks huffing and puffing pretty well on the crisp, sunny morning of our visit. Even with the drought, there are some pretty vistas along the way.
Our guides shared information about the history of the area and tidbits about the flora. Even with ten people in our group, the tour was very relaxed and casual—safety was always first, though, and we were very well taken care of. Michelle and Dave were excellent guides.
There are special Full Moon Zip Tours which sound like great fun—glow sticks, head lamps, and zipping through the trees. Date night, perhaps?!
Zip on!
Lake Travis Zip Adventures did not compensate me in any way for writing this post.
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