4C
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, AUGUST 19, 2016
PARTING SHOT FROM JEFF TERHAR / SUBMITTED PHOTO
A weekly snapshot from The Daily Astorian and Chinook Observer photographers
Volleyball players on the beach at sunset in Seaside.
ODDITY
Over the falls
Latest natural
wonder to
add zip line
By MICHAEL HILL
Associated Press
N
iagara Falls is the latest
natural wonder to add
a zip line, offering hon-
eymooners and everyone else
the chance to take an adrena-
line-pumping plunge toward
churning mist at speeds topping
40 mph.
The elevated cable rides
have evolved from a novel
way to explore jungle canopies
to almost necessary additions
to lure tourists in the 21st cen-
tury to established destinations.
It’s a trend that’s exposed a rift
between those who approach
nature like contemplative
monks and others who require
an extreme, Indiana Jones-style
experience.
“We can’t make these into
museums,” argued Tom Ben-
son, co-founder and chief expe-
rience oficer at WildPlay Ele-
ment Parks, which built the
Niagara Falls zip line. “How do
you take a teenager and get them
away from a game console to
something that is going to cap-
ture their imagination?”
Booming popularity
The booming popularity of
commercial zip lines over the
past ive years there are at least
200 in the United States alone
means more people are expe-
riencing nature in a way that
would make Thoreau dizzy.
They can ride above the tree
line at New River Gorge in West
Virginia, over California’s Cata-
lina Island, above lush Hawai-
ian landscapes and in view of
Denali in Alaska.
A zip line ride in Mexico’s
Copper Canyon runs more than
1 miles, one in Nepal has a drop
of 2,000 feet, and another in Sun
City, South Africa, boasts top
speeds of 100 mph.
“You feel all this air rushing
past you, it’s this great almost
roller coaster-esque feeling,”
Quillan Brady said after riding
on the new Eagle Flyer zip line
at Lake George in New York’s
Adirondacks. “But really, what I
think makes it is looking around
and seeing all this natural New
York beauty.”
Circus midway
Niagara Falls-area resident
James Bannister doesn’t quite
see it that way. To him, the new
zip line there amounts to a “cir-
cus midway-style attraction.”
“Every once in a while some-
body comes along and says,
‘Boy, you could build another
great attraction here!’ As if the
falls itself wasn’t enough of an
attraction,” Bannister said.
Zip line fans say it’s still pos-
sible to marvel at nature while
whizzing above it at highway
speeds.
At Niagara Falls, Wild-
Play’s Benson said his four lines
angling 2,200 feet along the
Canadian side of the gorge were
designed to be sensitive to the
local environment.
Catalina Island’s zip line
makes stops for presentations
at designated “eco-stations.”
And riders of the Lake George
zip line who were questioned
after their rides said they had a
new perspective on the natural
wonder.
The owner of the Lake
George line, Ralph Macchio Sr.
(father of the “Karate Kid” actor
with the same name), said he got
the idea for his attraction by gaz-
ing out from atop the majestic
Adirondack peaks.
“I thought, ‘Gee, if you could
look at it like you were lying
like a bird and get that view, that
would be an Adirondack expe-
rience,’” Macchio said. “And
that’s why I built the zip line.”
Photos by Kien Tran/WildPlay Ltd. via AP
Tourists suspended above the water from zip lines make their way at speeds of up to 40 mph toward the the mist of
the Horseshoe Falls, on the Ontario side of Niagara Falls. The overhead cables have evolved from a fun way to explore
jungle canopies to trendy additions for long-established outdoor destinations.
A tourist is
suspended
above the
water at
Niagara
Falls.
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