Who would have thought that stringing a cable from one tree to another, in a skewed catenary curve, would be so much fun? People did not always use ziplines for recreational purposes, in fact, supplies, goods, and individuals used ziplines in order to access remotely accessible terrains. In order for a zipline to work it needs to descend on a slope. If the cable was placed between two trees in a straight line then gravity and inertia would pull you towards the ground and you would never make it to the other side. This is why it is important that the line is placed in different heights of the end points because in order to start moving the line must be steeper or there must be less friction.
Sonoma Canopy Tours:
There are a lot of different ways you can enjoy Sonoma County but one of the most exciting ways is to let Sonoma Canopy Tours guide you through the woods in their own unique way. We chose to join them in their classic adventure which consists of 7 ziplines, 2 sky bridges, 1 spiral staircase, and 1 rappel. The 5th zip line is 800 feet long. The highest you will ever get is 300 feet above the ground on your 3rd zipline, perfect way to get a birds eye view of the beautiful Coastal Redwood forest. This experience will definitely get your adrenaline pumping, far better than an amusement park with minimal impact on nature.
The tour lasts 2 1/2 hours. Before you will do anything you will get a chance to practice and learn the rules and practice safe ziplining. This made me feel much better and more confident about our experience.
There are 8 people in a group with 2 guides. The guides are so incredible and helpful. I recommend that you feel somewhat comfortable with heights if you decide to go on a canopy tour because after the second zipline I wanted to get off but my incredible hubby reassured me that I would be okay and that I could do it. When I finished the classic course experience I was so glad that I completed it and now can’t wait for our next canopy adventure.
You have to be 10 years old, weigh at least 70 pounds, but no more then 250 pounds in order to do the Canopy Tour.
You can reserve your Canopy tour at www.sonomacanopytours.com or by calling 1-888-494-7868
Moaning Cavern Adventure Park:
If you’ve ever wanted to do something cool and exciting for your birthday then come to Moaning Cavern Adventure Park because you can zip line, cave rappel, or do the guided tour for free, all you need is your birth certificate. Peter turned 14 last Sunday and we came wanting to cave rappel but were not able to because Peter is not 100 pounds yet. He was able to zip line and had such a blast doing it. This zip line is defiantly a great choice if you’ve never done zip line because you don’t have to do anything. There is two zip lines next to each other and you could do a race to see who gets there first. Esther and Peter loved the 60 foot long sky bridge which they had to cross to get to the platform.
Zipline Balloon:
An easy way to demonstrate a zipline is by using 2 chairs, string, balloon, tape, and straw. Tie the string to the first chair. You want the 1st chair string to be tied at the very top of the chair. Place a straw through the string and tie the other end of the string to the 2nd chair. You want to tie the 2nd end of the string to a lower part of the chair. Blow up the balloon and tape the balloon onto the straw. You don’t want to tie the balloon because as the air comes out of the balloon it will travel down the zipline you or your child has created.
Here are some math questions you can ask your child while doing the zipline balloon.
- If your balloon starts at 6 feet and ends at 3 feet, how much feet did it drop? (answer: 3 feet)
- If you added 4 chairs and the 1st cable was 16 feet high, the 2nd cable 12 feet high, the 3rd cable was 9 feet high, and the 4th cable 6 feet high, How long was the zipline? (answer: 42 feet long).
- Let’s say that your string can support 10 pounds and each of your balloons weigh 1.5 pounds. How many balloons can this zipline support? (answer: 6 balloons)
Zipline Example :
This second example is a great way to show children that the more they weigh the further they will go. What you need is a fishing line, fishing swivel, and 3 different fishing weights.
Beginning Height: 92 1/2 inches
End Height: 43 1/2 inches
Lowest Point in Slope: 34 inches
Length of fishing line (zipline): 240 inches
1 ounce weight: traveled 218 inches
2 ounce weight: traveled 225 1/2 inches
3 ounce weight : traveled 240 inches
Now you will know that there is no possible way that you can zipline from the ground to the top of the roof.
Bethany
This looks so fun!! I’d love a zip line out at our family farm, I bet the in laws would like it for the grandkids!
Allie
I’ve always wanted to try ziplining! And I love how you turned it into such a fun educational experiment!
Joan M Harrington
Hey Irina 🙂
Now this looks like SO MUCH fun! I definately have it on one of the things I really want to try list and look forward on doing it!
Thanks for sharing your experience with the zipline and the wonderful pictures 🙂
Brenda Pace
This is so totally cool! I don’t think I’d be able to walk up those steps. I’m afraid of heights. 🙂 But what an adventure! Thanks for sharing it with us!
Sandy Mangis
That looks like soooooo much fun. I need to figure out how I can do that. First off find the trees….
Shann Eva
I love the zip-lining examples you made to show how it would work. I’ve always been intrigued, but a bit scared to do it. It looks like it would be exhilarating, though. I think I’ll wait until all my boys can do it.
Healing Mama
I’ve never been zip lining but it looks like so much fun! You and your family go on the best adventures!
Rosanne Muncy
What great fun! I love how you did a zip line demonstration lesson at home. 🙂
Melissa
This looks amazing! I’ve always wanted to go zip lining but haven’t made it yet. Maybe this summer we can make it work to go. 🙂
Sane Mama
I can’t wait until my kids are old enough to zipline – they will go nuts for it. I love how you extend your children’s learning by expanding on the lesson at home.
Ashley | Spit Up and Sit Ups
This looks like so much fun! Love the demo at home, too.
Amy
Nice article. Great pics and video. My family did this and it was the highlight of the vacation, and fun for mom and dad too!
Sally
How fun! I went ziplining once when I was on vacation in Mexico. It was one of the most fun and scary things I’ve done. I love how you turned it into a learning experience/experiment when you got home!
crystal ngumezi
I love zip lining!! So much fun! I can tell you guys had an amazing time with this adventure, thanks for sharing! I can see your little guy is a mini engineer lol
Miri
This is absolutely wild.
Ashly
Looks like your family is having fun!
Twin Pickle
I LOVE this kind of thing but unfortunately I spawned a scaredy cat… gutted! No way would my daughter ever do this… there’s still hope for the twins when they grow up! haha
Erica Nicole
This looks really awesome! I bet the kids had a BLAST! What a great memory and experience!!
Vicki @ Babies to Bookworms
I loved ziplining and I love the activities you planned with it!
Chanel van Reenen
I have always wanted to try zip lining!
Crystal
We have a lot of zip lining in CO but I have major fear of heights so we have never done it.
Lora
I think it’s really cool how you explained this to the kids with an experiment at home! I think zipline would be fun, but I’m afraid of heights so I’m hesitant to give it a try.
Kim
How fun is this? We did a zipline in Costa Rica, and I am ready to go again!
Belle
The pictures are awesome and it looks like a really fun trip!
Belle | One Awesome Momma
Angela Kim
Whoa this look so fun! My kids will love it.
Dearlyndsey
This looks like so much fun. I love how you turned it into a science lesson as well. I wouldn’t have thought to do that. I love your blog post it help me see other ways to incorporate things into our unschooling/homeschooling. It looked so beautiful at the Adventure Park.
Nichole Snellgrove
These pictures are amazing and it looks like your family had so much fun! I would love to do this when my son gets older!