OCCIDENTAL, Calif. — Just off Bohemian Highway in Sonoma County is a grove of redwoods breathing a certain fear into anyone who enters. If you listen closely, you’ll hear screams from the treetops. The fearful screams are from visitors flying through the trees at Sonoma Zipline Adventures.
The adventure part of Sonoma Zipline Adventures is key to the operation, and Zipline guides Noah Silverstein and Drew Farley are here to make sure you complete the full course. It includes seven ziplines, two sky bridges, six treehouses, a rappelling platform and a spiral staircase to the tree canopy.
The tree tops tour is the fastest and highest course. In all you will be zipping on almost 2/3 of a mile of cable. As for the speed, well, it all depends on how much you weigh.
“You can go as much as 30 to 40 miles an hour depending on your mass,” said Farley.
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The longest zipline is 1,500 feet, making it Northern California’s longest. It takes a full 45 seconds to get from one end to the other while you are suspended 250 feet above the ground.
Once you land on the platform, you get a good look at the treehouses. Dan Ferguson helps manage the park and gives tours inside the treehouses, which are yurts built around large platforms on the trees.
Inside you'll find plush beds, a large vanity and even a toilet. Built at height of 80 to 100 feet, Ferguson says these treehouses might help you get over your fear of heights.
“It could be. It is very secure; redwood sway a bit so it will rock you to sleep at night,” said Ferguson.
To finish off the zipline tour, visitors take a spiral staircase leading them to yet another shorter zipline. It's at this point the tour guides inform you that to get down you must jump 60 feet to the ground... while wearing a harness, of course.
Sonoma Zipline Adventures is a nonprofit open to the public offering a number of student outdoor programs.
ANOTHER TALL TIMBER TALE FROM THE BACKROADS: Giant redwoods with their own bat cave, land crabs and sky-high rope bridges are at home in a historic Northern California roadside attraction.
