After we did the tours on Tuesday and Wednesday, we got to go on a fun day on Thursday. We had the options of doing a waterfall and volcano tour, a rain forest canopy zip line tour or a zip line and white water rafting tour. We chose the canopy zip line tour.
We got to the location and got geared up for the adventure then it started raining and rained the whole time we were on the zip lines. What you might not know is that rain makes the cables really slick which makes slowing down a little difficult. Plus there is a steep learning curve on how to slow down. I came in hot on the first couple of lines until I figured out the breaking. To slow down, on the glove of your dominant had is a leather pad which you keep on the cable behind the pulley at all times. This prevents you from spinning and allows you to slow down by pulling down on the cable. Your weight acts as pressure on the leather brake pad on the glove.
Anyway it rained the whole time so we weren’t able to get very many good pictures or videos, but here is what we have. Most of the lines were about 50-100 feet up and a couple of hundred yard long. The last line was almost 700 yards long and about 300 feet high at the highest point over the ravine we were zipping across. I think we were probably doing 30-35 mph on that one.
Another cool thing about the rain was the clouds. We’d zip off the platform and disappear into the clouds then suddenly the platform on the other side would materialize and we would have to slam on the breaks. It made it a little more exciting especially with the slick cables. Like I said, quite a few of us came in hot.
The rain on the cables became a rusty fluid that has a tendency to run down in your face as you came down the line.
