Latest thrill: Zipping over Wine Country

<p>What is an acrophobic person doing 120 feet up in a swaying Douglas fir, perched on a tiny platform, ready to fly over a steep ravine that is 300 feet deep?</p><p>Luckily, there wasn't much time to ponder that question. Once hooked onto the “Sizzler” zipline — the third of seven ziplines constructed at the Sonoma Canopy Tour course near Occidental — it was more important to focus on braking technique.</p><p>Doing things you thought you'd never do — like swooping through the air at 25 miles per hour while hooked to a cable — is part of the exhilaration of this eco-tour, which opened in late June.</p><p>“What I like about this adventure is that it lets people conquer some fears that they may have,” said Brad Dropping, owner of Napa Valley and Sonoma Valley Bike Tours. “I also like the variety — you have suspension bridges and rappelling — so you have a little bit of everything.”</p><p>The bike entrepreneur took a Sonoma Canopy Tour earlier this summer as part of the research for his own flying venture, Napa Valley Ziplines, set to launch in early October behind the Veteran's Home in Yountville.</p><p>“We're at a huge canyon overlooking the Napa Valley,” Dropping said of the course being built in the rugged foothills west of Yountville. “Every one of the lines and platforms has vineyard and vista views.”</p><p>Move over, trams and trains. Suddenly, sightseeing in Wine Country has gotten a lot more exciting, thanks to not one but two adrenaline-pumping ziplines.</p><p>Modern canopy tours originated in the late '70s and ‘80s, when two biology grad students first modified a ski lift into an aerial tram that could carry them through the rainforest canopy of Costa Rica.</p><p>Appealing both to thrill-seekers and multi-generational families, ziplining really took off in the past 15 years in wilderness regions across the globe, from Central and South America to Europe and Japan.</p><p>Here in Wine Country, the idea took root about a year and a half ago, said Bruce Wohlert, a director of the 120-acre Alliance Redwoods retreat center and business director of the Sonoma Canopy Tour.</p><p>Wohlert and his wife tried to take a zipline tour in Puerto Vallarta but were surprised that it was all booked. Alliance Redwoods Director Jim Blake came back from Costa Rica with the same story.</p><p>The pair decided that the time was ripe for Sonoma County — home of the massively tall Coast redwoods — to offer a high-flying adventure on a par with its world-class wine and food.</p><p>So far this summer, the Sonoma Canopy Tour has attracted more than 1,000 visitors who have come from all over the world to fly through the redwoods.</p><p>Sonoma Canopy Tour's course can be completed by anyone over the age of 10 who weighs at least 70 pounds and no more than 250 pounds. If you can walk a brisk mile, you are considered fit for the ride.</p><p>“Our oldest guest was an 83-year-old,” said Adam Kalanquin, course manager. “It's an easy course.”</p><p>Paula Skinner of Glen Ellen recently took her two grandkids — Ryanne, 12, and Nick, 10 — on a canopy tour, and all three came back exhilarated.</p><p>The skittish may also find reassurance in the fact that safety is a high priority. Guests are clipped onto a safety rope at all times while on the platforms, and the trained guides are experienced in similar activities like ropes courses and rock climbing.</p><p>The Sonoma Canopy Tour begins on terra firma, in the parking lot of Alliance Redwoods, where guests are shuttled up a dirt road to the welcome center.</p><p>The course can accommodate up to eight tours of eight people each a day, starting at 10 a.m. Each tour group spends about 2½ hours up in the trees, so it's wise to eat something before you go.</p><p>At the welcome center, the guests gather by two yurts and a spring-fed creek while incoming traffic can be heard zipping through the trees overhead.</p><p>Our group of eight consisted mostly of Bay Area folks plus a visitor from Texas. Two fathers brought their college-age children as a last hurrah before school started.</p><p>After signing waivers, all were hooked up with waist harnesses, hard hats and gloves, then ushered through ground school to learn the basics: how to steer with one hand and brake with the other.</p><p>The tour started higher up on the ridge, on a deck known as the Victory Circle. The first “junior” zip was a confidence booster, a short hop to make sure everyone felt comfortable with their skills.</p><p>Then the ride ratcheted up the adrenaline with a longer zip 80 feet over the forest floor, followed by the thrilling zipline nicknamed the “Sizzler.”</p><p>By the time the group reached Platform 5, all were warmed up and ready for the longest ride — a leisurely, 1,000-foot zip straight into the old-growth redwood forest.</p><p>“I do rock climbing ... but this is much higher than that,” said Stephanie Lowe, a student at UC Hastings in San Francisco.</p><p>In the future, Wohlert envisions a barbecue set up at the welcome center, for guests who want to linger and enjoy the “afterglow.”</p><p>“I picture people sitting down and reflecting on the course — the views and topography and the ecology,” he said. “And eventually, we'll have a webcam.”</p><p>You can reach Staff Writer Diane Peterson at 521-5287 or diane.peterson@pressdemocrat.com.</p>