By Nathan Ham
Sky Valley has re-scheduled the inaugural “Night Flight” zipline tour for this Saturday after rain cancelled the original date.
If you’ve ever wanted the opportunity to zip through the trees and jump off a rock cliff at nightfall, this Saturday is your chance.
Sky Valley Zip Tours between Boone and Blowing Rock is offering their first ever “Night Flight” zipline tour.
“One of the things we came up with a couple years ago that we’ve been working on is a night flight,” said owner Jack Sharp. “We’re providing the opportunity to get a zipline experience in the woods at night.”
The hour-and-a-half tour will cover the first half of the course (five zip lines), including “Big Mama,” the ever-popular 1,600-foot cable line that is 300 feet off the ground. The night tour ends with an exhilarating cliff jump into darkness.
This opening night will feature beer from Blowing Rock Brewery, a bonfire and bluegrass music starting around 10 p.m. Tours begin at 8:30 p.m. and continue every 30 minutes.
For the last six years, Sky Valley Zip Tours has had the unique ability to provide guests with views of the Mother Nature that most have probably never seen before.
“We get people immersed in the Appalachian environment. They get to see the place that we call home and what we love about the mountains from being up in the trees,” says Sharp.
The full course is 10 ziplines, a cliff jump and a 120-foot cable bridge that typically takes two to three hours to complete. Half of the course will be used for the night flights.
“This time of year if you’re going to do something at night, we didn’t want participants to endure too late of an evening even if they’re going to be having a good time,” Sharp said.
Sharp says that there will be plenty of safety precautions taken including everyone having a headlamp on and solar lights that will be lighting the platforms.
“We’re going to allow our guests to zip through the trees, up over the valley at night. They will get awesome views of the sky and the moon. It’s just a totally different experience,” Sharp said.
There are a few zipline courses in the country that offer night flights like this, Sharp said, however Sky Valley Zip Tours is the first to offer it in this area.
The current plan is to have night flights every two weeks on Friday and Saturday nights. However, if the popularity of night flights grow, Sharp said they will plan accordingly to add other nights onto the schedule.
For more information, click to www.skyvalleyziptours.com or call 1-855-475-9947. Sky Valley Zip Tours are located at 634 Sky Valley Ranch Road in Blowing Rock.
How to get there: From NC 105 in Boone, turn left on Wilson Drive at Sagebrush. Then take a right on Winkler’s Creek Road and another right to continue on Winkler’s Creek Road. For about three miles continue on Winkler’s Creek Road until to you come to Sky Ranch Road, which will be a sharp left. Continue for one-half mile.
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