TREE GLIDERS: Bird's-eye glimpse of nature

[fgoodwin]

TREE GLIDERS: Bird's-eye glimpse of nature

 

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/3290086.html

http://tinyurl.com/qdo9d

 

July 31, 2005, 8:48PM

 

A zip through the trees provides a different view of the Hill Country

 

By KRISTIN FINAN

 

It may have been one of the most breathtaking views she'd ever see, but 7-year-old Mandy White kept her eyes focused on the half-inch steel cable stretched out in front of her, worried it would zip her through the air smack into a giant Cypress tree.

 

"I'm thinking it's gonna be scary," she said, finally tilting her helmet-topped head toward the creek below her. "Like the first time I rode a water slide."

 

Turning to her guide Richard Kopczynski, she asked, "Can I shout that I'm scared?"

 

For Mandy, 10-year-old brother Dylan, uncle Mark Hogan and his friend Pat Davidson, who visited Cypress Valley Canopy Tours near Austin Wednesday, it was to be an education in the natural beauty of the Hill Country area near Lake Travis. But first, it would be a lesson about their own limitations.

 

"OK," answered Kopczynski. "We're going to do something a little different. I'm gonna clip myself on and clip you to me. Ready? OK. Here we go."

 

Canopy tours have long been offered in Central America, allowing nature-friendly adventurers a bird's-eye view of the rain forest thanks to steel "zip lines" that allow them to slide through the air and land on 40- or 50-foot-high platforms hugging midsections of giant trees.

 

After taking a canopy tour in Costa Rica last summer, David Beilharz decided he wanted one of his own on his lush Hill Country land. In February he began working with his wife, Amy, and their four children to make it a reality, and, on July 4, Cypress Valley Canopy Tours opened.

 

"You need to really work with the environment," he said. "It's really nature that set the pattern, and we just tried to fit something into it with certain parameters."

 

The result is a six-line course with three sky bridges over their property, which includes a creek, limestone overhangs and a variety of plants and animals. Because canopy tours are a rarity in the continental United States Beilharz thinks theirs is the first and because of the spectacular views they afford, people are beginning to buzz about the Texas treasure.

 

Ground school

 

Decked out in a harness, helmet, gloves, trolley (which zooms riders down the zip line) and safety ropes, Dylan White said he felt like a mountain climber.

 

Although the Web site posts a minimum age of 10, Amy Beilharz said guides evaluate younger children during "ground school" mandatory training for all participants to see if they are eligible.

 

"It's not meant to be like an extreme sport," she said.

 

During ground school for Dylan and Mandy, Kopczynski and guide Bree Bernwanger outlined their two golden rules: Don't handle your line attachments yourself, and when you brake (which is done by squeezing a gloved hand on the line as you approach the platform) never put your hand in front of the line or it could get caught. Then they practiced zipping and self-rescue getting back to the platform in case someone stops in the middle of a line.

 

"It was sort of scary at first," said Mandy, who volunteered to go first on the practice line. "When I started to get the hang of it, it started to be a lot funner."

 

Taking flight

 

Even though it's the shortest, the initial cable is the hardest, Bernwanger said as she clipped the group to the first zip line of the course. There's something about standing on a platform and preparing to fly off it that just scares people.

 

Looking at the cable with his sister, Dylan said, "It looks long for the shortest zip. I'm not going first."

 

Instead, Hogan did, howling as he sailed over the creek's blur of green, gray and brown.

 

"It stretches people a little bit, and then it's so beautiful," Amy Beilharz said. "I had one person come off and say, 'That was exhilarating, and it was peaceful.' How do you have both of those things in one experience?"

 

With Kopczynski and Bernwanger lending hands, the group went through the first zip line and crossed two sky bridges that bounced like minitrampolines with each step they took.

 

The screamer

 

Near the bridges, Bernwanger pointed to holes in a tree and said they were created by a ladder-backed woodpecker. Not to be outdone, Kopczynski looked down at a few fish swimming in the creek and said perch and bass often make homes in that water. Environmental education is a big part of the Beilharzs' mission, and guides work in facts seamlessly throughout the hour-and-a-half tour.

 

But no amount of knowledge could have persuaded Mandy, who clung stone-faced to Kopczynski for three zip lines, to stay any longer. This happens sometimes with younger children, so they called for a golf cart driven by the Beilharzs' youngest daughter, 8-year-old Francesca.

 

A barefoot sprite with curly blond hair who loves to yell at the buffalo on the family's ranch and who doubles as an iced tea saleswoman during slow times, Francesca appeared, hands on hips, and, in a British accent, announced, "I'm here to pick up a little girl."

 

The timing couldn't have been better. They had just arrived at "the screamer," the course's longest and fastest zip line, which whisks participants 450 feet at up to 30 mph for nearly 20 seconds.

 

"Amaaazzzing," Hogan yelled as his trolley roared down the cable like a chain saw and carried him over the carved limestone flanking the creek.

 

Finishing up

 

Sometimes, for the final zip line, groups come up with contests, like "best scream" or "best Tarzan yell" and compete against one another. This group should have considered "most likely to finish the course."

 

Zipping down the final line, Dylan got fancy and tried to slide hands-free. Nervous from the speed, he clutched the line in front of the trolley (breaking golden rule No. 2), caught his glove and stopped suddenly in the middle of the line, dangling 50 feet above the creek bed.

 

"I'm OK," Dylan yelled. "I'm kinda nervous, but I like it up here."

 

Because Dylan couldn't free himself, Kopczynski sailed out, freed the glove and instructed Dylan to use the self-rescue crawl to return to the platform.

 

"We've practiced pretty much every situation that could happen," Bernwanger said. "There's a rescue bag at every platform. Everything is set up to where if the worst should happen there's always a way to help someone else."

 

"Although," she said, between Dylan and Mandy, "that's the most we've ever had happen on one trip."

 

After the tour, the group picnicked along the creek and rehashed the adventure. Dylan actually liked getting stuck on the line, although if he had to do it over again he would have kept his hand in the back when he braked. Davidson liked the sky bridges, and Hogan said simply, "What a thrill ride."

 

The tour also has a zip line that spills visitors into the water, but the water level is too low now.

 

Writing an ad for watermelon on a dry-erase board, Francesca said she's happy her parents decided to create the canopy tours.

 

"I'm very glad, because it's fun and adventurous," she said. "And it feels like you're flying."

 

Her mom agreed.

 

"You want to share something if you have it, but we couldn't figure out how we could do that and not ruin it," she said. "This actually is a perfect idea, because people can go through the creek, they can experience it, but they're not taking things or leaving things behind."

 

kristin.finan@chron.com

 

---

RESOURCES

CYPRESS VALLEY CANOPY TOURS

 

Where: 1223 Paleface Ranch Road, Spicewood (about 30 minutes from downtown Austin near Lake Travis)

When: Tours are offered through the fall. Corporate tours are available.

Cost: $60 per adult, free for children 17 and younger

Information: 512-264-8880; http://www.cypressvalleycanopytours.com