The Challenge Sonoma Adventures Ropes Course on Sonoma Mountain is a favorite for team-building activities, corporate events or others seeking wilderness adventures. [Photos courtesy Challenge Sonoma]
during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is, however, essentially a 125-acre outdoor classroom that gives visitors a chance to develop a connection between themselves and nature, so ziplines are a good fit. “The very first course was built in 2010, and in 2017, we added the Tree Tops course,” says Dan Ferguson, chief of staff for the site, who has been in the position for going on two years. “During COVID in 2020, we built the treehouses,” he adds, thereby offering a new experience that allows guests to stay overnight and embark on a 24-hour zipline adventure that includes both courses. In addition, night zips are a feature of the warm months from May through August, and riders wear helmets with lights as they venture out to see the moon and stars. Sonoma Zipline Adventures does at least 40 tours a day, rain or shine, and in summer, during the peak season, that number grows to as many as 60 tours daily. Visitors numbered 22,000 in 2023, in a testament to the increasing popularity of ziplines. Ready for a challenge Challenge Sonoma Adventures Ropes Course, which has been in operation since 1984, offers ziplining as one of several high elements at its site four miles from the City of Sonoma on Sonoma Mountain. Founder Diana Rhoten explains that most people go to a zipline course to have an adventure, but “We differ from zipline canopy tours in that we are experiential educators in an outdoor setting,” she says, explaining that a day at Challenge Sonoma starts with low elements such as
swings and ladders that sequence up to activities higher in the redwoods. “For so many of our groups, it’s about being afraid of heights and working through it,” she says. While zipline riders usually use harnesses they sit in and can grasp the harness that straps them to the line, participants at Challenge Sonoma are on their backs in full-body harnesses, so they don’t have anything to hold onto. “You’re giving it up to trust,” she says. Most of their clients are groups engaged in leadership and team-building activities, corporate events or wilderness adventures, and individuals and families are welcome one day each weekend. Challenge Sonoma’s Nature Adventure Camp at Carriger Creek gives children 9 and up a chance to try their own zipline in one of several activities in one-week summer sessions. It’s 30 feet high and 300 feet long and is strung between sturdy poles, because the area doesn’t have redwood trees. “It’s something they lead up to. It’s not necessarily on the first day,” says Rhoten, explaining that some kids are ready to fly, while others climb up to the line and want to get right back down. They can try it more than once, so if they don’t do it right away, they have other chances. “We stress individual personal goals,” she says, and they encourage everyone—children and adults—to go as far as they can, physically, mentally and emotionally. That makes the role of guides or counselors especially important, because they need to be experienced facilitators who can work with participants to make them feel safe. They have 40 hours of training and must have a year or two of experience before
48 NorthBaybiz
May 2024
Made with FlippingBook Online newsletter maker