Zip Wild Opens May 3 at Northwest Trek Wildlife Park
Adventure is right around the corner. Up in the trees. Out in the fresh air.
Zip Wild, the Northwest’s premier complex of zip line/challenge courses, opens on Saturday, May 3, at Northwest Trek Wildlife Park.
The four courses are designed to challenge adventuresome spirits of all skills and abilities and can accommodate participants from ages 6 through adult.
The wildlife park near Eatonville is the only place in the Northwest that combines the thrill of individual accomplishment with the amazing experience of viewing native animals up close. Adventurous visitors can zoom down zip lines, clamber through fishermen’s nets, walk tightropes and traverse crooked bridges in the morning, then hop aboard a tram for a narrated tour through a natural wonderland in the afternoon. Or vice versa.
Northwest Trek’s 435-acre Free-Roaming Area teems with bison, Roosevelt elk, woodland caribou, moose, mountain goats, bighorn sheep and other animals. The wildlife park’s walking paths meander past exhibits of bobcats, bears, beavers, badger, wolves, wolverine and dozens of other species.
The four Zip Wild courses stand among towering Douglas firs and prove the perfect complement to the outdoor wildlife viewing experience. Each contains a series of aerial obstacles or challenges that test participants’ physical agility and mental toughness. And each provides increasingly more difficult challenges as participants climb higher into the lush forest canopy.
They range from about five-and-a-half feet off the ground for the Super Kid course to an eye popping 78 feet high – about the equivalent of an eight-story building – for the Sensation circuit.
Added together, there’s more than one mile of action-packed thrills in the Northwest Trek Zip Wild forest.
Small children and ultra-adventuresome adults will find a course to match their size, enthusiasm and ability. Friends and family can join in the fun or watch the action from a network of nature trails. Reservations are required.
In addition to the age and height restrictions, there is a 275-pound maximum weight limit for all courses. Closed-toed shoes are required, dangling jewelry is not permitted, and long hair must be tied back. Long pants are recommended.
The courses were built and are operated by Deep Forest Challenge, an adventure company with extensive experience running zip line/challenge courses in Europe.
Zip Wild Hours:
- 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays through June 20.
- Summer hours begin June 21, when the courses will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.
- Zip Wild returns to weekend operation, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, from Sept. 2 through Sept. 28.
Discounts for members of the military and groups of 15 or more are available.
To make reservations or for more information, go to www.nwtrek.org/zipwild/.