When I was in the 8th grade, we went to an overnight camp for our year end trip. They had a bunch of activities like tree trekking, team building courses, and many other outdoor activities. I refused to do anything because I was scared of heights and didn’t love the outdoors. I think over the years, the regret has slowly kicked in and I wish I would have participated more. For the past 5 years I’ve wanted to go ziplining. The thought of it scared me for so many years, but I finally wanted to face this fear.
Luckily for me, Long Point Eco-Adventures, where I spent my glamping getaway in Norfolk County, also has zip line and canopy tours! This was probably the first thing that intrigued me about Long Point Eco-Adventures and the main reason why I wanted to take a trip there. I took my boyfriend along with me so we could both face our fears (& so he could take photos lol!). Spoiler alert: he was scared the entire time, and I got over my fear after the first zip line! I think him being so scared made it easier for me to be brave and adventurous haha.
The zip line and canopy tour at Long Point Eco-Adventures is $95 CDN ($75 CDN for youth), 2½ hours long, and includes a beginner’s demonstration on how to zip line (where to place your hands, how to slow down, and how to stop). There are 8 ziplines, 2 suspension skybridges, 14 platforms included. After all that fun, you end the tour with a 40-foot rappel down to the ground! I would not do this tour if you’re actually terrified of heights, because rappelling down to the ground is the scariest part of the tour, and there’s no way to get around it. It’s the only way to get down after your last zip line.
I was pumped to zip line, but also a bit scared since it was my first time. My boyfriend and I were joined with 5 others for our tour. We had 2 tour guides (Dan & Hayden) who were absolutely amazing. They were super friendly, patient with us beginners, and explained everything into detail. It’s not very important, but I was really impressed that they learned and remembered all our names within the first 5 minutes. I only had their 2 names to remember and I definitely forgot them more than once. To me, that made the experience much more personable and I felt safe with them. Dan & Hayden split up between each platform to help us get set up before and get off after each zip line, making the transitions super easy. When the whole group reached each platform, they gave us historical and ecological facts about the area and even got some great pictures of us.
When we got to the suspension skybridges, they didn’t look as bad at first. Once I got on them, they wobbled so much because of everyone else walking ahead of me. I definitely felt safer when ziplining, surprisingly! I managed to walk on them fairly quickly, but my boyfriend was taking his sweet time haha. It was so nice to walk the suspension skybridges opposed to ziplining, only because you could get a better look at Long Point Bay and Turkey Point. When you zipline, you only get to see a glimpse of it because you’re moving so fast and there are a lot of trees.
I honestly had the BEST time ziplining. The combination of facing my fears, laughing at my boyfriend, and having such great tour guides really made this easy and fun! I highly recommend taking a visit to Long Point Eco-Adventures and going ziplining (along with everything else they have to offer)! I came as a beginner and felt so confident after the first zip line. I’m already trying to convince some of my girlfriends to come back with me for a weekend! Perhaps to try out some other activities as well.
Have you ever been Ziplining at Long Point Eco-Adventures?
Be sure to also check out Norfolk Tourism for more information on Norfolk County and to see what else it has to offer!
