Monday, July 15, 2013

Tidepools and a zipline through the Redwoods

July 2013
Our friends The Walkers live over in Santa Cruz, so now we have no excuse not to visit the ocean more often!  The kindly hosted us for a weekend and we did some tide-pooling in the morning.
Sea anemones are common-this is a particularly nice one

But the tide was coming in and you had to be careful not to get caught

Because the water is very splashy!

The starfish was the best spot of the day-do you see him?

Here is the close up.

Never turn your back on the ocean, have at least one person watching!

 Then we went to zipline through the redwoods-a first for all four of us.  We went with Mount Hermon Adventures and had a great experience.  A good guide to group ratio, experienced leaders, well maintained equipment, and a sense of humor.  First you learn on the mini-line which is close to the ground and a short distance.  You get set into the harness.

The guide holds you while you practice the grip

And then you try out the different techniques.

 Then you are up in the trees!  The platforms are 30-100 ft off the ground, but you are always clipped into the safety equipment.  If you have a mild fear of heights this might still be okay for you-stand close to the trees and minimize your time looking down.

Some of the lines are longer than others giving you a great chance to gaze around while off the ground.

Don't forget to breathe in the mountain air and check out the stream from a unique angle.

And one of the crossings is a bridge-sweet!

If you feel comfortable you can launch yourself off the platform.

and figure out when it is time to break

in order to land perfectly on the platform.

If you break too soon, you will have to drag yourself to the platform Mission Impossible style.

Thanks Brad and Sarah (our guides), we are sad the adventure is over.



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