BEST ZIPLINE IN FLORIDA! THE CANYONS ZIPLINE

My daughter Emma, (seen zipping away above), gave me a trip to the Canyons Zipline and Canopy Tours near Ocala, Florida this year.
Now, my birthday is in January, but we were so busy with school, we just never had a chance to go play ... until this week.

Oh my, oh my ... This place is TOTALLY AWESOME.

Just the scenery alone, is worth the trip. 

I love my home state, but she's flat as a board folks.
We get a few soft mounds on the central ridge and again in the panhandle, but mostly, there is no relief in sight.

The Canyons are different.

Set in an old limerock quarry, the Canyons Zipline property is just spectacular with valleys, canyons, vertical limestone cliffs, and lakes.

If it weren't for the cabbage palms, you would not think this was Florida at all.

Neither Emma or I had ever zip lined before, so we didn't know exactly what to expect, but everything about that day exceeded our expectations.

Our two zip line guides, "Jonesy" and "Rob" were funny, safety conscious, and just a heck of a lot of fun to be around.

(When you go, be sure and give them a little extra tip ... I didn't think about that ahead of time and had a total of $4.00 in my wallet. They deserved better.)

The guides kit you out with the safety harness and give you a short tutorial on a tiny zip line and then its off to the races.
The zips start out small for the first two.

After that they get pretty dang A-W-E-S-O-M-E.

This is the view as you break out of the treeline, pass over a cliff, and head out over the lake.

See those cliffs!
This is Florida?

Looks more like Arkansas.

This is the view from the highest platform in the park. According to Jonesy and Rob, this is the longest (1100 ft) and fastest zip line in Florida.
At this point, you are 130 feet above the lake.

And there goes Emma!

Here's my view as I leave the 130 foot tower.
All the photos on this post are video captures from my GoPro camera.
I know this sounds like a commercial, (it's not), but this little GoPro Hero is absolutely a fantastic little camera.

I thought I was going to have to use my head mount strap for the GoPro, but The Canyons has some of their helmets outfitted with standard GoPro mounts so you can just snap your camera to the helmet.

SWEET!

Its not all zip lining, there is a bouncy fun rope bridge that crosses a chasm.

This is called a "self rescue".
If your momentum doesn't quite get you to the next platform, you just spin around and hand over hand pull yourself those last few feet.

This only happened to me once on the 1100 foot zip.

Its effortless, so stop worrying.
All day long, the safety harness and zip equipment did all the heavy lifting.
You can do it.

After the final zip, you wind up on a platform, high above the ground with no way down but rapelling.

This too is effortless.
Once again, you are in control, but the rope and hardware are doing all the work.

Going down.

All in all, I think we did 9 different zips, plus the neat rapel at the end.
Emma and I were the only ones on this late afternoon tour, so we had no waiting and no delays.
As a result, our tour time was a little quicker than most, but that beats waiting in line any day. Tour groups are up to 8 people and a full one takes longer.
Rob and Jonesy (our guides) were up front about this when we first met, since the brochure mentions 2-3 hours.

You can get all the particulars at the website.

Dress comfortable and the rest is up to the Canyon folks.

I'm posting about it here on Pure Florida because it truly was a quality experience.
And, it was a real experience, as opposed to the superficial NonPureFlorida MouseWorld experience.

The price isn't cheap, but neither is the experience. When you consider what people pay for a few hours of boat rental, fishing guide service, or other outdoor activities that require special equipment or knowledge, then the Canyon's price of about $89 is not unreasonable.


Plus, if you ride 3 times within 2 years, you can get a 4th Zip free. Sweet.

Just as a disclaimer, I'm not getting reimbursed for this review in any way. If it had been a Zip Rip Off, you would have heard about it here, but it wasn't. Neither GoPro (who I gush about constantly) nor the Canyons folks have any input here at Pure Florida.

I'm just telling it like I see it and my advice for anyone looking for a unique experience is go ZIP THE CANYONS!