Flying high
Zip along for a high-flying adventure
OOn the elevator ride up to the 30th floor of Fox Tower, there’s usually a little nervous chatter among the adventurers who have come here to step off the building’s rooftop for a heart-pumping, mile-long zip line ride on the HighFlyer.
Launched in 2018, the HighFlyer is said to be the biggest zip line in Connecticut and the only zip line in the U.S. that launches from a 33-story hotel tower.
The stunning vista from the top of Foxwood Resort Casino’s sky-scraping hotel provides a bird’s-eye view as far as Long Island Sound over hundreds of forested acres owned by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation.
After attending “flight school” on the 30th floor, where they are given safety lessons and geared up in their harnesses, riders are taken still higher, emerging atop the windy tower to another set of stairs that leads to the takeoff deck and the spectacular — and dizzying — 360-degree panorama of the landscape below.
“The colors are extremely vibrant, particularly in the fall and at sunset,” says HighFlyer owner Brian Stewart. “There are reds and oranges in every direction, your feet are dangling and you’re about 30 feet back from the edge of the parapet. If you look down, it’s about 40 feet down to the roof surface,” and hundreds of feet to the ground below.
And then, one by one, the riders launch, surrounded by nothing but blue sky above and a canopy of green 350 feet below.
“There’s always a loud ‘yee-haw!’ as riders reach speeds of 50 to 55 miles an hour,” says Stewart, “and then the ride becomes really quite peaceful and enjoyable. You really feel like you’re flying over the treetops for a one-and-a-half- to two-minute ride that finishes, essentially, on the lawn in front of the Pequot Museum and Research Center.”
The HighFlyer is one of a growing number of zip line adventures offered in the region for adults and kids (some age and weight restrictions may apply) looking to get their blood racing and their hearts pounding.
For those who want to try zip-lining but stay a little closer to the ground, the Brownstone Exploration & Discovery Park in Portland offers 11 zip lines from 25 to 80 feet high that all splash down into the waterfilled quarry below, according to Laura Loffredo, director of sales and marketing at Brownstone and its sister park, Powder Ridge Mountain Park & Resort in Middlefield.
Aerial parks, like Fields of Fire in Mystic or the Adventure Parks in Bridgeport and Storrs, also incorporate multiple smaller zip lines into their tree-line ropes courses, offering a workout along acres of challenging obstacles connected by zip lines.
Check out the zip line adventures offered nearby. Prices listed here are for single rides or for aerial courses that incorporate zip-lining, and may not include other activities offered on site. Check websites as rules, hours and days of operation may change due to COVID. Booking in advance is recommended to get preferred dates and times.