Lake Geneva Ziplines & Adventures
Best Adventure
When Lake Geneva Canopy Tours got its start 10 years ago, the first activity was a two-and-a-half hour ziplining adventure. In the decade since, what is now Lake Geneva Ziplines and Adventures has added a second zipline tour and multiple activities that allow its guests of all ages and comfort levels to take advantage of the property’s 100 acres just five minutes north of downtown Lake Geneva.
Located at N3232 County Road H, part of the substantial property was once used as a gravel pit before being remediated. But most of the land is “an untouched wooded area – nice, natural environment,” according to manager Eric Howden, where ziplining guests “can be in the trees throughout the course.”
Ziplining is still the “marquee activity,” Howden says.
The original zipline tour boasts five sky bridges, four spiral staircases, and a 1,200-foot dual racing line. For the not-quite-so-adventuresome sorts, the one-hour, four-line tour provides a way to sample ziplining. In the full course, eight of the nine platforms are built on trees, but the most challenging climb is a walk up two flights of stairs. Because the property is on a hillside, guests walk right onto the first platform. Ziplining participants must be at least seven years old and weigh between 70 and 250 pounds.
“We’ve had people in their 90s go ziplining,” Howden says.
Another aboveground adventure, 18 to 32 feet above terra firma, is the High Ropes Challenge Course, otherwise known as “The Jungle Gym in the Sky.” Participants tackle 16 unique obstacles on their two-hour tour, stepping like tightrope walkers on ropes stretched from tree to tree and carefully navigating a line of wooden swings high in the air. The High Ropes Course lends itself to group bonding – whether in families, birthday or bachelor/bachelorette parties, or workplace team building.
For those who like to keep their feet firmly on the ground, four different trails offer 10 to 12 miles of scenic paths for snowshoeing, hiking or biking. The mountain biking trails are marked for beginner, intermediate and expert levels. Ladder bridges, jumps and switchbacks challenge those on the intermediate and expert trails.
Two-day adventure camps draw 8 to 12-year-olds each summer to learn skills such as living off the land, cooking over a campfire, map reading and compass usage. Families can also sign up for educational hikes to learn about plants, insects, or birds, or to acquire wilderness skills such as fire building or shelter construction.
By late spring, the company will add another adventure to its list: a rock-climbing tower that promises to challenge its guests’ perseverance and endurance.
Howden believes that the appeal of Lake Geneva Ziplines and Adventures is simple.
“It’s an outdoor activity,” he says, “that’s quite accessible.”
Location: N3232 County Road H, Lake Geneva, WI
lakegenevaadventures.com | 262-214-6986
