Next? After helping send Megan Powell off on the zip line to the next towering pine, Sky Guide Keith Gortowski turns to help another adventurous guest. The Sky Guides are ever-mindful of safety, ensuring that Towering Pines Canopy Tour participants are connected to the platform or the massive pines at all times.
The Towering Pines Canopy Tour at Gunflint Lodge should be terrifying— participants in the canopy tour stand atop towers approximately 45 feet off the ground and they dangle 65 to 70 feet in the air on a cable 1½ inches in diameter. But the tour is not scary. Or if it is, you simply have too much fun and enjoy the amazing bird’s eye view of the forest too much to care.
One of the reasons the canopy tour is exhilarating instead of frightening is because of the calm and friendly sky guides who walk participants through the basics at “ground school” and the “bunny hill” before sending them soaring off the edge of a cliff. At the start, the guides help secure harnesses of ropes and cords and carefully explain the take-off and braking process. They reassure participants that the harnesses can handle 5,000 pounds. The zip lines are galvanized aircraft cable that can support 25,000 pounds. And there is hands-on practice at ground school just a few feet from the ground.
Casey Fitchett climbs the spiral staircase that takes participants up to the top of the platform dubbed “Stairway to Heaven.” Casey showed no fear as she climbed the steps despite the fact that the staircase gently sways in the breeze 45 feet off the ground.
That doesn’t lessen the butterflies in the stomach on the ATV ride to the start of the canopy tour. The bunny hill zip line looks awfully intimidating at first. There is moment of panic as the sky guide instructs you to sit down to “weight your harness.” He then tells you to lift your feet and go and you soar through the trees toward another platform, all fears forgotten.
The second platform, built with solid Georgia lodge poles, has a sturdy staircase and at the top participants are treated to an amazing view of Lonely Lake far, far below. From there it’s a zip to the “Stairway to Heaven” platform with a gently swaying spiral staircase to climb to the launch area.
Each platform has its own appeal. Each makes you want to stay and enjoy the view, to spend more time near the top of the giant old white pines. You don’t mind waiting as the other members of your group are hooked and unhooked. Safety is key—every participant is hooked to the platform with at least one line at all times.
Above left: Participants are taught to slow and stop themselves as they near the platforms. However, it takes a little trial and error to get it right. Sky Guide Stephan Henkel shows exactly how it’s done. Above right: The view from Look Out Mountain—of Gunflint Lake and Canada beyond—is breathtaking. So too is the zip line which takes you 70 feet above the ground, skimming tree tops as you go. Courtney Koeneke of Johnsburg, IL launches off the platform, showing that even an almost-13-year-old can tackle the Towering Pines Canopy Tour.
There are hand signals from the sky guides to let you know if you are speeding along the zip line too fast or braking too hard. But it’s hard to pay attention to the signals as you are skimming along the tops of trees, watching the forest floor flying by, the trees rustling around you, the sky so close you’re part of it. It’s no wonder that some participants brake too soon and end up finishing the zip line by pulling themselves hand over hand up the cable for a few feet or come in too quickly, banging their shins on the platform edge.
Whether you make a perfect stop or not, the sky guides are there, ready for anything—including questions about the geography of the rocks below or the surrounding trees and more.
By the time participants reach Look Out Mountain to enjoy the sweeping vista of Gunflint Lake, they are more than ready to take the step off the cliff, to soar over the ravine. The only problem is that you know this is one of the last stops on your adventure.
From the cliff, you zip to a platform close to the lodge and finally the last little zip line sends you soaring over your car, over a firewood pile and over other guests waiting to join the canopy tour.
Looking at their anxious faces, you’ll exclaim, “You’ll love it! You won’t be scared at all!”
For information about the Towering Pines Canopy Tour, visit www.gunflint.com and scroll to Towering Pines or call (800) 328-3325 or (218) 388-2294.
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