Travel Blog #147 – Ziplining OVER Akaka Falls?

The original zipline company to construct a zipline course in the state of Hawaii was Skyline Eco Adventures. Their original course was located on the edge or Crater Road on the way up to the top of Haleakala. Eventually they expanded and built another course on the Kaanapali Side of Maui. After having successfully running both of these courses on Maui for a number of years they decided it would be a good idea to look at expanding operations over to the Big Island. It didn’t take long before their third course, which goes directly over a giant waterfall was operational.

After they finished building the course it took me a few months to make it over there to check it out. When I did I was very pleased at what I found, their final zipline is by far the most exciting line on any of their three courses and I think it is safe to say that everyone on the tour enjoyed it IMMENSELY!
We started out by checking in at the Skyline Eco Adventures store where we were issued our harnesses and helmets before we all loaded up into the van to make our way up to the course. When we got to the course we started out on line #1 which is known as a “Training Line”. The purpose of this line is to get everyone accustomed to what it feels like to zipline, in a fairly tame way. After this line they progressively got longer and longer. The first few lines went through a banana patch and then eventually we began doing ziplines that spanned entire gulches until we reached the last one. The final line also spanned an entire gulch, but the route it used just happened to pass over an enormous waterfall. I remember as I was passing over the waterfall enough mist hit me where I actually worried about the weatherproofing on the DSLR in my hands for a brief moment of time…….it was quite an exciting experience to say the least!