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Other stories in "Travel with kids"

• Chicago with kids
  For curious children, this inviting city overflows with treasures.
• Baraboo's gilt complex
  In Ringlingville, the golden age of the circus never ended.
• Making waves
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• Lake Michigan with kids
  Following the sandy shores of this great lake, families find many playgrounds.
• Water, water, everywhere
  The Dells were first, but now indoor water parks are popping up all over.
• Autumn on horseback
  For a treat, enjoy the fall scenery on a guided trail ride.
• Escape to Eagle Bluff
  A center near Lanesboro welcomes families for weekends filled with nature and good food.
• Braking for jelly beans
  With the siren call of free samples, factories reel in visitors.
• The first American Girl
  Before Laura, before Kit, there was Caddie Woodlawn on the Wisconsin frontier.
• Agate stampede
  Every year, Moose Lake introduces budding rockhounds to the thrill of the hunt.
• 15 great places for kids in Wisconsin
  From farm to city to beach, the state is one big playground.
• Duluth rocks!
  With a pizza train, a bike path and beaches lined with boulders, this is a kid’s kind of town.
• Packer country
  Like Oz, Green Bay glows green and gold.
• Critter races
  In Minnesota resort towns, creatures great and small run for the money.
• Living like a pioneer
  At day camps in forts, fur posts and frontier homesteads, kids go back in time.
• Gooseberries on ice
  In winter, the beloved North Shore waterfalls turn into a big, frozen playground.
• Farmers for a weekend
  At peaceful inns, guests relish the simple pleasures of country living.
• 15 great places for kids in Minnesota
  There's a world of adventure waiting in the Land of Lakes.
• Renting a vacation house
  If you have pets, small children or teens to feed, try making someone else's home your castle.
• Traveling with a pet
  Got a dog? More and more places invite families to sit and stay.
• Grand sand
  Along Lake Michigan, the Sleeping Bear Dunes are a giant playground for all ages.
• Scenes from the fur trade
  At re-created forts, meet the adventurers who shaped the Upper Midwest.
• Fun with kids
  Want to have a good time with your children? Then go back to basics.
• Little pageants on the prairie
  A scrappy pioneer family is brought to life each year in two towns that played a prominent role in the life of Laura Ingalls Wilder.
• Whiskey and cherubs
  In downtown St. Paul, a cluster of family attractions make the city's origins a distant memory.
• The last Little House
  Laura Ingalls Wilder's home in rural Missouri was the final stop on a famously winding path.
• Laura land
  "Little House" fans trace Pa's meandering path, looking for echoes from the past.
• Madison for all ages
  Famous for collegians, Wisconsin's capital also fascinates children.
• Fast times in Nisswa
  Swift turtles mix with power shoppers in a Minnesota lake-country oasis.
• A week at the lake
  Other destinations beckon, but few can beat the classic summer vacation.
• In Caddie and Laura's back yard
  In western Wisconsin, a loop tour explores the homeland of two real-life heroines.
• Playtime in Milwaukee
  For children, this easygoing city is just the right size.
• Snow asylum
  In northeast Wisconsin, Afterglow Resort stays on top of the heap.
• Going abroad in Bemidji
  At Concordia Language Villages' family weekends, parents get to join the fun.
• Break on the lake
  A week at a full-service, family-run resort is a Minnesota tradition.

A zeal for zip lines

There's a boom in zooming over the tree tops.

Apparently, zip lines are the next great thing.

They've been strung over an Ontario canyon, dunes in Door County, a gorge near the Dells and a creek in Michigan.

They've already made an appearance at environmental learning centers, alongside climbing towers and high-ropes courses.

If you want to try them, here's where to look. There's usually a weight restriction of 230-270 pounds.

Wisconsin

Lost Canyon Zip Line Tour at Wilderness Resort in Wisconsin Dells. This big resort across from Lake Delton, known for its indoor and outdoor water parks, has put five zip lines totaling nearly 2,500 feet over Lost Canyon.

The longest is 907 feet, the equivalent of 2½ football fields, and the highest is more than 100 feet above the ground.

Riders must weigh between 70 and 270 pounds. The zip-line tours, which are guided, take about two hours. 800-867-9453, Ext. 4764.

Bigfoot Zipline Tours in the Wisconsin Dells. This course has six ziplines ranging from 462 feet to 1,397 feet. Four of them are over water.

It's in the same location as the Dells Army Ducks and Wild Thing Jet Boats, just north of Noah's Ark Waterpark on U.S. 12. The cost is $89 each, with tours scheduled to take 90 minutes.

Eco Zip Line Adventure, Wisconsin Dells/Friendship. From the Vertical Illusions shop in the Dells, guests are driven half an hour north to Chimney Rock Park near Friendship.

In winter, they snowshoe to the summit of a 500-foot-bluff, then descend on eight tree-to-tree zip lines, up to 120 feet above the ground. In summer, they can use 14 tree-to-tree lines.

Children as young as 4 can ride tandem with a guide. Cost is $115 per person.

Gravity Trails near Ellison Bay. Door County Kayak Tours has installed "our version of an Ewok village in the trees,'' half a mile of high and low zip lines around Rowleys Bay Resort on Lake Michigan.

Kids 8 and over can ride, and there's a weight restriction of 250 pounds. Cost is $45. 

Lake Geneva Canopy Tours in Lake Geneva. This 100-acre year-round adventure park on a reclaimed gravel pit just north of downtown includes eight ziplines between platforms in trees, five suspension bridges and a 1,150-foot racing zipline.

Cost is $85. It's $30 to ride the racing zipline alone, or $55 for three rides. Check for spring specials.

Michigan

Historic Mill Creek Discovery Park in Mackinaw City. This state park near the Mackinac Straits includes the 425-foot Eagle's Flight Zipline, which soars over Mill Creek.

It's $7 for the Adventure Tour, which includes the zipline, the 165-foot-long, 50-foot-high Forest Canopy Bridge and the 40-foot Nature Trail Climbing Wall.

You also have to buy admission to the park, $8 for adults, $4.75 for youths 5-17. It includes living history programs and hiking trails.

The best deal, if you're also planning to see Fort Mackinac on Mackinac Island and Colonial Michilimackinac in Mackinaw City (and you should), is the Mackinac Triple Choice Ticket. It's $23 for adults, $14 for youths, and includes all three parks.

Boyne Highlands Zip Line Adventure Tour near Harbor Springs. From the top of this ski-resort mountain on Lake Michigan, this guided 2½- to 3-hour trip takes people on a series of eight lines traveling 3,250 feet. Reservations are required for the year-round tours, and cost is $69, $59 with a lift ticket.

The Twin Zip Ride at Boyne Highlands allows people to race their friends on the last lines of the Adventure Tour, traveling 1,350 feet. Cost is $25 for two rides, which take 45 minutes to an hour, or $20 for one ride.

Boyne Mountain Zipline Adventure Tour in Boyne Falls. This guided 2½- to 3-hour trip takes people on a series of 10 lines (nine in winter) traveling 4,300 feet. Reservations are required for the year-round tours, and cost is $69, $59 with a lift ticket.

The Twin Zip Ride at Boyne Mountain allows people to race their friends on the last lines of the Adventure Tour, traveling 780 feet to the lawn of the Mountain Grand Lodge. Cost is $20 for two rides, which take 45 minutes to an hour.

Wildwood Rush Zip Line Canopy Tour near Boyne City. This tour includes views of Lake Charlevoix on more than 5,000 feet of lines. The full 2½- to 3-hour guided canopy tour in hardwood forest is $75. A trip down one of the 1,200-foot triple racing lines is $16, or three for $30.

Ontario

Eagle Canyon Adventures near Dorion, Ont. This private enterprise, 40 miles east of Thunder Bay next to Ouimet Canyon Provincial Park, has put in a 2,680-foot zip line that is Canada's longest.

It also has 600- and 300-foot-long suspension bridges, 152 and 125 feet above the canyon floor. Admission is $18 to walk the suspension bridges and $50 to ride the zip line. 

Minnesota

Timber Flyer in Duluth. From Spirit Mountain, it’s a 90-second  ride at up to 30mph down and then back up, $8 for one or $12 for two. You get to sit on a bench instead of in a harness, so it should be a lot more comfortable than a regular zip line.

Zip lines on high-ropes courses

Many environmental learning centers have ropes courses that end in zip lines. The zip lines are shorter, but they also cost less.

Treetop Adventures near Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. This eco-adventure was started in 2008 by Murray and Cindy Joseph on a family homestead in Goulais River, 20 miles north of Sault Ste. Marie on the TransCanada Highway.

There's a 400-foot zip line as well as a ropes course and ground games that include a "Survivor''-style obstacle course, paintball, Fuzeball, and a compass scavenger hunt. It's open year-round.

Cost for the zip line is $20, with each additional ride $5. With the aerial climbing course, it's $39, and an hour of ground games is $12.

Character Challenge Course near Park Rapids, Minn. This ropes course, seven miles north of town next to Eagle Beach Resort, includes a 370-foot zip line. Cost is $25, $20 for children 15 and under.

There's also a 3G Swing from a 27-foot platform, $15 for the first ride, $8 for a second ride. Height minimum is 4 feet, and weight maximum is 250 pounds.

Howell Nature Center in Howell, Mich. This environmental-learning facility between Lansing and Detroit has a 500-foot zip line as well as a climbing tower and high-ropes course. Rides are $5; reserve at 517-546-0249.

YMCA Trout Lodge near Potosi, Mo. This 5,200-acre lake resort, an hour and a half south of St. Louis, has two zip lines, an alpine swing and a climbing tower.

Eagle Bluff Environmental Learning Center near Lanesboro, Minn. This center on the bluff above the Root River has a scenic course that is open to the public at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturdays from June through August and occasionally throughout the year. Cost is $20 for youths aged 10-17 and $25 for adults.

Audubon Center of the North Woods near Sandstone, Minn. This lakeside center has a ropes course and zip line, and it's free to try the zip line during the environmental center's fall open house.

Last updated on September 26, 2011