Through the Trees

But my mind, you see, has accepted the illusion that I have control, because one of my gloved hands is holding the cable, and the other hand is holding a rope attached to both the cable and a harness I8217;m wearing. Not only am I not terrified, but I8217;m rather enjoying it. So are a lot of other people.

About a million have lined up to take a canopy tour since 1997, when Darren Hreniuk opened his first in Costa Rica. Since then, other companies have opened similar adventures, which they sometimes call sky treks or zip line tours. Currently, there are dozens, and they8217;ve spread from Costa Rica, where they were first popularised as a tourist attraction, to Nicaragua, Mexico, Belize, Jamaica and Africa. Watch for more: It8217;s a hot trend about to explode. I sign up for an Original Canopy Tour outside Puerto Vallarta, the resort town in western Mexico. With about a dozen other tourists,I board the back of an open-air truck fitted with benches for the hour-long ride into the Sierra Madre Mountains. I8217;m thinking the ride is going to be my favorite part of the tour, given my fear of heights and speed. It doesn8217;t help that I know there are no industry-wide safety standards for canopy tours, and no oversight body.

But I8217;m quite comforted on arrival to find that staff members say they have been given months of training, and one staffer is assigned to every two visitors. The manager says the company has never had a serious accident8212;in fact, the only accidents company-wide have been to people who stumbled on the ground on the way to the trees. The course includes 13 observation platforms, nine traverses, or zip lines, two hanging bridges, a swing and, at the end, a mandatory chance to rappel back to solid ground.

We all put on helmets and step into harnesses that are pulled snug against our waists and legs. The carabiners and ropes hanging off the harnesses make me feel like a real adventurer. A series of steps up the side of a mountain leads us to a tree with two parallel cables wrapped around it.

I8217;ve since been assured by engineers that one well-maintained cable is sufficient to hold not only a person, but a house. After all, ski lifts and suspension bridges carrying trucks are held up by a single cable. But that second cable gives me the courage to jump off the side of the mountain and go sailing across the valley. A rope from my harness is attached to a pulley that8217;s attached to both cables, so even if one cable breaks, I8217;m going to stay above ground and reach the platform at the next tree.

I8217;m wearing nifty leather rappelling gloves. Before leaping, I reach behind my head and grab one of the cables with my right hand. If I put no tension on that cable, I will zip across the forest at breakneck speed. But I can slow myself down by applying pressure8212;something that8217;s essential once I get within a couple of yards of the tree to which I8217;m travelling.

My guide has gone ahead and is waiting on the far platform8212;both to remind me to slow down at the proper point and to physically prevent me from smashing into the tree should I fail to follow his simple instructions.

Each zip line I zoom along gets a bit more fun, because I8217;m less apprehensive every time. Of the nine zip lines on this course, the longest stretches 272 feet. The highest platform from which you jump is 72 feet above the forest floor. The swing is a Tarzan-style contraption requiring you to grab a rope and swing from the treetop platform to the ground below.

At the end I am euphoric. I feel that I really accomplished something. At the same time, like any explorer who has endured hardship with fun, I8217;m glad to have returned to solid ground and be done with it.

LAT-WP