Adventures at the Aerial Park
Aventure Lafleche is a huge aerial park and adventure center located outside Ottawa in Val des Mont, Quebec. It is open year-round and has underground caves, the aerial park, hiking trails and snowshoeing. I had been looking to go for a month or so now and finally decided that last Saturday was the day! I booked myself for the Adventure Park which is 3-hour journey through 4 aerial courses. The courses are all done up in the trees and take you through on different suspension bridges and zip lines - including the Extreme Zip Lines course which takes you flying over the little lake in the park, through the forest, and one over the chalet. There were also many smaller zip lines throughout the course that took you tree-to-tree. The suspension bridges were in all different forms. My favorite was the skateboarding one where you stood on the skateboard and slid across on the wire to the next platform - very tricky but really cool! Some were not so pleasant and my arm strength was definitely tested as I struggled to hold on while the logs I was suspended on swayed wildly under my feet... not my most graceful moment but I didn't fall off on any of the obstacles at least.
When I signed up for the day, I was under the impression that a guide lead each group through the course and people would hook and unhook you from the zip lines and other obstacles and make sure you were safe, etc. I was sadly mistaken... When I arrived at the park, I signed in, got my equipment and an instructor got me properly harnessed. We were then lead up to the training area where we had a 10 minute lesson on how to use our equipment and harness. We then had to do a small practice on the ground course to demonstrate that we understood. Then we were sent off into the course with a pat onthe back and a good luck (I forgot we were in Quebec where safety isnt exactly a priority.... you should see Quebec drivers). I was in charge of my own destiny - including the hooking and unhooking of myself on the zip lines! It wasn't difficult, but still...
Anyways, I lived to tell the tale and had an awesome day there. I was at the park for about 4 hours and it cost less than $50 - very affordable! I couldn't take my camera out on the course (well, I could have but again, safety was at the forefront of my mind) so I poached that picture off their website. If you want a better idea of some of the neat suspension bridges and zip lines, check out this link and you can see what I mean http://www.aventurelafleche.ca/en/lafleche-adventure-aerial-adventure-park .
Stay tuned for my biggest adventure yet coming this weekend...
When I signed up for the day, I was under the impression that a guide lead each group through the course and people would hook and unhook you from the zip lines and other obstacles and make sure you were safe, etc. I was sadly mistaken... When I arrived at the park, I signed in, got my equipment and an instructor got me properly harnessed. We were then lead up to the training area where we had a 10 minute lesson on how to use our equipment and harness. We then had to do a small practice on the ground course to demonstrate that we understood. Then we were sent off into the course with a pat onthe back and a good luck (I forgot we were in Quebec where safety isnt exactly a priority.... you should see Quebec drivers). I was in charge of my own destiny - including the hooking and unhooking of myself on the zip lines! It wasn't difficult, but still...
Anyways, I lived to tell the tale and had an awesome day there. I was at the park for about 4 hours and it cost less than $50 - very affordable! I couldn't take my camera out on the course (well, I could have but again, safety was at the forefront of my mind) so I poached that picture off their website. If you want a better idea of some of the neat suspension bridges and zip lines, check out this link and you can see what I mean http://www.aventurelafleche.ca/en/lafleche-adventure-aerial-adventure-park .
Stay tuned for my biggest adventure yet coming this weekend...