Visiting Wimberley? Why not see it from a bird’s eye view. No, not from way up in the sky in an airplane, but flying over the scenic valley all by yourself barely above the treetops. Wimberley Zipline Adventures will get you there and teach you a little something in the process. The entire experience takes about two hours. You start off with a walking tour where you’ll learn about the local ecosystem of plants and wildlife and local history. Wimberley Zipline Adventures is located on the Four Winns’ Ranch on Winn Valley Drive off Farm Road 1492 in Wimberley. Open Wednesday through Monday with adventures beginning at 9 AM, 11 AM, 1 PM and 3 PM. Call ahead for reservations because space on each tour is limited. For more information, call 512-847-9990 or visit the web site at www.wimberleyzipline.com. A van takes you part way up one of the hills and you hike the rest of the way. Up top, a trained guide buckles you into a harness and teaches you how to “fly,” taking you on a short practice run.

At the first platform, a guide helps you connect to the zipline and then — whoosh — away you fly to another platform, hanging from a locked pulley on a steel line that stretches between two hillsides. You’re flying with the hawks, soaring over the treetops up to about 100 feet, thrilling to a speed of up to 30 miles per hour, enjoying the spectacular 15-mile views of the Wimberley Valley. And you do this not once, but eight times. Eight ziplines with lengths varying between 150 feet and 900 feet are strung out in a zigzag pattern to separate platforms. First you fly down this one, then another, then another, and so forth. This is an adventure the requires the use of the word “awesome” when describing it to your friends later. No prior experience is needed. You must be a minimum of 10 years old and weigh a minimum of 70 pounds. Women have a maximum weight of 200 pounds, men of 250 pounds.

This was all the idea of Mike and Kristy Robinson who went on a zipline adventure in Belize and thought the idea would be a good one in Wimberley. They partnered with Cheryl and Jim Turner and after 13 months of sometimes backbreaking work hauling the cables and cement and bolts and rebar to anchor the system in place, the ziplines were ready to go-go-go-go-go.

Now it’s your turn.