I love the feeling of adrenaline pumping, so I booked us on the 5000+ foot long Zip Rider in Icy Strait, Alaska. Our meet up time was 8:50am, so we wandered around the old cannery buildings and museum for an hour before heading out on our adventure.
It is a 40 minute ride to the top of the mountain on a school bus with a large section of the drive on a dirt road. After the ride there is a 5 minute hike down the mountain to the Zip Rider. The hike is down a steep dirt road, so if you have any mobility issues, this is not the excursion for you. Also, if you chicken out, you have to hike back up the steep road to the bus. Fair warning there…and they do not tell you any of this ahead of time.
The Zip Rider is a seated zip line with controlled speed and breaking. It’s a fun ride down and I had my Olympus Tough TG-Tracker recording the entire way. The zip rider gets up to 60mph on the top half and the chairs spin side to side. Just stick an arm out to turn yourself. After the ride they showed us our pictures available for purchase, but we decided to skip that. I made sure to point my camera at myself during the ride and at Walt when he came down. So, two screen shots and I have my pictures for no extra charge.
Next up was some more souvenir shopping and BEER! We went to the Crab House bar and I had the Baranof Spruce Tip beer. It’s a nice Amber infused with spruce needles. I had a spruce tip beer years ago at the local Haines, AK brewery and enjoyed it. Baranof did not disappoint. Next up was an Irish style stout for me and Halibut Fish and Chips. With all of this beer, I had to eat something.
We ended our day walking on the stone beach back to the pier looking for sea creatures. We saw lots of mussels, clams, and barnacles. We also found a Princess cruise line ship card for one of their passengers from the week prior. This is why I use a lanyard.