The Blue Ridge Mountains are known to blow visitors away with its jaw-dropping panoramas.
Nature abounds in the region, with countless hiking trails, thunderous waterfalls, mountain streams, vibrant wildflowers and wildlife. And there’s an inherent peacefulness that comes with these pastoral landscapes.
A road trip along the Blue Ridge Parkway is one of the best ways to take it all in. This slow-moving scenic route offers 469 winding miles of mountain ridges, stunning scenic overlooks, and state parks.
But there’s also a completely different way to see the area, with your hair flapping wildly in the wind as you whizz through the trees, your body suspended over rocky terrain, and your eyes wide with excitement.
Zip lining in North Carolina offers a relatively new, heart-thumping way to see the beautiful Blue Ridge region, and there are several places for ziplining in Boone NC that are particularly impressive.
The NC High Country is home to three of the best companies for zip lining in NC and they all offer unique experiences, including nighttime zips, giant swings, and kid-friendly lines.
READ MORE: 20 Best Things to Do in Boone NC (Blue Ridge Parkway MM 291.8)
Ziplining in Boone NC Guide
1. Hawksnest Zipline
2058 Skyland Drive, Seven Devils NC • 828-963-6561
Located in the tiny North Carolina mountain town of Seven Devils, about 14 miles from the Downtown Boone restaurants and Breweries, Hawksnest is a snow skiing resort that turned into a snow tubing hub in 2008.
It has over 30 lanes of snow tubing on several different topographies.
Hawksnest began construction on its NC ziplining adventures in early 2009, and welcomed the first zippers that summer.
Today their two full zipline courses provide 20 individual zip lines and over four miles of aerial exploration.
Sometimes the lines exceed heights of 200 feet, and zippers can potentially reach speeds of up to 40 mph.
If you’re planning on visiting nearby Boone NC Christmas Tree Farms around the Christmas holidays, you can also take a tour that carries you above snow-covered slopes in the frosty Blue Ridge winter.
In addition to ziplining near Boone NC, this would also be the closest destination for ziplining near Banner Elk.
READ MORE: The Best Places to Celebrate Christmas in North Carolina
Tours
The Hawk Tour is the shortest of the Hawksnest zipline tours. It offers 11 cables spanning about 1.5 miles, including two cables that individually surpass 1500 feet.
The tour takes two hours or so, and is probably the best option for first-timers and families with young kids.
Their longer tour is called the Eagle Tour. It runs nearly three miles and involves nine cables, with two that are over 2,000 feet long and three that are over 1,200 feet.
This Hawksnest tour takes about two hours, and is better suited for experienced zipliners who are adequately fit and comfortable with heights.
The Snow Bird Tour combines lines from the Hawk Tour and the Eagle Tour.
It is shorter overall than either of the other tours and only involves four cables, one of which is amongst the longest on the property. This tour only takes about an hour or so.
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2. Sky Valley Zip Tours
634 Sky Ranch Road • Blowing Rock, NC • Phone: 828-264-0002
Sky Valley Zip Tours is located on Sky Ranch Road, right between the towns of Boone and Blowing Rock (two of the top tourist destinations in the NC High Country).
It’s only five miles from the heart of Boone, just on the outskirts of Moses H. Cone Memorial Park.
The facility encompasses over 140 acres in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains, including a river, 35-foot waterfall, and tons of forest.
There are 10 cables here for ziplining, plus a swinging bridge and a 20-foot slide for the kids.
Ziplining Sky Valley not only includes the adventure, but a quick ground school for getting the most out of the unique experience of zip lining in the North Carolina mountains.
READ MORE: The 15 Best Things to Do in Blowing Rock NC
Tours
The main tour offered at Sky Valley includes more than just the zip lines.
Their Canopy Tour also features an ATV ride through the river and up the mountain, a ground school for learning about zipping, cliff repelling, and traversing a 120-foot swinging bridge for a waterfall view.
Sky Valley also offers a Night Flight Tour, which starts after sunset on select weekends. In addition to the 10-cable zipline course, it includes the ATV ride, ground school, and cliff jump, and the platforms are illuminated with lights.
For smaller children, Sky Valley offers the Kid Zip Tour.
It features 7 zip lines, as well as the swinging bridge and 20-foot slide. Kids need to be able to reach up to 48 inches, but all participants should be under 5’6” and 180 pounds.
READ MORE: The 10 Best Restaurants in Blowing Rock NC for Foodies
3. High Gravity Adventures
215 Tweetsie Railroad Road • Blowing Rock, NC • Phone: 828-266-0176
Email: [email protected]
Officially launched in 2015, High Gravity Adventures is a full-fledged aerial adventure park with zip lines, swinging logs, sky bridges, repelling, and all sorts of other fun stuff.
The park is not far from Mystery Hill and located just outside of Tweetsie Railroad (the Wild West Theme Park Adventure in Blowing Rock).
Tweetsie ticket holders get discounts to HGA, which puts High Gravity right in the NC family vacation mix.
In addition to Boone (4 miles north), this is also the closest place for ziplining in Blowing Rock NC (4 miles south).
READ MORE: The Best Christmas Lights in North Carolina
Tours
The Zip Line Tour at High Gravity Adventures includes 5 cables and a total of 1700 feet of zipping.
One of the lines is a 1000-foot flight across the valley. In addition to zipping, this tour includes an introduction to the gear at the beginning and a 70-foot drop at the end.
To ensure visitor ease and safety, the HGA guides handle all of the braking on this tour.
The High Gravity Adventures Aerial Adventure Park has different climbing options for adults and kids.
The Blue Ridge Park is suitable for kids ages 7 and up, while the Foothills Park & Zip Lines offers challenges geared towards younger visitors (ages 4+). There’s also a “Ninja Ground Course” for anyone who is wary of heights.
For an additional fee, tour participants (1-3 at a time) can add a couple of rides on The Giant Swing, which can reach heights of up to 4 stories!
READ MORE: The 20 Best Treehouse Rentals in the North Carolina Mountains
Other North Carolina Zipline Adventures
There are numerous other zip lines in North Carolina, including several near Asheville: Navitat Canopy Adventures, The Adventure Center Asheville, and French Broad Adventures.
Visitors further south, in Franklin, Cashiers, or Murphy NC, might want to check out Highlands Aerial Park.
But, the zip lines in Boone are the best places to go when visiting major NC attractions such as Grandfather Mountain State Park, the Linville Gorge Wilderness Area & Linville Falls Campground.
They’re also conveniently located if you’re exploring the upper reaches of the many Pisgah National Forest Hiking Trails, Pisgah National Forest Waterfalls, or North Carolina’s gorgeous stretch of the Blue Ridge Parkway for Day Hikes. -Jonathon Engels
