Talk to me about zip lines

Maybe your mom?  <---That's a pic of me with my husband ;)

We're both just big kids.  We take turns trying to talk each other out of stuff like this, which usually doesn't work.  Our kids don't really appreciate it yet.  My husband and I were both a little wild when we were younger, and we have agreed that it's better to have the house where the kids want to hang out than not. 

We're trying to proceed accordingly, and in the meantime it's fun for us :) It results in stuff like a rope swing in the kitchen, hidden rooms in the house, the ping-pong table displacing the DR table occasionally, a menagerie of animals, lots of fishing on weeknights, a fire-ring in the front yard, and, hopefully, a zip line (or two)!

Thanks Josh ;P

Wow! Even better. I love your guys adventurous side. I needs pics of the zip line when you guys are done with it. My 6 year old son keeps asking if we could do a zip line because he saw one on TV.

I don't have personal experience setting one up, but my cousins did and they said it wasn't hard. The only thing is that you want it high enough for maximum "fun" factor, especially if there are larger people that may be trying it....they'll sag too far to the ground. 

Then, make sure its accessible with board steps on the tree or some kind of easy, but stable, ladder.  

That is what I noticed was wrong with my cousins set up.

Of course, but let me figure out how to get the zip line up first :)

That is good advice. 

We're going to kind of develop this area by the creek a bit.  It's just to the west of the pond, and I think will be a good option on blazing hot/sunny days--the kids like to dam build and creek stomp. Our current working plan is to put a treehouse on the starting side of the zip line, so that will require the board steps and some sort of starting platform.  I'll make sure we put it up high enough that a big dude could go across and not get dragged :)

How about any of the Marines?  Did you guys ever run zip lines?  My only real experience with zip lines was doing the ropes course at Quantico, but my experience there was limited.

Thanks--that's an illustrative link.  We had been thinking two trees, but picking trees/geometry that would slow the ride at the end, but I like the three tree idea.  It greatly reduces the ditz-out-and-get-rocked factor;)  I had to google "hemp rope swiss seat" and one of the first images that came up was this:

I'm quite sure that's ^not a "swiss seat," but it did make me laugh.  You crazy army guys. Just who, exactly, are you sending down the zip line like that?

Nah, man, I knew that wasn't a "swiss seat" it was just hilarious that the bound and gagged photo came up in the search.  The video link you gave is great though.

We're planning on just doing the pully that you hold onto w/ a handle.  Is there a reason to not do that? The drop won't be more than 12 feet, and a large section of that is over a creek.

I wasn't a Marine, but we made fun of them in the Army. 

We used them (so fun!), but I never set them up. I'll ask my other half when he gets home though. He did that kind of high-speed stuff.

HA--our blueberries are far away from the purposed site, but we were thinking of planting some strawberries close by;)

This seems like it could be important info, but I'm not exactly sure what you mean.  Can you clarify a bit?

This is an excellent point. 

We have crazy insurance because of our non-profit (nature program for kids that involves other "high risk" activities like swimming, canoeing, climbing, caving, etc.), and that insurance covers activities on our property and others'. 

Just have a rope dangling down from whatever handle you use (if it's fairly close to the ground- not over a ravine) so you can pull it from below if someone jumps off at the bottom and it catapults part way back up.  Or if someone gets stuck you can pull them to either side (tends to happen with smaller people esp if you get slack in your system.)

Have fun- I love zip lines!

Call these guys.  Maybe they can help. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3r0pROzHY5M