News & Events at Tree Frog Canopy Tours, Ohio's Newest Attraction

Zip Line Experience Being Developed on Wally Byway, Ohio

By JIM BREWER T-G Staff Writer

GREER -- Two Mansfield area entrepreneurs are developing a new kind of attraction for visitors to Mohican Country.

Bruce Baker and Jordan Christiansen are in the building phase of Tree Frog Canopy Tours. They hope the facility will offer a world class zip-line experience on a 50-acre site just south of Big Hill Road in northeastern Knox County. The location is just off Wally Road Scenic Byway, nine miles south of Loudonville, or 1.5 miles north of Greer.

The attraction, which involves an investment of $750,000, Baker said, will include two sky bridges, two rappelling areas and seven zip lines, ranging in length from 145 feet to the final 1,100-foot traverse. All zip lines will begin and end at tree-based platforms.

The entire facility, Baker explained, "will offer a genuine canopy tour experience for guests. For an $85 fee, guests will go on a thrill-packed, 21/2-hour experience. Groups of eight, led by two tour guides, will take the adventure, starting out with a ground school with basic equipment use and safety lessons, followed by a trip on a starter zip line of 145 feet just a few feet off the ground, so they can experience what a zip ride is like.
"Participants will ride on seven different zip lines, with two rappelling experiences between them, climbing onto platforms built high in the trees," he said. "The final zip line will traverse a space of 1,100 feet."
The infrastructure for this experience is under construction now on the 50-acre site near the southern end of Mohican Wilderness Campground.
Baker and Christiansen have signed a long-term lease with Wilderness camp owner Ann Wobbecke.

Participants will park and start their experience at the old Scout Barn, near the intersection of Big Hill and Vess roads, just off the Wally Byway.
Performing installation of the zip lines, suspended bridges and tree-based canopies is Bonsai Design of Grand Junction, Colo., which also designed the course.

"We chose Bonsai Design not only because they are a leading U.S. zip-line installer, but because of their commitment to sustainable design," said Christiansen, the managing partner of Tree Frog Canopy Tours. "They lead the industry in installation methods that are minimally intrusive to trees and other natural features."

"The tour is not only designed to be fun and exciting, but also to give guests an appreciation of the biodiversity of the Mohican area," Baker said. He added that the course will be designed to exceed technology standards of the Association for Challenge Courses. All guides will be association certified.
Baker said the business will employ about 30 people when it opens this summer. Applications can be made on the Tree Frog website, www.treefrogcanopytours.com.

"Our time frame for opening is between July 17, at the earliest, and Aug. 1, depending on how long it takes to fine-tune the course," Baker said.
Workers from Bonsai Design, as well as other construction contractors, are at the scene establishing the course and doing other construction projects. Baker said the business will be based in the barn at the base of the course, which will include a retail shop.

He also noted that anyone older than 10 years old who meets basic height and weight requirements can participate in the tour. Guests will wear climbing helmets and harnesses, and will be attached to zip cables with a trolley. Guests will be tethered onto a safety point at all times.

Baker said both he and Christiansen became sold on the canopy tour concept after experiences at similar facilities in Central America -- Baker's at Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and Christiansen a little later in Costa Rica.

The canopy tour zip line concept was first developed in Costa Rica in 1992, Baker said.

Involvement in recreation/tourist businesses is old hat for Baker, who worked in management positions at Snow Trails Ski Resort in Mansfield from the mid-1960s until the mid-1990s.

This will be the third zip line operation in Ohio. One is in the Hocking Hills area, near Rockbridge, and the other at a Boy Scout camp in the Kings Island area just north of Cincinnati.

"The Kings Island facility is not a true canopy tour in that telephone poles and other man-made supports are used, rather than natural trees," Baker said.
Next closest zip line operation to Ohio is in West Virginia near the New River Bridge.

Baker said he and Christiansen selected the Big Hill Road site after an extensive search "where I Google-mapped virtually every remote, hilly area in Ohio. We ended up selecting this site because it, unlike most deeply wooded areas, had not been timbered recently. We had lots of huge trees to use as anchors and supports for our platforms and bridges. As soon as we took a drive up Big Hill Road, we knew this was the place."