Skamania Lodge Zipline Escape

Ziplining and luxe treetop lodging sets you above the everyday at Skamania Lodge

written by Cathy Carroll

Perched on a small wooden platform 75 feet up a Douglas fir—the forest’s version of a seventh-story ledge—you breathe deep, channel your inner spotted owl and take in the canopy. Then you step off. Suddenly you’re flying, carried by a 900-foot steel cable and a harness that propels you at 35 miles per hour.

The craggy bark of the landing tree rushes toward you. A bug-on-the-windshield thought flashes, then vanishes as you brake and settle onto the platform. A warm, electrifying tingle floods your body, and you welcome the adrenaline, though it took some encouragement.

A manager at Skamania Lodge Adventures told visitors how his 92-year-old blind grandmother delighted in the zipline at the Stevenson resort, which sealed the deal. It’s easy to build up to grandma-level bravery on this two-and-a-half-hour tour, though. First, a series of short, controlled ziplines acclimates you, beginning with a 12-foot-high line that stretches 100 feet.

At all seven ziplines, a pair of guides offer the requisite encouragement. A simple “You got this” goes a long way. That was the case after the fifth zipline, when faced with stepping off the platform, but no outstretched cable in sight. This time it was an auto-belay, a cable 53 feet straight to the ground.

The belay brake engages for a gentle touchdown, and your feet confirm you’re back on solid ground, but your nose adds more—the fragrant, mossy, pine-needle-laden earth you hadn’t fully appreciated until you left it. The group of eight zippers, including two families with children from age 8 to 18, walk past a 350-year-old Doug fir and through the forest to wooden stairs leading to the next zipline.

At this point, emboldened zippers can choose from two maneuvers for the final zipline. With the “slingshot,” you leg press off the tree trunk and launch yourself backward for extra momentum. For the “butterball,” guides twist your tether, and as you launch, it unfurls into a spinning ride.

Since building the ziplining course that opened in 2013, co-owner Jonathan Johnson has watched its transformative power. He’s seen people start out with a white-knuckle grip on their harness tether to the cable. “By the time they’re at the last one, their hands are off, they’re spreading their wings, and they’re flapping along, flying down that last line,” he said. “It’s empowering. … I see that day in and day out.”

After the Zipline: Elevated Comfort

The treetop experience doesn’t end with ziplining, though. Retreating to one of Skamania Lodge’s treehouses makes for an elevated stay, perfect for post-adventure pampering amid the pines. The cabins, 40 feet atop stilt-like beams, let you indulge your inner child’s relish for hiding out in the woods, while wooing your adult sensibilities for style and comfort.

Skamania LodgeSkamania Lodge’s treehouses, 40 feet above the forest floor, offer a serene escape amid the pines. — Skamania Lodge’s treehouses, 40 feet above the forest floor, offer a serene escape amid the pines. (photo: Skamania Lodge)

Revive yourself in the walk-in shower, where dark glossy tile meets a large frosted-glass window that lets you maintain a private tree canopy view. Crawl into the queen daybed nook enclosed with tent-like canvas drapes and curl up with a book or relax at its bay window.

Stroll a wooded path to the lodge for a view of the Columbia River Gorge so striking in its sweep it evokes the oil paintings of nineteenth-century itinerant artists and the tribal peoples who have lived on this landscape since time immemorial. You’ll want to linger here in an Adirondack chair before heading inside to watch the sun set and savor Northwest-inspired dishes. Back at your treehouse, roast s’mores around your private fire pit, watch the stars come out and then crawl into the king-size bed.

In the morning, wrap yourself in a fluffy robe, stroll out onto the spacious, covered deck, sip coffee and listen to the birds and breeze in the pines. Plan the day, starting with e-biking, axethrowing or maneuvering the treetops via swaying wood-plank bridges, steps and other challenges in the Aerial Park. Then, reward yourself with a massage at the resort’s Waterleaf Spa.

Craving More Airtime?

If Skamania’s ziplining whets your appetite for a higher, faster challenge, ZiplineX in Amboy, near Vancouver, sends you soaring 280 feet above Canyon Creek. As you zip, watch for bungee jumpers diving from the bridge and soaring bald eagles. No experience is necessary—you start out on their training zipline that’s 24 feet high.