Hidden Adventures: Yosemite Zipline and Adventure Ranch
MARIPOSA, Calif. (KFSN) -- Sometimes, we could all use a break.
Maybe a little mountain air.
That's what Nora Rubalcaba was looking for.
"I really wanted to get the wind in my hair and boy did I sure get that," said Rubalcaba.
That's what a lot of people are looking for when they come to Yosemite Ziplines and Adventure Ranch.
Located less than an hour and a half from downtown Fresno in Mariposa, the ranch offers a unique escape from the day-to-day and gives you a new perspective of the Central Valley.
Bryan Imrie started the company with his wife just over seven years ago, and the zipline tour features six different lines totaling 4,000 feet of cable.
Once you're strapped up and have your helmet, your adventure begins. For two hours, you'll be flying high over the trees.
There's even a line where you try to throw a beanbag into a stump as you fly over it.
And if you make it, you get a free t-shirt.
The zipline tour is right in our backyard but it may be more well-known worldwide than it is in the Central Valley.
"We've had Russia, Australia, all over Europe, Asia. We get 'em all," said Imrie.
Pinboards in the office show where people have come from to zip; the lines are less than an hour from the entrance to Yosemite National Park, making it a natural stop if you're seeing the park.
In our group alone, we had one couple from Fresno, one family from LA and one family from Louisiana and it's an adventure for just about everyone.
Some come looking for fun, but others come to the mountains looking for even more.
"We'll get groups of people that come and they won't say anything in the beginning, but by the end, they'll tell us that so and so has stage four this or that, and this is where they came to have that last family reunion. It's touching, that's the good stuff," Imrie.
Nora, she's someone who was here for even more.
"I was so nervous I 'didn't even eat breakfast this morning," said Rubalcaba.
It was her first time ziplining, yes, but it was also her first adventure since her husband of 49 years passed away earlier this year.
"I mean...talk about getting a jolt. This is what I needed," said Rubalcaba.
She brought her younger brother Jesse Sanchez along.
"This was on her bucket list," said Sanchez.
So if 'you're looking for fun, for some time away or something, even more, Yosemite Ziplines is a Hidden Adventure that has just what everyone needs.
"There's so much in our backyard we 'haven't discovered, and I think if we were a bit more adventurous and tried to reconnect with nature 'we'd find a lot of beautiful things out in our Valley," said Rubalcaba.
For more on the zipline ranch, click here.
