From the moment I hit the gate at Carolina Adventure World, people were asking: "Have you done the zip line?"
It's the newest attraction at a 2,600-acre outdoor park designed with more than 100 miles of trails for all-terrain vehicles and dirt bike enthusiasts.
The park was featured as a Next Big Thing when the developers announced it in mid-2006 near Winnsboro, S.C., about 55 miles south of Charlotte on Interstate 77.
It's now open seven days a week with trails that challenge riders with various degrees of difficulty, motocross tracks, a mud bog, camping facilities and a welcome center with rental vehicles, souvenirs and food.
But the park is still evolving.
A clay go-cart track is in the works, and later this summer Black Ops Challenge will feature vintage military weapons that fire with compressed air and Fast Attack Vehicle rides.
Owner Don Wilburn estimates he will have invested more than $10 million by the time the park is completed over several more years with a lodge, full-service restaurant and a hotel.
A big challenge so far, said Jim Floyd, a Charlotte partner of Wilburn, has been getting utility services through rugged terrain to all areas of the facility.
Weekends, of course, are the park's busiest days, but corporate groups often book it for team building events on weekdays.
On the Saturday I visited, just under 400 people were riding the trails and checking out the scenery from one of the highest elevations in Fairfield County.
And the zip line?
Acknowledging my fear of heights, I tried for at least an hour to deflect questions about checking it out.
"OK, let's go," I said as my heart began to pound.
Attendants strap you into a safety harness, and then you climb the steps of a 17-foot tower for the first leg -- 1,300 feet -- of a three-leg course.
The hardest part is stepping off the edge, which I mustered the courage do as I yelled, "Geronimo!" just like in the World War II paratrooper movies.
I went whizzing into the sky about 100 feet over terra firma at roughly 35 mph. In just over 30 seconds I landed safely at the top of the second tower.
Woo-hoo! Off to the second leg -- 850 feet, and then the third, 1,100 feet.
Now that I'm pretty much a zip line expert, why are my knees still knocking?
Want to go?
Carolina Adventure World is 55 miles south of Charlotte on Camp Welfare Road at Interstate 77 Exit 46.
Visitors can buy day passes and rent vehicles seven days a week. Riding the Blue Sky Zip Line requires a separate fee.
Information: www.carolinaadventureworld.com.
