Thrill seekers, channel your inner Tarzan and tackle an aerial ropes course at one of several family-friendly adventure parks in the Houston area.
Each of these parks has a treetop attraction consisting of ropes courses that get harder as you traverse higher. Some are as high as 60 feet 😱 Many of the challenges on these sky trails consist of zip lines, nets and wobbly wooden planks -- but don’t worry. All the parks require participants to use safety harnesses.
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The aerial courses listed below are designed for adults and children. They have age, height, weight and youth supervision restrictions. Reservations are required at several of these locations.
🌳 Texas TreeVentures, The Woodlands
Texas TreeVentures is a challenge by choice aerial adventure course located in The Woodlands, Texas. The ropes course is situated on the campus of the Recreation Center at Rob Fleming Park, directly adjacent to the expansive 1,800-acre George Mitchell Nature Preserve, which is home to abundant wildlife, several miles of wooded trails, and Spring Creek.
The Texas TreeVentures course is a series of physical challenges and adventure-based elements designed for children and adults. The three-level aerial adventure course tests participants with 72 challenging elements. The self-guided course allows climbers to choose the elements that they are comfortable traversing. The course becomes more physically challenging the higher you go. To progress to the next level, participants must complete the preceding level.
Every participant is given three hours to experience the course at their own pace and comfort level. The gear-up process and ground school instructions are part of the three-hour reservation slot. A children’s course ticket at Texas TreeVentures is $40. A ticket for participants 13 and older is $45.
The Recreation Center at Rob Fleming Park, 6464 Creekside Forest Drive, The Woodlands, TX 77389, (281) 210-2048, texastreeventures.com.
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🐒 Geronimo Adventure Park, Spring
Located near TC Jester and Kuykendall, the 13-acre outdoor adventure park features 16 zip lines across three sky trails, which include a beginner course; a course with a nine challenges and a 555-foot tandem zip finale; and a course with a 42-foot freefall jump experience. Also available -- axe throwing, a 24-foot rock wall, and more than a dozen ground activities, including a giant seesaw, a balance challenge and a ninja obstacle course.
Zip line experiences range in price from $44.99 (one course) to $99.99 (all three sky trails).
6749 Farm to Market 2920, Spring, TX 77379, (830) 365-5867, geronimoadventurepark.com.
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🌊 Aerial Adventures at Big Rivers Waterpark, New Caney
Located north of Houston near the intersection of Interstate 69 and Highway 242, this 40-acre waterpark in Montgomery County has a lazy river, a massive wave pool, several slides, a play structure, an inflatable waterpark and an obstacle course floating on a spring-fed lake.
Prefer to stay dry? Big Rivers Waterpark also boasts several aerial adventures, including an entry-level zip line course, an “ultimate” zip line course with three different towers, a climbing wall, free-fall attraction, obstacle course and six-story ropes course with over 50 different challenges. Zip line and obstacle and ropes course participants are given an hour to experience the attractions at their own pace and comfort level.
Waterpark admission is required to participate in the aerial attractions, which range in price from $14.99 to $19.99.
23101 TX-242, New Caney, TX 77357, (832) 509-1556, bigriverswaterpark.com.
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🌴 Moody Gardens Ropes Course & Zip Line, Galveston
Challenge your agility, balance and strength at the Moody Gardens’ five-tier Sky Trail Ropes Course, dubbed the “tallest steel ropes course on the Gulf Coast.” The 71-foot-high ropes course and zip line consists of 48 obstacles you can complete at your own pace and comfort level: Walk on suspended wooden steps, step carefully through hanging rope loops, and negotiate other challenges, all while protected by a full-body harness and safety lanyard.
Tiny adrenaline junkies 48 inches and under can hop on the Sky Tykes Ropes Course for a smaller-scale adventure. The open course allows parents to walk alongside their child and assist them.
A zip line glides over Palm Beach and the lazy river and offers bird’s eye view of the Moody Gardens Pyramids and tropical gardens.
The ropes course and zip line tickets are $30 each. Purchase double the fun with a $50 combo ticket. The Sky Tykes Ropes Course is $5.
1 Hope Blvd, Galveston, TX 77554, (409) 683-4200, moodygardens.com.
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🧗♀️ Natural Bridge Caverns, New Braunfels
This is a not-so-nearby locale we recommend visiting if you’re on a weekend getaway in the Texas Hill Country. Located west of New Braunfels, Natural Bridge Caverns is the largest commercial cave in the state and a registered United States National Natural Landmark.
The cavern was discovered in March 1960 and opened for public tours in 1964. Several different tours are offered. Get up early enough and you can take the popular Lantern Tour, the first tour of the day. On this tour, visitors traverse the cave’s passages illuminated only by the light of handheld lanterns, just like the original cave’s discoverers did decades ago. Other tours include the Discovery Tour, Hidden Passages Tour and the Adventure Tour.
Finished your tour and craving even more adventure? Head back above ground and try your hand at the Twisted Trails Zip Rail and Ropes Course, a four-level ropes course with challenge elements including vertical rope ladders, double beams, and lily pads. While traversing through the ropes course, you can transition seamlessly to one of seven zip rails.
There’s Tykes version of the Twisted Trails Zip Rail and Ropes Course perfect for little thrill-seekers. The pint-sized attraction allows toddlers and young adventurers to experience some of the challenges offered with the larger course.
Participants are given 45 minutes to experience the ropes course. A Twisted Trails tickets is $26.99 ($24.99 online) and a ticket to the TYKES Zip Rail and Ropes Course is $8.99 ($7.99 online).
26495 Natural Bridge Caverns Rd, San Antonio, TX 78266, (210) 651-6101, naturalbridgecaverns.com.
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