Lake Geneva is one of the popular getaway destinations around Chicagoland area. Especially in the fall, foliage around Lake Geneva is amazing. This year, we decided to take a different route and try ziplining through the beautiful fall foliage. Despite the fact that we visited canopy tours at the beginning of November, the weather was gorgeous and leaves were still on the trees.
We booked our session with Lake Geneva Canopy Tours over the phone. You have to reserve a date and a time. There are many options to choose from such as zip line, high ropes, hiking & biking etc. We picked zip lining. The age limit was 7. Kids were 11 and 8. When you arrive at the address, first you check in at the building on the West side of Elkhorn Road 30 minutes before your start time. They make sure everyone is registered and has signed their waivers.
Then you go up the hill across the street and arrive at the Welcome Center. You get your helmets and gear, get introduced to your guides and given instructions to follow. At that time, you leave all your cell phones and cameras with your guide. You can only carry snap and shoot cameras with straps and they have to be on your wrist at all times. You cannot carry them in your hand. Instructors and guides put your gear on, buckles and straps you. You never touch your gear throughout the tour. 
Then we moved on to the practice area. Our guides showed us how to zip line, slow down, pull forward or push backwards. Everyone got to practice once.
The next was the actual ziplining experience. We were a group of 8. 6 from our family and another couple. Our guides were two fun women. One of our guides would go first. Then kids and adults one by one. We waited for the rest of the group on the tree until our other guide arrived. 
Kids picked it up fairly quickly.
My daughter was our group’s youngest and lightest but she ziplined like a pro. She had to pull herself forward only once. 
We had to climb up few spiral stairs. I tried to enjoy much of the view around me without falling down as much as possible.
There were fun totem and woodcraft decorations along the path. 
I think we went up 3 spiral stairs.
And crossed 5 sky bridges. They were fun. 
I took a lot of photos with my small camera strapped to my wrist. We took lots of individual and group photos. You can’t really use a smartphone unless it has a case with an extended wrist band. You have to have both hands empty when ziplining.
Group guides also take photos nd you can get them on a flash drive in return of a small additional fee.
There were 8 zip lines with different lengths. She amazes me. She had no fear whatsoever. She enjoyed the whole experience.
You can ask for a special helmet to attach your camera/goPro, if you have one. My son had a camera attached to his helmet.
As much as I complain about the cold winter in Chicago, these mesmerizing fall colors help me fill my bucket enough to make it through the winter.
This was the last and longest leg, where you race. Women raced against men. 😀
It was a great day to be outside. Kids had the most fun. We later went back to Lake Geneva downtown to enjoy the last ice cream (Literally the last. They closed down the store after serving us) of the season at Scoops Ice Cream. Their buckets emptied fast due to unexpectedly warm weather that day.
If you are in the Chicagoland area, mark this as a bucketlist item. Zip lining tour is about 2,5 hours and it’s not exhausting. Doing it on a fall or spring day might be better than a hot summer day. Hiking path is also very enticing for the summer.
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