Parks are often associated with long walks, playful pets and perhaps some sightseeing. One park in Birmingham is challenging this notion with their recent addition, zip line tours.

Birmingham’s Red Mountain Park introduced the Red Ore Zip Tour last April as an opportunity to fly down Red Mountain and over the park’s historic lands.

“It’s not every day you get to fly through the air,” David Page, assistant manager of Red Mountain Park, said.

Page, whose primary responsibilities include maintaining the route and managing tours, said the trip brings guests through 10 “tree houses,” or platforms, which are connected via seven zip lines, a rope bridge and a swing, all suspended between 10-50 feet off the ground.

“The zip line really works great for the park,” Page said. “[The builders] actually surveyed many of the existing trees, and we were able to build our tree houses into existing trees.”

The park contracted Beanstalk Journeys from North Carolina, which took advantage of Red Mountain’s natural elevation to bring guests on a progressively falling slope without need to regain elevation and while also minimizing their environmental impact. According to Beanstalk Journeys’ website, their designs aim to make use of their environments to create easily accessible adventures blending into their surroundings.

In that vein, Page said the built-in accessibility and extra training allows them to welcome guests of any age above 6 and any ability.

“It’s so much fun to see anybody come through and have a good time,” Page said. “Especially when they’re experiencing something they normally aren’t able to do.”

Advertised as an “aerial adventure through Birmingham’s past,” Page said the tour flies above original site of the mid-1800’s build iron and steel mills, once acting as the heart of Birmingham’s economy. He said the first tree house of the trip rises over mine 14, a mill Birmingham’s Mayor William Bell’s own grandfather worked.

Page suggested a trip to the park a good option for students. He said some University of Alabama students visited last Thursday and Friday night through a Ferguson Center program.

“College is all about finding your way, trying new things and getting out and doing things on your own,” Page said. “On just about any level, it’s perfect for a college student.”

Summer Trammell, a junior majoring in business management, worked as a guide for the park last summer. She recalled her trepidation during their first training session.

“I had never done it or even seen it before then,” Trammell said. “I was a little intimidated at first [to run the course], but by the end, I was going down some backwards.”

As a guide, Trammell would follow an average-sized group, or pod, of two to six people down the course with a partner, exchanging their harnesses and ensuring their safety. With larger groups, the park would assign a guide to each tree house.

Trammell said with the often miserable heat this past summer, she learned much about patience, but few guests were anything but excited. She said she was, however, surprised by the variety of guests.

“I thought there would be younger couples or younger families, but it wasn’t,” Trammell said. “We had young kids who were the minimum 60 pounds, but then we’d also had people who were 76 [years old].”

She said a fear of heights was common among some guests, and each took to the idea of flying through the air from a suspended wire differently, but none regretted the decision to fly.

“It really is fun, and the weather’s perfect right now,” Trammell said. “Even if you do have any fear of heights or other setbacks, go ahead and try it.”