TOFINO — A new zipline tour and river kayaking company will open over the next few weeks in the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation’s tribal park along the Kennedy River.

WestCoast Wild Adventures Ltd.’s Jon Schaffer says there will be nine ziplines involved in the two-hour aerial tour.

The trip will start with a logging crummy shuttle from the new long house at Canyon Bridge just off Highway 4 to the top of the course.

“The first four lines are tree top, and the remaining five are river canyon lines running along the Kennedy River,” Schaffer told the Westcoaster.ca.

He notes the rugged canyon, carved by the river, is hidden less than 150 meters from Highway 4 – about halfway between Ucluelet and Port Alberni.

The zipline tour covers about 1.6 kilometers and will cost $107 per person.

The river kayaking tour will be a three-hour trip down the Kennedy River gorge through stands of old-growth rain forest and massive rock formations.

Schaffer said some of the money will go to the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation.

“Seven dollars from every ticket goes to the Tla-o-qui-aht salmon enhancement project.

“We’ve got a partnership going with the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation in the development of the Ha’uukmin Tribal Park.”

The company has a 10-year lease to develop and operate on Tla-o-qui-aht traditional lands.

Expansion planned

Schaffer is optimistic there is “lots of room for expansion” over the next few years, saying he hopes to build a full outdoor adventure centre.

As part of that development, he has plans to open up greater usage of the Clayoquot Valley Witness Trail with three- to five-day camping and hiking trips.

The 26-kilometre Witness Trail was cleared by the Western Canada Wilderness Committee in the early 1990s from the eastern end of the Sutton Pass into the Upper Kennedy and Upper Clayoquot River Valleys.

Schaffer has been working on the zipline and kayaking project for the past two and a half years.

The original surveying and trail maintenance was carried out last summer, as was some of the guideline work,

“But the fine tuning and the real construction started in March,” he said.

Workers are now putting in the final touches, with the kayaking set to open June 19 and the ziplining tour July 1.

Schaffer estimates the total cost of the project at “well over 200 grand.”

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