Took my 10 year old son here and we both did all the kids ropes. The ziplines were fun and I would definitely recommend this!!

If you’re looking for an alternative to the usual summer water activities at Lake Tahoe, consider Treetop Adventure Park, where zip line meets ropes course for plenty of heart-pounding thrills. The park consists of platforms installed in trees high above the ground and connected by configurations of cables, wood, rope, and zip lines to form bridges. The price is extremely reasonable -- $45 for adults and $28 for kids. Be forewarned though, this activity is physically and mentally challenging, involving strength, agility, and an ability to set aside any fear of heights you may have!

My husband, two kids and I tried Treetop out with some friends over a recent August weekend. We spent almost three hours there, including the time it took to don our safety gear and receive “ground training.” Each of the five adult courses ranges in difficulty from the easiest “pink” one, to the most challenging “blue” course. In the time we were there, most of us completed two or three of the five courses. Participants are able to do the courses without the direct assistance of staff by using a belay system that ensures you can never be disconnected from the safety cables. There’s also a separate kids course that is easier and lower to the ground. All the kids in our group, the youngest being nine, were allowed to do the adult courses with a grown-up assisting. (Maybe not the best idea when you read my comments below.)

Despite finishing up the afternoon with aching muscles and extreme thirst (remember to bring water; we forgot and they don't provide!), our overall experience was very positive. The forest setting is lovely, and I was impressed with the attention paid to safety, as well as to protecting the trees and environment. I would absolutely go back . . . and hopefully conquer the courses more easily the second time around! That said, the park is new and has a few kinks to work out in terms of management and guest flow.

1. They should limit the number of people in the groups so the courses are not so crowded, or possibly find a way to better distribute participants among the courses based on ability.

2. They need way more on-the-ground staff to provide assistance to participants, so when someone is having trouble or gets stuck in the middle of the zip line there isn’t such a backup.

3. They need to look at revising the height and/or age restrictions to reduce the number of people (kids mainly) on the adult courses and to better distribute participants among the individual courses. Even though my nine-year-old did a great job on even the most difficult course, she was not always tall enough to open and close the belay clips. Lighter-weight kids were also more likely to get stuck mid-zip line, and this caused frustrating delays.

4.They need to prominently post and enforce stricter rules about when to close off courses at the end of the day, similar to what ski resorts do. As it approached 7:00pm on the day we went, one of the staff members started walking around and warning us (in a rude and somewhat threatening tone) that if we began a course too late we might get stuck on it after dark and there'd be no one to help us. This statement was very unprofessional and could have been avoided with a clear-cut and posted closure time.

5. They might consider creating and posting signs with guidelines for maneuvering some of the more demanding platform challenges. This would be especially helpful to first-timers.

6. They might consider incorporating at least one way to exit each course part-way through it.

7. They need to make water available, even if you have to pay for it.

So much potential, but this place falls down on customer service. They oversold the group so it was super, super crowded and slow. They let everyone go at once on the same course... slowing everyone down. My 11-year old was trapped on a platform for 30 minutes because a little girl in front of her was scared to death on the second course. This same little girl was freaked out on the first course too, but instead of doing the first course gain, the staff just let them try the next course which was beyond their ability. (It's like taking a new skier a blue run, when they cried and fell the entire time on the bunny run. No one will be happy or safe.) They don't explain how to move your rope along the trees if they get stuck and one man (I think the boss) told us our 6 1/5 year old would have to "figure it out" when he was on the highest zip line and couldn't get his tether to move. The bosses snotty tone wasn't my favorite part at all. One girl missed the zipline platform and was suspended in mid air for a few minutes before a staff person helped her. Super frustrating experience, but it could have been so much better. So net, net. I wouldn't recommend if it's crowded. Go along with your kids because there will be NO help at all on the course.

We had a great time at this "adventure park" -- my kids ages 8 - 12 were all able to do the adult courses which provided plenty of excitement and challenge for us all. The apparatus seemed very safe and there was a lot of variety. But, we went at 11am on a Thursday and spent too much time waiting for slow pokes on the course ahead of us. Some kids and adults can whiz through and others of all ages will struggle due to fear or lack of coordination. If you want to get the most out of it, go when it's less crowded, and be the first on the course. They really should limit the number of people to less than the 20 or so that were in our group (the guys told me it was there biggest group). Other notes: Bring water (they provide none but should), wear comfortable clothes and plan on getting quite dusty.