By Dave Windsheimer
A Long Island-based developer is hoping to
give North Country visitors the chance to fly
high over the Adirondack treetops beginning
next spring.
Ralph Macchio Sr., the owner of the Wild West
Ranch and Western Town on Mill Road in Lake
George, plans to construct what he says will be
the longest zip line (nearly 3,500 feet in length)
in the Northeast.
A zip line allows a rider (suspended by an
overhead wire) to soar in the air between cable
towers. Macchio’s thrill ride, called the Bear Pond
Zip-Flyer, would plunge adventure-seekers some
800 feet in elevation in 60 seconds from a tower on
French Mountain in the Town of Queensbury to
another tower on Wild West Ranch in the Town of
Lake George at a speed of about 58 miles per hour.
While enjoying the pulse-quickening ride in
the air, Macchio said visitors would experience
wondrous and unique views of Lake George, the
village and surrounding mountains. On a clear
day, Macchio (the father of the star of “The Karate
Kid” films of the 1980s, Ralph Macchio Jr.) said
the Adirondack High Peaks are visible from atop
French Mountain.
According to Macchio, the project has been
approved by the Adirondack Park Agency and by
the planning boards in both towns. He’s currently
awaiting final construction plans for submission
to municipal officials.
Macchio laughingly recalled his first zip line
ride.
“From my experience, when you’re first sitting
up there in the seat, looking out and down, you
have some apprehension,” he said. “Then, the gate
kicks open and out you go. For about two seconds,
you’re startled but all of a sudden, you take in the
scenery and realize you’re flying through the air.
It’s amazing.”
A zip line, Macchio said, is a perfect complement
to other plans the developer has for his
ranch. “We want to do things that are familyoriented,
such as circuses, concerts, archery,
target shooting and the like.”
The ranch has a restaurant, tavern and a video
game room.
Macchio said if things go according to plan, the
Bear Pond Zip-Flyer would be up and running by
late spring of 2015. “We’ve been working on this
thing for nearly four years,” he says. “We’re so
close yet so far.”