LOOKING UP
JUDD WILSON/Press Visitors to the Mica Moon Zip Tours zip down the natural slope of the mountain Thursday.
The nine zip lines at Mica Moon include two beginner zips, four in the tree canopy up to 50 feet high, and three in the canyon up to 500 feet high. The last one is Big Mama, which at 3,550 feet long is one of the 10 longest in the world, said owner Rik Stewart. (JUDD WILSON/Press)
Holland Kartchner demonstrates the new Mica Moon Aerial Park, which opens today. Spokane native and basketball Hall of Famer John Stockton partnered with Mica Moon Zip Tours owner Rik Stewart to bring the Inland Northwest its own aerial trek playground. (JUDD WILSON/Press)
Post Falls resident John Mahaffey came in from Big Mama with a smile Thursday, with guide Bryan Coy assisting. (JUDD WILSON/Press)
By JUDD WILSON
Staff Writer
LIBERTY LAKE, Wash. — Idahoans who love to play at great heights have a new outlet for their escapades: the Mica Moon Aerial Park.
Inspired by similar aerial trek parks in Europe, the local park features a canoe bridge, tilting beams, highline, barrels, and more. It’s set in the middle of a luscious forest with a delightful stream running 50 feet below its adventurous visitors. It officially opens today after hosting media members and others on Thursday.
The project was the brainchild of Mica Moon Zip Tours founders Rik and Heidi Stewart. Their zip line tours have been going strong for four seasons now.
The Stewarts began the business after Rik made a deal with God: If his lymphatic cancer went into remission, Rik would start living the life he really wanted to live. Six years later, his cancer is still in remission and the guiding hand of Providence has prospered the small business, which employs 20 people, including some from Idaho, he said.
Even though he had built a successful zip line enterprise with large annual growth and five-star reviews, Stewart said he wanted to add an aerial trek. However, that would have forced him to incur more debt, which he has tried to avoid. Once again, Providence intervened.
While guiding a family on the zip line tour one day, he learned that the family had fallen in love with the aerial trek courses in Europe. In fact, the family’s children had made their dad promise to try to build a similar park in Spokane, explained Stewart. When they met, the dad dished an assist to Stewart to make their mutual dream to build an aerial park a reality. That man was John Stockton.
The NBA’s all-time leader in assists and a Spokane native, Stockton shares with Stewart “a passion for getting people off the couch and connected with nature,” Stewart said.
“You couldn’t kick the smile off of our face” when his family went through the parks in Europe, said Stockton. A visit to the new Mica Moon Aerial Park is fun and “makes for a good day” for everyone from “ninja warrior types” to “old guys,” Stockton explained.
Stewart said it caters to every age and skill level, with an easy platform and bridge suitable for grandma to take photos of the grandkids while they scamper around in the treetops. The minimum age to play at the aerial park is 6, while the minimum age for the zip lines is 7, said Heidi Stewart. The maximum weight per person at the aerial park is 300 pounds, and for the zip lines it’s 275 pounds, she said.
Employees go through 85 hours of safety training and must pass written and field tests, said guide Holland Kartchner. Every guest is safely harnessed and instructed how to operate their safety equipment in both the aerial park and zip line tour. Mica Moon focuses on the customer experience, Stewart said.
Visitors have come to Mica Moon from across the United States and from as far away as Eritrea, Iraq, China, and Australia. Stewart said about half of his guests come from Kootenai County and North Idaho. People here tend to be “more nature-loving, fun-loving people than in downtown Spokane,” he said.
Located midway between Coeur d’Alene and Spokane, the new Mica Moon Aerial Park is an ideal spot for the adventurous Inland Northwest.
To learn more, go to micamoon.com, facebook.com/zipmica, or call 509-587-4020.