[piano intro] -[Deborah] Next on "North Carolina Weekend," join us from ZipQuest in Fayetteville as we go for that adrenaline rush.

We'll skydive in Louisburg, swing through an aerial adventure park in Raleigh, and explore the Charles Kuralt Trail.

Coming up next.

- [Announcer] Funding for "North Carolina Weekend" is provided in part by Visit NC, dedicated to highlighting our state's natural scenic beauty, unique history, and diverse cultural attractions.

From the Blue Ridge and the Great Smoky Mountains across the Piedmont to 300 miles of barrier island beaches, you're invited to experience all the adventure and charm our state has to offer.

- [PATH Announcer] And by the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

[upbeat instrumental music] - Welcome to "North Carolina Weekend," everyone.

I'm Deborah Holt Noel, and this week we are seeking that adrenaline rush.

We are at ZipQuest Waterfall & Treetop Adventure in Carvers Falls, right outside of Fayetteville.

Tucked away in the Sandhills of North Carolina on a virtually untouched 55-acre area of forest, this zip line adventure course above a massive waterfall will really get your adrenaline rushing.

We'll explore more of it throughout the show, but first, let's head to Louisburg where people are going up in perfectly good airplanes and jumping out of them.

That's crazy.

- What have we got going on today?

- We're skydiving.

- We're jumping out of a plane.

- All right, Jerrell, are you ready?

- I'm ready.

- All right.

[energetic rock music] - We find a lot of customers are just amazed at the experience.

They think that it's going to be a rollercoaster ride, and it's really just an overload of emotions, that adrenaline dump as you go out the door and the wind hits you for the first time, and you get into free fall, it's just so exciting.

[energetic rock music] ♪ It has certainly been a life-changing experience for me.

I see the world differently.

The world actually slows down after you become a skydiver.

[funky jazz music] You realize that you can do anything.

You just came out of a plane and you survived, and it was a great experience, and all the little tiny petty things just kind of fall by the wayside.

Skydiving is very safe.

So, we have two parachutes.

There's redundancies built in, and we learn from all the drop zones in the United States and even abroad all sorts of really important things that make our lives safer in the sky than they are driving the car to come out to see us.

I've owned Triangle Skydiving Center for about five years now.

We have customers come out from all over the world to come jump at our drop zone.

First thing we do is we check them in and we give them a brief description of what the jump's gonna be like while we harness them up and get 'em ready.

- For the briefing, you're going to get basically the fire hose technique.

We're gonna tell you everything you need to know for the jump.

- And that's it.

- Cool beans.

- You guys ready?

- Yeah.

- [Renfro] Then it's off to the plane to go enjoy the ride to altitude.

Once we're at altitude, we're gonna go out of the plane.

[suspenseful music] ♪ [skydiver shouting] [suspenseful music] ♪ [skydiver shouting] [suspenseful music] ♪ So, free fall is 60 seconds, and we jump from 13,500 feet.

[suspenseful music] And then you're gonna have a beautiful canopy flight where you get to see North Carolina in a way that nobody else sees it.

[suspenseful music] - All right, Madeline.

So, have a look at the camera and tell your friends what do you think.

- This was amazing.

Yes.

Oh.

It's great up here.

- That's all you got?

- That's all.

I'm speechless a little bit.

- Well, that's good.

All right.

Well, tell 'em, we'll see you guys on the ground.

- Yeah, see you on the ground.

[suspenseful music] ♪ - [Renfro] Woo-hoo!

- [Tyson] So, how was the dive?

It was awesome.

- [Tyson] Yeah, did you have fun?

- I did, yes.

- [Tyson] What was your favorite part?

- Maybe landing?

[Renfro laughing] - Landing?

Yeah.

When it was all over?

- Yeah.

- You did great.

You were all smiles up there.

- Hanging out with John.

Yes, it was a good time, yes.

- That was awesome.

- [Tyson] Good job, John.

Way to go.

- Killing it, man.

- [Tyson] You made me say that was great.

- Good job, girl.

- [Tyson] John, thank you for jumping with us.

- Thank you.

- Woo-hoo!

[energetic music] - Triangle Skydiving Center is at 480 Airport Road, Suite 200 in Louisburg.

To book your skydiving adventure, give them a call at 919-497-5867 or check them out online at triangleskydiving.com.

If you're looking for an adrenaline rush in the Triangle, check out Raleigh's premier aerial adventure park featuring more than 90 obstacles plus a kiddie park for the little ones.

Let's join Rick Sullivan at TreeRunner Adventure Park.

[line whirring] - Yeah, I mean, we locate our parks in incredibly populated areas, usually fairly or quite urban, and the reason for that is we want people to be able to escape the city and get into nature without having to drive three hours to the mountains.

- [Sullivan] TreeRunner Raleigh Adventure Park is hardly distinguishable from any other patch of trees in the North Raleigh neighborhood where it's located, until you walk into the nearly seven-acre woods and look up.

It's one of four such parks created by its parent company, TreeRunner Adventure Parks of Detroit.

The other three parks are in Michigan.

All of them cater to a broad audience.

- So, we have climbers from age seven up to 92, and then our Raleigh park even has a junior park for those ages four to seven.

Basically, all of our parks are set up the same way where we have varying levels of difficulty.

Our park in Raleigh, North Carolina has eight trails over five different levels of difficulty.

It's set up just like a ski hill.

If you've ever been skiing where, you know, you're going to go to the yellows, and then all the way up to the, you know, the black diamond and the double black diamond, so there's a little bit of something for everyone.

- [Sullivan] On the day I visited, families were scattered about the park high and low.

Four-year-old Sienna Licamele was enjoying and excelling on the yellow course along with her six-year-old brother, Nello.

Their mother, Claire, was able to walk the entire course at their side.

Have these guys done this before?

- No, first time.

- [Sullivan] Is that right?

- Yeah.

Our friends invited us today.

They'd been before.

- [Sullivan] Has this been scary at all?

- Not much.

- No?

- Uh-uh.

- [Sullivan] What's your favorite part so far?

- Um, all of it.

- One, two, three.

- [Sullivan] These kids look like candidates to move on to more advanced courses soon, but even then, adults who are not actually climbing and zipping with them can still supervise them along the way.

- They are double- and triple-connected, so I do feel good about it as her mom watching from the ground.

[chuckles] - Our parks have paths under all of our trails.

Parents can follow along with their cell phones.

They can give them pointers, which they often do.

Safety, as you might imagine, is priority Number One, Two, and Three for us.

We use and invest in something called a Smart Belay system.

Basically, it's a pair of clips that once you get on the course, only one clip will unlock out of the pair, meaning you're not going to be able to unclip yourself from the course until you get to the end.

- It's kind of like a door hinge, yep.

- Everybody who comes to the park goes through a safety orientation where they learn how to use the clips and learn the basics of the courses, and then they'll go through practice lines to make sure they're very comfortable with the equipment so that when they get on the course, they're set up for success and really do enjoy themselves.

- [Sullivan] While the highest level, Double Black Diamond Course, does not hit death-defying speeds nor mountain-like heights that can be found at other North Carolina adventure parks, there is enough challenge available to satisfy most participants.

- It's funny, we're only about 12 feet in the air, but I'm scared to death.

- It's not about muscular strength.

This is more about just feeling the thrill, 'cause a lot of 'em are balance-based, and while you know you're perfectly safe, you really want to feel like you're in the sense of danger.

So, you really get a lot of adrenaline up there.

You get a lot of nerves.

I've done it on a date day with my wife, you know.

Take a day off from work and spend some time together.

So, we've done this.

Obviously, we do it with our kids.

They love it here, and it's for kids specifically, too.

Like, as long as you're not by yourself, if you're looking for something to do outside with somebody else, like, this is a hoot.

This is hoot and a half - Two, three, go.

- [Sullivan] So, they're pretty good at it.

Was this expected by you or is this a new discovery that you're gonna have to do all the time now?

- Well, I think we're going to have to come again for sure, but I was expecting that they were going to enjoy it because this is their thing.

Yeah.

- [Fishman] Our goal more than anything is we want everybody to leave our parks with the wow.

- TreeRunner Adventure Park is at 12804 Norwood Road in Raleigh, and they're open Wednesday through Sunday.

Give them a call at 919-410-7347 or go online to treerunnerparks.com.

[rhythmic electronic music] I'm here with Russ Bryan of ZipQuest, and he opened it up in 2009.

Russ, what I find most amazing is this waterfall that's located here in the Sandhills.

Tell me about that.

- Well, this is Carvers Falls, and it's a highly unusual waterfall of its size.

It's, in fact, the largest waterfall between the Atlantic Ocean and the foothills of the mountains which is west of Charlotte, and that's actually true in a three-state area.

We've had a waterfall expert tell us that.

But we have built this park around this water feature because of how unique it is.

- [Noel] And I see there's a bridge over it.

I mean, it's just beautiful.

- [Bryan] The zip line course covers about 22 acres, and it follows the stream, and ends up here over the waterfall as kind of a climactic ending.

- [Noel] Russ, how'd you come up with the idea to put a zip line park out here?

- We were on a family vacation up in the mountains.

Both of my brothers and my father were ziplining.

And at some point, my father halfway through said, "Why don't we do this at Carvers Falls?"

And we thought he was crazy because we're so far east and flat, but some investigation later proved to us that this was actually the perfect idea.

We were able to preserve the land and also create an incredible experience for the general public to come and see this beautiful place.

- Now, I've been on a zip line a couple of times.

It's really safe for the family though, right?

- We're laser-focused on customer safety at ZipQuest.

We follow all the national standards.

We inspect the course daily and equipment, and our training is topnotch.

And in fact, our guides have to be re-certified every month to continue working here, so we are very proud of our safety record here at ZipQuest.

- Do your guides go up with people?

- Absolutely.

The tour is fully guided.

So, you're in a small group, and you don't touch any of your equipment.

You're up in the trees, and your guides will handle all of the equipment and make sure that there's no mistakes.

But it's a wonderfully fun and exciting adventure for everybody.

- That's the part I like, because you're not gonna get that kind of service at every aerial park.

You're not.

- Well, that's true, and we really are focused on the overall experience, and with the level of care that our guides provide, the customer's able to relax and enjoy the beauty of nature and the excitement and thrill of zipping through the trees.

- [Noel] About how many visitors come through a year?

- Well, we host thousands of visitors each year to ZipQuest, and we're open year-round, unlike other parks in the state.

Whether it's in January or the spring bloom or coming out in the fall to see the leaves change colors, we're open year-round and host many thousands a year.

- Well, it's a fun and beautiful space.

Thank you so much for having us out here at ZipQuest.

- Thank you for coming.

- ZipQuest Waterfall & Treetop Adventure is at 533 Carvers Falls Road in Fayetteville, and they're open daily all year round.

To book your adventure, give them a call at 910-488-8787 or go online to zipquest.com.

Some folks get their adrenaline rush mountain biking, and old fort in McDowell County has some of the best mountain bike trails in the state.

Teresa Litski discovered a small company called Kitsbow that's made a one-stop shop out of everything a cyclist could want to wear, eat, or drink, and they called it Old Fort Ride House.

- We're in Old Fort, North Carolina at the Old Fort Ride House.

- The Old Fort Ride House is basically like a cafe-type thing that's sponsored through Kitsbow, who makes clothing, and it's geared towards, you know, the local community, mainly mountain bikers, road bikers, cyclist.

- The Grandfather District of the Pisgah National Forest is just to the north side of town.

The Point Lookout Trail and Kitsuma Trail, which is very popular, is just a few miles to the west of us.

- I'm coming from a great, you know, bike destination, as well, and this was amazing.

- [Noel] Kitsbow is a cycling apparel company that created the Old Fort Ride House as a base camp for cyclists, starting with their expertise of local trails.

- We actually have people here who will help you plan your ride, if that's what you need, but online, we have a Ride with GPS club posted on the website, kitsbow.com.

- And so you can go through there and see what sort of route that they've put together, and that's the one that I chose, and that's why I ended up here.

- [Noel] Food and beverages are necessities for any traveler and can be found here like espresso drinks and all kinds of tasty things.

- We've got, actually, pretty great selection of breakfast food, including vegan options, and full lunch.

- I was literally looking for where can I find breakfast tomorrow for my bike ride?

And then that's how I made this connection, and not only, I mean, it's homemade bagels and, you know, great stuff for biking, and yeah, it's amazing.

- We're really proud of the fact that all of the food that's offered in the Ride House and all of the drink is all from within 10 miles, all local chefs, and all made by hand.

- [Noel] Some cyclists start and finish at the Ride House.

Others make it their midway stop.

Either way, it has most everything you'll need.

- So, we've got clean public bathrooms.

We've got changing rooms.

We encourage them to park in our parking lot.

And then we've created this space that's super comfortable.

- [Noel] They can even take care of your bike.

- Because there's also not a replacement inner tube for your bike 10 miles in any direction.

And then, of course, we've got our clothes, and this is the only place in the world where you can try all of our clothes on, because we're a digital brand.

- [Noel] A definite bonus for cyclists or anyone in need of quality clothing.

- Yeah, I've been following Kitsbow for a couple years just online.

It's a company that's pretty unique in the bike world.

- Well, Kitsbow's over 10 years old.

It was founded in Northern California, and it was founded to be a stylish but super durable mountain biking clothing brand.

We started out being very focused on very fit men who rode mountain bikes, and then we added women, and now we've added folks who look more like me and, really, folks for any kind of use.

If you want clothes that are gonna last for years, which means you have to buy less of them, and it means you're making less of an impact on the planet, because whatever harm we cause when we make the clothes, we're gonna have less harm if the clothes last longer.

- [Noel] Sustainability is a philosophy important to Kitsbow, all the way down to their shipping packages.

- This entire box is compostable, and we mean compostable in your garden so that when you take the product out of the box, you can just toss the whole box in the dirt.

- [Noel] Also important is the fact Kitsbow manufactures their clothes on the second floor of the Ride House, and are most happy with the impact they're having on manufacturing, Old Fort, and themselves.

- Yeah, a lot of people don't realize that 98% of all the clothes purchased in America are made offshore.

Kitsbow's part of that tiny 2%, and we're tiny in that 2%, and everything behind me was made upstairs, and that's because we've made a huge investment to train people to sew and make all the clothes ourselves.

And it means 60 jobs so far in Old Fort, and all of us get to enjoy this beautiful national forest which is less than two miles from our front door.

- The Old Fort Ride House is at 59 Commerce Street in Old Fort, and they're open daily.

For more information, visit their website at kitsbow.com or give them a call at 828-412-4244.

Perhaps your idea of an adrenaline rush is catching sight of a rare bird.

Well, that's exactly what one of our state's most famous journalists love to do as he explored the Outer Banks.

Come along as we discover the hidden treasures of the Charles Kuralt Trail.

- [O'Connell] The Charles Kuralt Trail guides travelers across Eastern North Carolina's many wildlife refuges.

Visitors can enjoy the sites and towns of the vast reserves in the spirit of North Carolina's pioneering journalistic native son.

- Of course, if you travel in a country as rich and varied as this one, there's no end to the road.

- [O'Connell] The Kuralt driving trail has no specific route.

It simply encourages visitors to explore the natural beauty in open spaces of coastal North Carolina's wildlife refuges.

["Sunday Morning" theme] - Good morning.

Here begins something new.

- [Crabtree] Charles Kuralt knew how to let everyone know they mattered.

He did not talk down to people, yet he was not intimidated by presidents and royalty.

He was just who he was.

- This is a long road.

It took nine children out of the cotton fields.

- [Crabtree] He was from an era without social media, without cable TV.

- They all returned.

- And so we were all focused on this little box, and here comes this guy with a voice that you never forgot.

- Shelton, Nebraska.

- Creating stories that we had never seen before that made us think, that made us laugh, that made us cry.

I can remember my parents would say when Charles Kuralt would come on, "Shh, be quiet, hold on, hold on," to quiet the children in the house.

"We want to watch this."

We saw this van come by, you know, on the screen, on the road, what is this?

You could see him driving it sometimes, this motor home, or with his arm out the window, and it was something so different than we had ever seen.

It captured our imagination.

- Well, what I love about the refuges is people had the foresight and wisdom along with a biological understanding that wildlife needs habitat, and they saw habitat being degraded in places starting back in the '30s.

So, places like Pea Island, and Mattamuskeet, and Swan Quarter, and Cedar Island came online in a response to impacts to those resources.

[upbeat guitar music] You know, I've heard visitors say, you know, "I'm from another state and I come here, and then I hear that the red wolf is out there at Alligator River, on Pocosin Lakes, and just the knowledge that it's there and I'm present in that habitat where they exist just gives me this, you know, wild wilderness feeling about the place."

The notion that people can go refuge to refuge with just a little bit of information from a map, or now, I guess, you know, pull it up online and get to a spot and go, okay, this refuge, you know, get a thumbnail about what it is, and why it was established, and its purpose, and then what they might see, and then they can go explore if they choose.

'Cause they're literally on the road going between them, but many of them have roads that you can go, you know, on them, as well, to find out what you might discover.

These wild places are also open spaces where people can go and feel, you're not seeing crowds, generally, so you feel like, I don't have to interact with anything but what I'm seeing, and hearing, and enjoying it.

So, it's a great experience for people to just go refresh, if nothing else, but then they come away and go, "I saw a bear."

- To find out more about the Charles Kuralt Trail, go to visitcurrituck.com, and to learn more about the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources Parks and Trails for Health initiative, go to ncdcr.gov and search for PATH.

Well, that's it for tonight's show.

We've had a fantastic time out here at ZipQuest in Fayetteville.

Definitely a place to get your blood pumping and a place to bring the family for a big adventure.

And if you've missed anything in tonight's show, just remember you can always watch us again online at pbsnc.org.

Have a great North Carolina weekend, everybody.

Woo hoo!

[shrieks] [upbeat instrumental music] ♪ ♪ - [Announcer] Funding for "North Carolina Weekend" is provided in part by Visit NC, dedicated to highlighting our state's natural scenic beauty, unique history, and diverse cultural attractions.

From the Blue Ridge and the Great Smoky Mountains across the Piedmont to 300 miles of barrier island beaches, you're invited to experience all the adventure and charm our state has to offer.

[piano outro]