April 1, 2015 Tolosa Staff Story and photos by Gareth Kelly What weighs 230 pounds flies at over 30 miles per hour and has an enormous grin on its face? I do after finishing the last zip line at the new Vista Lago Adventure Park at Lopez Lake in Arroyo Grande. Opened in December 2014, the rope adventure course and zip lines have already been a big hit with locals and tourists alike adding to what is already a popular recreation area. “These types of zip line courses are very common in Europe,” said owner Bill Thoming. “There are 600 in France alone. We used those courses as our inspiration and after over a year and a half of planning and meetings we finally opened.” Feeling all pumped to get out the course I ‘roped’ in my friend Zeke as my…
BY ADRIANA CATANZARITE View a slideshow of Vista Lago Adventure Park. Let me just get this out there: I hate heights. That’s mostly because I’m deathly afraid of them, but I feel like I have a right to. This hatred of mine is not altogether unwarranted. I mean, when you’re at a birthday party at a rock-climbing gym, and you get so scared when you reach the top that you can’t move and your dad has to go up and get you, it kind of ruins the adrenaline-boosting experience. This happened to me last week. Just kidding, I was nine, but it was still traumatizing. So when I heard about the Vista Lago Adventure Park at Lopez Lake, I was a little apprehensive. I mean, it sounded really cool. But it also sounded like the thing that I would be really pumped…
Read article on santamariatimes.com Staff Report December 19, 2014 Vista Lago Adventure Park, the first new attraction at Lopez Lake Recreation Area in decades, officially opened Thursday. The side-by-side high-ropes challenge course and zipline park offers more than 50 elements of varying difficulty, from the Lower Course for beginners to the upper Double Black Diamond course, according to co-owners Scott Schirmer and Bill Thoming. Four ziplines totaling more than 2,100 feet include two high-speed lines out to Vista Lago Point. The park also includes a 40-foot free fall called Quick Jump. Schirmer and Thoming said they hope the park will not only be fun but also intellectually stimulating, promoting “education through adventure,” which they said is the overall goal for the parent company they created, EcoLearn LLC. “We’re hoping to get people outside away from video games and television,” Thorning…
Excerpt from San Luis Obispo County e-newsletter Mariposa October 2014 edition The Board of Supervisors has approved a new concessionaire for Lopez Lake Recreation Area. Vista Lago Adventure Park is an aerial challenge course for all ages that will be built and operated by the concessionaire. In addition to the main course consisting of 57 elements ranging in different levels of difficulty there will also be a separate lower course for beginners. And…for those who want a thrill…you’ll love the Quick Jump 40 foot free fall element and the zip lines including 2 high speed state of the art zip lines nearly 800′ long suspended over the edge of the lake! Check them out on their Facebook page or on their website at vistalagoadventurepark.com. The park is currently under construction and due to open Thanksgiving weekend 2014.
Lopez Lake gets new concession: an aerial challenge course opening in August Read article on sanluisobispo.com By Brenna Swanston [email protected] May 24, 2014 San Luis Obispo County will host the region’s first freestanding aerial challenge course, entirely suspended off the ground, when Vista Lago Adventure Park comes to Lopez Lake in mid-August. The county Board of Supervisors has approved a 10-year contract with a newly-formed San Luis Obispo company, EcoLearn LLC, as concessionaire to build and operate the adventure park. The concession will be built between the Mustang Waterpark and the Vista Lago swim area on the lake. EcoLearn co-owner Bill Thoming said he hopes the park will not only be fun but intellectually stimulating, promoting “education through adventure.” “We’re hoping to get people outside,” Thoming said, “away from video games and television.” The structure would be built on wood…