Delmarva Day Trip: Adventure Seekers Zipline Through Lums Pond State Park with Go Ape

Five sections featuring more than 37 unique crossings and four thrilling zip lines make up Go Ape’s Treetop Adventure at Lums Pond State Park.

Go Ape has fifteen courses across the country, including one in Bear, Del. at Lums Pond State Park. Sal Sciarrino, Go Ape Lums Pond site manager, says people come from all over the United States to try out the Lums Pond site.

“We have multiple locations so people that have heard about us at other sites always want to try different sites and they come out to Delaware and have a blast,” Sciarrino says.

The treetop adventure is unlike anything you have done before. Go Ape has 40 different obstacles up in the trees at the state park, as well as four ziplines that go over the infamous pond.

“It’s quite an awesome experience to see people out of their element and actually completing the course and feeling great about that accomplishment,” Sciarrino says.

: Adventurists use the ‘Tarzan Swing’ (Photo: Lauren Hitch, WBOC)

: Adventurists gear up for the first course (Photo: Lauren Hitch, WBOC)

: Adventurists climb up the first course (Photo: Lauren Hitch, WBOC)

Go Ape made its way to Lums Pond in 2013, bringing life back to the park. According to Sciarrino, Go Ape attracts people of all ages, shapes and sizes.

“It’s great to see everyone, just your average day person coming out here to try and live adventurously in one way or another, wether it’s them going up in the trees or watching their friends and family go up there as well,” Sciarrino says.

Each course takes about 3-4 weeks to build. Currently, Go Ape is building a junior course which will accept anyone three foot, three inches tall and up. In order to get the course up and running, everything must be checked, double-checked and deemed safe for use before guests are permitted.

“Safety is our number one priority here. We do inspections of all of our equipment, that happens daily, and then we do rigorous ones monthly. We do our equipment checks first in the morning and at night so the course is checked daily. We also do rigorous inspections once a month. All of our trees are checked out twice a year.”

In addition to making sure everything around the park is safe, Sciarrino says his main goal is to give guests a good experience.

“My job is to make people smile, that is my absolute favorite thing about working here,” Sciarrino says. “Ultimately my goal is to give someone an experience, something they are going to remember for the rest of their lives.”

If you are interested in checking out the madness, you don’t have to fully commit. According to Sciarrino, you can simply try it out. Guests are permitted to go through all the training and decide wether or not they like the adventure after the first platform. If guests decide it isn’t quite the experience they were looking for, they can get all of their money back.

Go Ape adventurists climbs a ladder to the zipline (Photo: Lauren Hitch, WBOC)

Lums Pond State Park

Lums Pond State Park is built around the largest freshwater pond in Delaware.

According to Sciarrino, there are a lot of activities to do in the park, including camping, fishing, sports facilities, hiking trails and more. In addition to those aspects, there is an abundance of wildlife, a disc golf, volleyball and basketball court, playgrounds, paddleboarding and boat rentals, and more.

“The park is beautiful, the pond is beautiful,” Sciarrino says. “We have a really strong park partnership with our park partners, they get a portion of our proceeds, as well as a gate fee to get into the park.”

The pond itself covers 200 acres.