The opening
of the Wild Walk at the Wild Center stormed news media all across the US. It even
made the Los Angeles Times! I was surprised that the Wild Walk had just opened
this past July. Unfortunately for us the Wild Walk was closed for the season
but some of us did walk up to the entrance only to encounter that it was
locked. I was intrigued by the tepee like entrance (picture below) and I wanted
to learn who came up with this design and the inspiration behind it. The Wild
Walk was designed by Chip Reay who also designed the Wild Center. Reay began to work on the Wild Walk shortly
after the Wild Center opened in 2006. The
inspiration for the Wild Walk can be summed up by something that he mentioned,
“I wanted to connect
everything to the surrounding environment, whatever the scale, not to objects
in glass boxes” (Reay). This is an intriguing idea because when it comes
to museums I immediately think of viewing animals and objects behind some type
of barrier.
The Wild
Walk is one of a kind. The walkway is a set of cable suspension bridges that
begin at ground level and thread through the forest canopy until you are forty
feet in the air. The Wild Walk was designed this way so that visitors can
experience the forest from a whole different perspective. All of us during the
trip walked through the forest via ground, but imagine how different it would
be to walk through the forest via bridges that are at the top of trees? The
Wild Walk also includes a giant spider web that is suspended 24 feet above the
trees and a bald eagle's nest fit
for humans that allows visitors a grand view of the Adirondack. The Wild Walk
came with a hefty price tag of $5.5 million. A few articles I read highlighted
that the Wild Walk is expected to bring tourism to the Adirondacks. The Wild
Walk has only been opened for a few months so it is too early to tell how the
Wild Walk will affect tourism.
I actually went to the Wild Center this August as a part of my orientation trip, and I did get a chance to check out the Wild Walk. It definitely brought a considerable number of people to the Wild Center who otherwise would not have come. You certainly get a great view of the forest and there are many cool attractions along the way like the spider web and eagle's nest. It would have been great if we could have gone on it in the winter to see how different the forest looks.
ReplyDeleteAlong with Hayley I spent my orientation trip volunteering at the Wild Center. The Wild Walk is THE attraction that almost every guest explores. It allows for adults to enjoy the beautiful scenery while their children get to play around attractions like spider web. It can get pretty crowded along with the Wild Center itself and I'm sure next summer will be just as busy if not more. It's definitely something you can do every summer.
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