Click here for coverage of the treetop canopy tour from WOWK 13News.

A new treetop canopy tour from Fayette County whitewater outfitters makes it possible for participants to swing from tree to tree with the greatest of ease.

Brian Campbell, a legacy owner of Rivermen, one of three rafting companies that merged to create the state's largest outfitter last year, said the merge with Class VI and Mountain River came with a large capital improvement fund to increase lodging and activities to create a true destination resort.

The canopy tour, which opens to the public May 1, is the newest project. It puts participants in harnesses and across five sky bridges, on platforms ranging from 40 feet high to 85 feet high then across 10 zip lines with two short hikes and a rappel to finish.

The longest zipline is more than 800 feet long, and participants can reach 30 miles per hour.

"From the very moment you step onto the first platform you're clipped into safety for the entire three-and-a-half hour tour," Campbell said. "There are really spectacular, great views of the creek, and you're out in the middle of a canyon. It's exciting and completely guided."

The canopy tours have two guides and eight guests. The tour starts with "ground training," a practice zipline five feet above the ground for participants to get a feel for launching, swinging and landing.

Campbell said the harness is a comfortable, safe design and the trip starts with shorter, lower zips that build in length and speed.

"We think this is going to be a great trip for West Virginia," Campbell said. "This is a fantastic course, and I think it's the most exciting thing to happen to whitewater rafting since the self-bailing raft.

"It's a great balance of a nature-based experience with fun and exciting zips. I actually enjoy the platform time as much as the zipping time because you can relax and look around and enjoy."

When John Walker, lead designer at Bonsai Design, visited the New River Gorge area to assess the site, he said it was easy to pick the points to highlight.

"It is a unique and thrilling experience for the New River Gorge area that provides people with an immersion into nature," Walker said. "I think West Virginia is prime for canopy tours. It's a rugged area surrounded by a number of metro areas. It has a lot of natural beauty, wildlife and the Mill Creek drainage worked out perfectly."

Something Walker's team noticed in its assessment was a threat to the area's hemlock trees. The wooly adelgid had attacked many trees, and Campbell said foresters and other experts then came in to assess the health of the hemlocks to determine if the canopy tour could proceed.

Campbell said a treatment program has been designed to help the trees. Of the $89 cost to take the canopy tour, a $1 fee will go toward treating the hemlock trees in the area and beyond for the next three to five years. The outfitters will match each $1.

"This has become a vehicle to raise awareness," he said.

Walker said Bonsai builds as "green" as possible, with minimal impact to the environment, care in removing as little biomass as possible, as little hardware as possible and the few trees that were cut got used again in different ways throughout the tour.

"You definitely have to build within the parameters of the natural environment," Walker said. "I certainly believe that most of the people in the country, probably the world, in general, could use more nature-based experiences and benefit from having nature showcased to them.

"The icing on the cake of the green movement is enforcing their appreciation for nature."

Bud Frantz, a canopy tour guide who's been guiding whitewater trips for 35 years, said as he watched the tour being built, he thought it looked like a fun way to spend a summer.

"The canopy tour course is a very set track, like train tracks," he said. "Different groups of people make each trip a little different, and as the seasons change, ... it will bring a great variety to the scenery."

Campbell said he's taken the tour six times so far, and he expects it to be a popular trip.

New activities from Class VI, Rivermen and Mountain River include fishing trips, paintball and rock climbs, Campbell said. Canopy tours will leave every 30 minutes throughout the summer, starting at 8:30 a.m. and running until roughly 4:30 p.m. to make sure all guests are back before dark.