Outdoors, water, zip line adventure are James Walker’s ‘dream job’

When asking James Walker how he came to be in what he considers his “dream job” as a zip line and river guide, he recalls growing up in Columbus and always wanting to venture outside for anything — to work, to play in the water, to climb trees, to simply take part in all kinds of cool stuff.

“But when I was a kid, Columbus was way different. This was never a possibility,” he said of his work on and along the Chattahoochee River. “Maybe six or seven years ago, I would have never dreamed that I would have this job. But now that I do, I would find it kind of hard to work anywhere else.”

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Walker, who turns 22 next month, is among the staff at Whitewater Express, which has offices and stores on Bay Avenue in Columbus and Whitewater Avenue in Phenix City. He’s been with the company for four years, having followed an Eagle Scout friend to the river job, which really heats up in the summer.

“It’s a blast. When you go out on this water and fall out, it’s awesome. I love it,” said the personable Northside High grad, who splits his time in the whitewater and on the zip line tower. He estimates having assisted more than 4,000 customers zip high above the river or take a second zip line on the Alabama side, as well as tackle an obstacle course there.

The Ledger-Enquirer visited with Walker recently to talk with him about his job and get a firsthand look at his interaction with thrill-seekers on what is called the Blue Heron Adventure zip line course. This interview is edited for length and clarity, with an accompanying video at www.ledger-enquirer.com.

Q. So you’re comfortable in a raft or on the zip line tower?

A. I am. I’m kind of an everything man. If there’s something that needs to be done, I do it. But on the river I’m one of the senior guides. I’ve been working on the river for four years, and the zip-line has only been open for three.

Q. Had you zip lined before?

A. Yeah. I did a lot of stuff in England and other countries like Mexico. But I was always a customer. They’d let you brake yourself and do small stuff, but nothing like clipping people in and everything. But I’ve had tons of zip line experience. I think the first time I went on a zip line, I was 8 or something.

Q. Do you enjoy one more than the other?

A. I love the water, so I really do love rafting more than zip line. But zip line to me is also fun. I always love to be up in the trees and climbing, so when you get up there (on the 60-foot tower) and hang out and look down and see everything, it’s really cool. It’s like each has its perks and drawbacks. With rafting, I get less shade. But on the tower, I get a lot of wind and get to see stuff and meet people a lot more.

Q. Describe your interaction with customers who zip line?

A. When we first get everybody in, we have them walk into the alleyway and sign (liability) waivers to make sure everything’s kosher. Then we get them all geared up, which is like ‘pull this strap, pull that strap, check your helmet, and make sure that nothing’s broken and nothing’s missing.’ We tell them they don’t do the clipping. It’s just hold on to the strap and have fun. That takes a lot of the worry out of it for them. Then we walk them to this first tower over here.

Q. What else do you go over with them?

A. We also tell them about the river and the nature around here. When we get up there, we kind of point down to the river and say: Here’s a blue heron, that’s a turtle and so on. Then when you get to the other side — it’s Phenix City and Alabama and gets a little bit more wild — you can see a lot of osprey. Especially if the water is at the right level, there are a lot of fish swimming through the little streams at low water. It’s really a little nature area.

Q. So it’s more than a thrill, there’s some good wildlife sightseeing?

A. Yeah. I’ve had some very cool nature experiences on the zip line. We have a nesting pair of bald eagles that live around here and I saw them flying around right above tower two and circling about an hour. Then I actually saw an osprey snatch a squirrel out of its tree hole. It was kind of interesting. If you watch the river a lot, you’ll see the osprey and the hawks snatch fish all the time.

Last season, when it was a lot cooler, we had a lot of shad come up during migration and there were huge swarms, like thousands of them, especially down near the bottom of this (whitewater) wave shaper. And hawks and blue herons were just preying on them. You would see them run in and stab and get like three fish at a time. I really hope it comes back this year, but we’re going to have to lose like 10 to 15 more degrees for the fish to even show up.

Q. Do you have to settle the nerves of some people?

A. All the time. A lot of times, though, what I like to tell people is it’s kind of like riding in a car — once you pick up your feet, especially on the first zip line, you just go. It’s a nice slide and no drop. The worst part about it is literally getting off the edge and then it becomes fun.

Q. The best thing is to not look down?

A. Yeah, but honestly I love to look down because going over the river is really interesting. You can see people and, like I said, there’s a bunch of turtles and fish out there, especially when the water is low enough that you can see all the way down to the bottom of the river. You can see everything.

Q. How long does it take to zip across the river?

A. To get across the first zip line, it takes about 15 to 20 seconds, but you’re moving about 25 to 30 miles per hour. And on the second one, it takes about 10 seconds. You’re moving a little bit slower, but a lot of people say that’s their favorite one.

Q. What kind of folks do you see, younger, older, male, female?

A. The youngest we’ve seen are like 3 and 4 year olds. I’ve seen a couple of those. And then we once had an 89-year-old woman that came for her 89th birthday to do the whitewater rafting and then the zip line, and then she went and got a tattoo the same day. I also see a lot of military people that love to come and do the Ranger jump and the zip line, just anything to get their adrenaline moving. There’s also an obstacle course on the other side that kids and young adults enjoy. Dads love to watch their families go out there and struggle. I’ve never seen a dad happier than when his wife got on the spider web (obstacle) and screamed that she was stuck.

Q. So there are all kinds of emotions connected to the zip line adventure?

A. It’s an emotional roller-coaster.

Q. What do you enjoy the most about your job?

A. Getting to meet people, honestly. Every day, when I’m on the zip line, I’ll see maybe a hundred people, opposed to rafting where I’ll see six people at a time. On the zip line, I’ve seen (wedding) proposals. I’ve seen people here for spring break. I’ve met people that have been here for military graduations. It’s really interesting to see who comes through, because everyone has their story.

Q. You see people from all over, even from outside the U.S.?

A. Yep. Strangely enough, in the winter we see a lot of European travelers, because that’s when they get off (for vacation), opposed to us (in the summer). I’ve seen people from England, from Switzerland, from Germany. I’ve seen a lot of people from Japan. I got some people from India that came in with a big exchange group. I know that one time on the rafting we took the French national handball team. They were actually over in Auburn playing Auburn’s team, but they decided to come do the whitewater rafting. So, you see, it’s really a lot of everybody. A lot of the Boy Scouts come in the summer and that’s kind of crazy, because they’re from everywhere. We’ll have people come down from north Georgia. We have a lot of people come up from Florida.

Q. What’s the most difficult or challenging part of your zip line job?

A. Sometimes light people won’t make it all the way to the other side. So you have to go get them. That’s probably the hardest thing to do, especially on windy days. It’s just more physical labor. But aside from that, it’s probably the gear-up (instruction), because there’s just a lot of stuff going on and it’s really hectic. Everyone’s kind of confused and nervous and they all want to take pictures of themselves. Everyone says the same thing: ‘My (harness) straps are too tight.’ And then I’m like: ‘They’ll loosen up.’ Then you get up on the tower and you can tell where they’ve loosened it or another says it’s too loose and you want them to tighten it down more. Other people are like: ‘You need to tighten it up more. I feel loose.’ (laughs)

Q. So you’re interacting a lot with them and making sure people are safe and focused?

A. Uh-huh. But everybody is really distracted these days with technology and I’ll look up during the safety speech and I’ll have people taking Snapchat photos and Instagram and posting on Facebook. So a lot of times I’ll try to get them to put those away. … And there are a lot of times when we’ll take groups of 40 out and that’s kind of hard to get everyone organized, because it’s literally you’ve got to go step by step or the harness turns out wrong and everybody is uncomfortable. The funniest thing we see and the biggest problem is with the helmets. Everybody acts like they’ve never worn a helmet before, and they’ll put it on backwards, or they don’t know how to adjust it or don’t know what a chin strap is.

Q. How many people have you put across the river, a ballpark number?

A. Me personally, I’ve probably put close to 4,000 or 5,000 across on the zip line now. I know the first year it opened up we did like 10,000 people across the line, and I worked most of that, and it was really crazy. And then summer number two I think we did like 12,000 or even more. I don’t remember the exact number, but it’s gotten even bigger. It’s really crazy during the summer.

Q. What goes through your mind now just anticipating the upcoming summer?

A. I’m kind of excited. It’s always a little tough in the summer, especially when it gets hot and you start working with each other and everyone gets on each others’ nerves a little bit. But you just keep your head cool and remember to do your job. I mean, I’m ready to have a lot of fun. I always go out there and have a lot of fun with the people.

I find that the customers are what makes me have more fun out there, especially when they’re willing to go out and have no fear, and jump on an obstacle and do it with no hands and not be afraid to fall off. I like those people. As I said, I’ve seen a lot of people scared and who refused to do it, and I’ve seen people freeze up on the zip line and have had to go get them. I’ve seen people on the obstacle course where we’ve literally had to crank them up and slowly bring them across the zip line and that obstacle. But I really love the people that come out there and really interact with me and are just ‘out there,’ to just do the obstacles and enjoy talking and learning about everything that we have to do.

Q. What does the future hold for you?

A. I help run a summer camp for Whitewater Express, and I look forward to doing that next summer. But this summer, I look forward to zip lining and hanging out on the river with my friends and just enjoying life.

Q. The bottom line is that this is better than an office desk and cubicle?

A. Right. I love being outdoors. On my time off, I can take a kayak out and go kayaking or I can borrow a boat and go out with my friends. I do it less on the zip line, but I can go run the obstacle course. I’ve run the obstacle course like a thousand times, but I still have fun on it. There’s really never a boring time down here.

This story was originally published April 1, 2017 at 7:00 AM with the headline "Outdoors, water, zip line adventure are James Walker’s ‘dream job’."