Adrenaline Packed South Part 1
This 5-part series gives you the greatest adrenaline-packed action in the South. Jet-ski, climb, and skydive your way to fun and adventure.
Train Like the Pros
To our nation’s law enforcement professionals, adrenaline is as much a part of the job as a morning coffee. When you’re put in life-or-death situations on a daily basis, you learn to master that adrenaline rush. It heightens awareness, quickens response times and sharpens mental clarity. And it could be the only thing standing between you and disaster.
There are a ton of opportunities around the South to step into these professionals’ shoes, if only for an afternoon, to experience this adrenaline rush. Telluric Group (136 Venture Drive, Brunswick, GA, telluric.us) offers classes that put you in the thick of the action, from defensive pistol classes to courses that will teach you to clear a room like a pro.
If you want to get out and there and trade a few rounds with your buddies, check out Hoppers Paintball & Airsoft. With eight themed courses, there are plenty of ways to get some combat therapy. Visit hoppersga.com.
While limited to law enforcement professionals, there are also tactical classes designed to hone those adrenaline instincts to a razor’s edge on offer through the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (1131 Chapel Crossing Rd, Brunswick, GA, fletc.gov).
The Call of The Wild
Outside of the Australian outback, the Southeast might just have the most chilling collection of dangerous wildlife anywhere in the world. From rattlesnakes to panthers, venomous spiders to alligators, there’s a whole ecosystem out there that could drop you like a bad habit. Getting up close and personal with one of those predators might just be the most primal adrenaline rush of all.
At St. Augustine’s Alligator Farm (999 Anastasia Blvd. St. Augustine, FL, alligatorfarm.com) you can thrill to the sight of trained handlers walking right up to water’s edge, feeding these vicious eating machines with their bare hands and even showing off some of their tricks. Yes, you can train an alligator. Not enough adrenaline for you? Then dangle yourself just above the jaws of these ancient predators on the Crocodile Crossing, a zipline adventure that whisks you across the gator pond.
And if you really want to get some quality face time with a deadly animal, the reptile encounters at the North Georgia Zoo (2912 Paradise Valley Rd Cleveland, GA, northgeorgiazoo.com) might be the ticket. Here you can feed an alligator, hug a giant snake or giant monitor lizard, and basically let mother nature know who runs the show.
Of course, not all of our wildlife is dangerous. Through our rich equestrian tradition, some of the most exciting animal experiences come from the simple thrill of speed. Playing on historic Whitley Field since 1882, The Aiken Polo Club (420 Mead Avenue, Aiken, SC, aikenpolo.org) gives you a courtside seat to the sport of kings. You’ll be so close to the action you’ll feel the hoofbeats as riders gallop past in a dizzying display of high-speed athleticism.
Hog Hunting
Alexacarri Plantation in on the Ocmulgee River near Abbeville, Georgia is a hog hunter’s paradise, offering hog hunts for every level, plus parent and child hunts in prime wilderness.
Want an even more primitive hunt? Huntworthy productions puts on regular bow building workshops where you select the materials, you build the bow and you take down a hog with tools you created.
“You cannot beat this feeling you get when you don’t have to rely on Bass Pro Shop or Wally World or any place where you have to buy this stuff,” said expert bow maker James Parker. “If you make it yourself and you go kill something with it yourself, there’s no other way to top that feeling at all.” Visit alexacarri.com for details.
Play in the Mud
There’s something awesomely Southern about strapping yourself down on something loud and fast and tearing off through a thick pile of mud. And the best place to pursue that dream as at The Big Nasty in Bloomingdale, GA. Throughout the Georgia pines, 20 miles of ATV track and mud bogs give you plenty of chances to find out why the call it The Big Nasty. 912.663.8588
Paddleboarding
OK, so as metropolitan areas go Charleston isn’t exactly Chicago. But its rivers make for some prime paddleboarding. Glide past shrimpers and alongside dolphins as you ply the waters of Shem Creek on a guided paddleboard tour of the waters of Chucktown. coastalexpeditions.com
Stay tuned for more adrenaline-packed adventures! Subscribe now to the print edition for the full article.
