Cindy and Murray Joseph were understandably a tad nervous this past summer about launching an eco-tourism business.
With gas prices at historic highs and American tourists staying home, the Goulais River husband and wife entrepreneurs wondered about if this was the right time to start a new venture.
In June, they gulped hard and opened Treetop Adventures to visitors.
The eco-adventure park they created on 15 acres of their wooded property, 20 minutes north of Sault Ste. Marie, offers a two-hour aerial obstacle course of high ropes and wobbly bridges suspended 40 to 50 feet up in a stand of white pine.
Despite the elevated zip lines not being installed and certified, they held an unofficial opening in June, setting up a website and erecting a highway billboard on the Trans-Canada Highway.
Murray, a self-employed logger, and Cindy, who works in therapeutic foster care, were looking for some way to utilize the Joseph family's 85-acre century farm as a business.
The white Joseph Homestead Barn is a landmark on Highway 17..
Passed down through the generations, they entertained thoughts of a flea market and a restaurant. Instead of trying to create something man-made, the couple used the rugged Canadian Shield to their advantage.
While Cindy was on a business trip in southern Ontario, Murray tagged along to Horseshoe Valley where they have a time-share.
In always looking for adventure-type vacations, they drew the inspiration for Tree Top Adventures from the tree top walks, zip lines and cave tours at Scenic Caves at Blue Mountain.
"It was just the right idea," says Cindy, who grew up in Goulais River, fishing and hunting her whole life.
They pooled $200,000 of their own money and from a Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) loan for engineering, construction and to buy equipment and insurance to turn the property into an eco-adventure park. They employ seven guides.
"It was very exciting. We didn't know what to expect,"says Cindy. It turned out better than they expected.
From the first booking in mid-June to August, they recorded 1,500 signed waivers and estimate they probably entertained about 2,000 participants this past summer. Their logbook recorded visitors from as far away as Germany and Austria.
Most of the business came from motorists on cross-Canada tours who saw their highway billboard.
"We did our research before we started the business and there is between 1.2 million and 1.4 million people that drive past my barn every year," says Murray. "And we just gave them a reason to stop."
To make it a year-round business, they hope to draw in 6,000 visitors annually with orienteering and wilderness survival courses offered by local outdoor and rescue professionals in the deep ravines on their property.
"It's too mountainous to do cross-country skiing or mountain biking, you can only hike or snowshoe it."
Cindy sees the linkages between her foster care work and this new venture. "This type of activity is very therapeutic for those kids."
This past summer, they entertained a travelling group of foster kids and counsellors from Tennessee who were taking the Lake Superior Circle Tour and have hosted troubled kids in a drugs and alcohol program.
The confidence-building course is great for bonding kids and adults alike. Some corporate types have even taken the challenge, including a group from the local charity casino and a dental office. This fall, they are waiting to hear from the Technical Safety Standards Association for final approval on a giant zip line they have installed in a stand of hemlock.
The northern part of the Algoma district is gaining notoriety for eco-adventures with episodes of the popular hunter-fugitive Man Tracker television show being taped there.
The city's tourism department continues to promote the Sault as a jumping-off point for outdoor adventures in the Algoma district. Their explorer guide brochure released two years ago has won provincial, national and international awards including a recent Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership.
With 2008 visitation numbers yet to be tabulated, Sault Ste. Marie Tourism director Ian McMillan says it's a safe bet that the major attractions, dependent on U.S. tourism, took a beating this year. Most of this year's hotel business came from meetings, conventions and sports tourism.
"We continue to struggle with the leisure market," says McMillan.
A major local tourism focus is on upgrading the marketing, service and coaches of the Agawa Canyon Tour Train, which involves a retrofit of the passenger coaches. Two North American rail car refurbishment shops are bidding.
The economic development corporation is finalizing a deal with Canadian National Railway to modernize the excursion. The railway and the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund invested $10 million in total to refurbish the coaches to meet 1,000-person passenger requirement.
Sault economic development corporation president Bruce Strapp says two rail car refurbishment companies were bidding on the contract.
City and tourism officials have some creative ideas for on-board technology with drop-down TV's and GPS-triggered video displays to showcase the area's history in multiple languages for tour groups. Strategically-based webcams would give passengers a unique perspective.
"There's some cool ideas," says Strapp. "Giving people different vistas will make the experience on the train more exciting."
McMillan says CN has been very supportive, but freight and passenger scheduling issues with the national carrier are among the challenges.
"We've had a lengthy dialogue with them from a tourism perspective and they've been amenable in listening to our comments and concerns."
