Quarry Park Adventures provided passes for my family to attend, all opinions are my own.

If you are looking for an out-of-the-box birthday our outing idea, and are driving distance to Rocklin, CA I’ve got the answer for you my friends! Quarry Park Adventures is a rock climbing and ropes course adventure center built right into a previous granite quarry site. I honestly didn’t quite realize how big, awesome and seriously legit this place was until we got there. These kids had the time of their lives running around and conquering all the different courses and activities. My son said multiples times that it was his best birthday ever! Let me give you a quick run-down so you can plan your trip!

Which Ticket is Right for You?

There are a few different ticket options including a 2 hour and 4 hour Quarry Access pass. Use code ALIA15 for a discount when booking! Here are some factors to consider when choosing your ticket type: Keep in mind that you start with about a 15 minute safety orientation where they teach you how to work your gear so you can traverse the courses on your own. We had the 4 hour pass, and since we had four 9-10 year olds with us it took a little longer to get through the safety briefing. By the time that was complete we had about 3 1/2 hours to explore.

Also keep in mind that you may have to wait in line at different points while you wait for people in front of you to complete obstacles. You also want to consider the fact that its usually about 15 degrees hotter down in the quarry since the heat reflects off of the granite. They do provide unlimited water throughout the facility though which is very handy so you don’t have to try to haul a water bottle around with you. So if it’s a hot day, you might have had enough after 2 hours. By the time we left after 4 hours the gear was starting to feel heavy on the boys and they were hungry and tired. 2 of them wanted to keep going and 2 of them were done. If this is your first time there I probably recommend the 4 hour pass, but it depends on the age and personality of participants, weather, how far you drove to get there etc!

There are also options to come in and use just the rock walls or just the Kids Cove. We actually didn’t do the Kid’s Cove but it looked pretty cool even for older kids, our group was a little sad that we couldn’t do it. You can check out all the ticket options here. They also have party packages if you’re looking at taking a big group and you can check those out here. And remember there needs to be one participating adult for every two kids under the age of 12. (But don’t worry, there are lots of awesome guides to help you along as well!)

Finally give Quarry Park a follow on social media and keep an eye out, I’ve noticed that sometimes they run promotions or deals to get discounted entry.

What To Do Once You’re There

Once your done with the safety briefing and you’ve learned how to use the key and lock system, there’s a whole quarry to explore! (By the way, even the 9 year olds got the hang of the key and lock system, it just took some practice but by the time we were heading home we were all pros.)

Aerial Adventures

If you’ve never been I suggest starting with one of the easy Aerial Adventure courses. These are essentially obstacle courses suspended in the air. Once you complete an obstacle you come to a platform where you unhook from the obstacle and hook to the platform, once the next obstacle is clear you then unhook from the platform and onto the next obstacle. You continue like this until you reach the end and are lowered down in your harness.

The easy courses do include ziplines, however, and you have to be 70 lbs to go on the zip lines. So if you have kiddos under 70 lbs you will have to start on a medium Aerial Adventure course. There are a few easy, medium and hard courses to conquer, and once you’ve had enough or want a break head over for some rock climbing!

Climbing Walls

The climbing walls are pretty straight forward, they hook you up and you climb to the top! The start easy on the right and as you move towards the left they get harder and harder. The boys favorite part was coming back down once they made it up. The walls are a good place to come back to in between all of the other activities.

Zip Line

There are a few smaller zip lines that are part of obstacle courses, and then there is the one main big zip line. You have to be 70 lbs to go on any of the zip lines. We had one out of the four boys that was under 70 lbs and couldn’t do the ziplines. I wasn’t sure if that would create problems, but there was so much else to do it ended up not being a very big deal. We got lucky and were some of the only people in the park that Friday afternoon, but I can imagine the line for the main zip line could at times get long. It’s worth it though, I’ve ziplined through the jungle in Belize and this was more exhilarating!

Free Fall

This is a quick jump off a platform and fall event. If there’s no line this will just take a few minutes. The heart racing part is the resistance in the cord that lowers you down slowly doesn’t kick in for the first few feet so you get that stomach in your throat feeling. It’s a fun one and some of the kid’s favorite part.

Rappel

There is a 120 foot rock face that you can rappel down. I’ve never rappelled before so it was fun to learn!

Via Ferrata

We didn’t explore this part at all, but its a course that follows the whole rim of the quarry. If you complete the whole thing they say it takes a couple hours. We’ll have to try it the next time we go!

Kids Kove

Entrance to the Kids Kove is separate from the Quarry Access. I thought it was just for little kids, but after seeing it and having all the 9 year old boys with me wanting to go on it, I’d say your safe bringing older kids too. Picture a really cool playground on steroids.

When to Go

Check their site for seasonal hours and changes, but I’d say the best time to experience Quarry Park is the Spring or Fall when the weather is a little cooler. I think it’s a great thing to do to celebrate a birthday, or it would be a blast as a group date night as well. My husband was talking the whole time about how it would be fun to come back as a group of adults. Keep in mind you need one participating adult for ever 2 kids under the age of 12. So my husband and I went and accompanied 4 kids to celebrate my son’s 10th birthday. My son kept saying it was his best birthday ever, and you know, that’s kind of a big statement when his mom is a party planner ;). I tried not to take offense ;).

It was great to see the kids confidence grow as we conquered one thing after another. And by the way if you want to see all of our adventures in video format, you can check that out here! If you take a trip to Quarry Park I want to hear all about it!