Santa Margarita Tutors Come To You

Visitors seeking adventure on the Central Coast of California should add Margarita Adventures to their itinerary. This fun-filled attraction is located in Santa Margarita, northeast of Highway 101, off of Highway 58. The destination offers kayak and wildlife tours, but is perhaps known best for its thrilling ziplining tours.

The facility has six separate ziplines spanning a total of 7,500 feet; one admission price provides access to all. Visitors will glide over acres of vineyards, oak-studded valleys, and craggy mountainsides. Ziplining is a great bonding experience for groups, and Margarita Adventures is a popular outing for parents who visit their students at nearby Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo. It’s also a great outing for local students after completing tutoring in Santa Margarita.

Each of the six state-of-the-art ziplines has its own name and characteristics. For example, the Double Barrel allows visitors to zip side by side with a friend or family member for 2,800 feet. The 600-foot Woodlander skims the tops of native blue and white oak trees. The Pinot Express sends visitors scooting on an 1,800-foot descent above Pinot Noir vines and ends at a replica old California mining camp, the P.W. Murphy Mining Company. The Renegade, the Hilltopper, and the Archway are the three additional courses. Ziplining is not the only adventure along the two-to-three-hour course, however: between two of the ziplines there is a narrow, 300-foot suspension footbridge that must be crossed—a thrill all in itself!

Throughout the course of the tour, zipliners will see a large ranch. This is Santa Margarita Ranch, a working cattle ranch. Home to indigenous people for more than 10,000 years before being settled, the ranch became the site of a sub-mission (Santa Margarita de Cortona Asistencia) for the mission founded in 1772 by Father Junipero Serra in San Luis Obispo (the Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa). The asistencia was named for Santa Margarita de Cortona, an Italian saint.

The ranch later was a stop on the Wells Fargo stage line. Rumor has it that, while on the run, outlaw brothers Frank and Jesse James passed through Santa Margarita. When the railroad reached the ranch in 1889, Santa Margarita became a boom town, with restaurants, taverns, blacksmiths, ice cream parlors, and a hotel springing up.

Groups who come to Margarita Adventures have endless ways to customize their visit. Corporate groups can add canoe relays, archery, or other teambuilding activities. For relaxation, winetasting after the tours at the affiliated Ancient Peaks Winery is a popular choice. The Oyster Ridge event barn at the winery can host 50 to 250 for meetings or meals.

Margarita Adventures is rated five stars by TripAdvisor and Yelp and was a Sunset Travel Award finalist in 2015 and 2016. Santa Margarita tutors and teachers who visit not only experience a thrilling day, they also learn a bit about early California history to share with their students.