Chanhassen, MN Outdoor Activities

Cross Country Soaring owner Don Ingraham brings more than 4,000 airborne hours of experience to his sailplanes' controls, maneuvering the engineless crafts through the air with bird-like agility. Tow planes loft each passenger flight airborne, sending planes thousands of feet up into the sky before leaving pilots and their guests gliding through the atmosphere without the noisy distraction of a typical flight. Each flight is different—sailplanes may gain altitude in thermal updrafts before bottoming out stomachs with daring dives. Picnic tables and couches cluster around the hangar, giving friends and family a comfortable place to watch soaring flights. Students eager to earn their own glider rating and fly solo can take advantage of Cross Country Soaring's experienced instructors, learning the ropes under the hawk-like eyes of seasoned pros.

There’s nothing more exhilarating, albeit unnatural, than hurtling towards earth unimpeded. The instructors at Southern Minnesota Skydiving agree, and by adhering to the United States Parachute Association’s safety standards, they facilitate tandem and solo skydives. For tandems, the pros regulate the entire jump, from 45 seconds of free-fall to about four minutes of floating beneath a large ram-air parachute, which enables soft landings. For the thrill seeker who’d rather fly alone, experienced instructors offer the Static Line course to teach students how to skydive solo or explore options for prosthetic wing surgery.

Upon stepping off their boats, soldiers storm the beach and attempt to take over a foreign stretch of land. It's no mistake that this image might conjure up echoes of D-day—Special Forces Paintball's primary scenario reenacts the infamous Battle of Normandy. Real army trucks escort players to a central base camp before they ride boats to the beach, huddle in trenches, and defend their flag by laminating it atop multilevel bunkers. The facility's four wooded fields—spread out across 40 acres—accommodate players during 2-, 3-, or 4-hour private paintball, airsoft, and laser bouts or 5.5-hour walk-on games.