New adventure center, retreat opens in Bedford County | Local Business News
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, 2022-08-07 15:40:00,
A new retreat and adventure center opened this summer in Thaxton, breathing life into land that has sat vacant for many years.
The Peaks Retreat and Adventure Center is located at 1336 Simmons Mill Road in Thaxton. After the WoodmenLife Insurance Company closed its Woods Adventure and Conference Retreat at the site five years ago, the 66-acre property sat vacant until a new tenant, CustomEd, purchased the land in September 2021.
CustomEd, the company that owns The Peaks, is a nonprofit that designs and implements educational and outreach programs for a variety of causes and organizations.
Hunter Gilbert, program director at The Peaks, said the company wanted a place to host corporate retreats, hold summer camps and events.
He said that turned into being able to open up to do various other things, especially in the surrounding community.
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The Peaks Retreat & Adventure Center officially opened about two months ago and has hosted two camps, Anxious for Nothing and Bias Chana, so far this summer.
The center will mostly hold youth camps during the summer months but during the rest of the year is planned to be open for corporate events, field trips, community days and festival-type activities.
Missy Morris, center director at The Peaks, said she is excited there is a new outdoor education and adventure facility in the area.
“Specializing in camps and retreats, The Peaks also provides a great location for private events including corporate teambuilding, festivals, weddings and much more,” she said in an email. “Set in the shadows of the beautiful Peaks of Otter, not only does the facility have scenic beauty, but also the thrill of adventure.”
She said The Peaks offers a unique challenge course including climbing walls and a 400-foot gravity zipline, as well as two miles of hiking trails, a swimming pool, basketball and sand volleyball courts, archery, disc golf and a one-acre pond for canoeing.
Gilbert said the gravity zip line is a little bit different than some traditional zip lines — a person’s weight determines how far they swing down.
It’s also set up so that they’re returned back to the ground by a facilitator just above the platform and there’s a…
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