I'm Steve Vasquez with Uproxx and I'm traveling the
country in search of adventures within
reach of any major city.
This is...
Everyone comes to L.A. in search of Hollywood or the
beaches, but being a local, I know
that there's a lot more to L.A. outside of the city.
I'm heading out to San Bernardino to meet with expert
slack-liner Ray Diaz.
He's going to teach me how to slack-line, which is a
sport that's rising very quickly
in popularity.
So, slack-lining is essentially stringing
up a piece of, like, flat rope in between
two trees and you just balance and walk across it.
What's the difference between high-lining and slack-
lining?
So, slack-lining is off the ground a couple feet and high-
lining is, obviously, up higher
where you have to have safety gear.
Okay, so for today what are we going to be doing?
We're going to go to Crestline and it's up in the San
Bernardino Mountains.
There's a cool little bit of high-line that I'll show up there,
just give you a little
taste of what it looks like.
Then right next to it, is this Mexican restaurant called
Jortensia's, get some lunch and, also,
we're going to go to Deep Creek hot springs, which is not
too far from there and do some
slack-lining.
It sounds like a good day, man.
You ready?
Yeah.
Alright, let's do it.
So, you come up here often then?
Yeah.
This is probably one of my favorite places just because
it's super close, you know what
I mean, like in an hour and a half I can be up in the
mountains.
I don't really know much about the sport.
I see hippy in the park, no shoes –
A lot of people do it.
I mean, there's lawyers that slack-line.
There's doctors that slack-line.
It actually is good for your body.
It's good to keep your body in tune with balance and also
strengthening your core and legs.
Alright, I'm coming up.
Alright, dude.
This is crazy.
Woo!
Damn!
It is a long way down.
I'm not generally, like, afraid of, like, things, but this
is genuinely scary.
I might not be the climbing type.
This is where you come in handy.
You get to feed this to me.
Okay.
Can I do it sitting down.
Here you go, thank you.
Damn, that's crazy.
Thanks, dude.
Let's go get some food.
So, Deep Creek hot springs, San Bernardino Mountains.
It'll be a perfect spot for you to learn, I mean, ideally.
It's in a park, but this is better than a park.
It's like a more epic way to learn how to slack-line.
It's going to be over water.
So, it should be pretty chill.
It's obviously a lot different terrain than, you know,
earlier, when we were in the mountains.
Now we're, like, you know, more in the high desert.
Are you ready?
Yep, let's roll.
Alright.
Geez, like this landscape is insane.
Yeah, this is pretty cool, huh?
Sweet, I think it's right over here.
Oh, dude, let's check it out.
Since it is a fixed line –
Oh, snap.
So, before you get on it, we're going to check the
anchors.
This is not legit.
This is not a safe piece of gear.
I think that's supposed to be connected.
So, we can't do it?
It's like driving a car with two lug nuts, you know?
Yeah.
It'll go for a while, but who knows when it'll blow.
Oh, man, I kind of wanted to try it.
Dude, but no worries.
I got another spot that I can show you.
Sorry it didn't work out at Deep Creek, but I'm stoked that
we at least got you on a line
and got you that feeling.
It's a lot harder than I thought it was going to be, but it's
a lot of fun.
Thank you so much.
I will definitely, definitely, do this again.
Yeah?
Yeah.
Cool, dude.