From blueprints to tree tops: Josh Russart engineers new career

Lori Jayne Carlson

Contributor

August 4, 2025

MINOCQUA – A four-hour drive for vacation is one thing, but a four-hour drive to go to work might seem like a bit much. 

For Josh Russart – owner of Northwoods Zip Line Adventure Tours – however, that has been his commute since the inception of the Minocqua business.

After spending seven years in a cubicle pursuing a career in engineering, Russart said his goal of being outdoors – “being the man” instead of “working for the man” – inspired him to think outside the box for his next career venture.

Russart, along with his brother-in-law and co-owner Adam Rhodee, built the zipline by hand near the family cabin – which, as previously mentioned, is a four-hour drive from his family’s home near Oconomowoc.

Where it all started

Growing up, Russart said he spent a lot of time outdoors – fishing, hunting, you name it – all of which was encouraged by his parents, Rick and Cindy.

“I couldn’t have asked for better parents,” he said.

Russart said he attended the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee for civil engineering, specializing in land development.

Entering the engineering field right out of college, he said he liked the work itself, but “could not stand having a boss and couldn’t stand being behind a computer all day.”

“So, for a couple of years, I thought, ‘What the heck am I going to do? I can’t do this,’” he said. “I just knew I needed to be my own boss.”

Having had an opportunity to do a zipline during a family vacation in Hawaii and again on his honeymoon in Costa Rica, Russart said the wheels started turning. 

“I loved it so much, I came home and started doing research,” he said. “My brother-in-law and I have the mindset that we really have a hard time paying somebody else to do what we can do. And even if we don’t know how to do it, we enjoy figuring things out. So, we didn’t go out and randomly build a zipline. We spent about a year doing research and training.”

When they made the decision to build the zipline at their family cabin, Russart said they found a mentor from Tennessee who took him and Rhodee under his wing.

“We were lucky enough to find a professional vendor licensed to build ziplines who was willing to work with us and allow us to build [it] ourselves while he was watching,” he said. 

The mentor, Russart said, also inspected everything they did.

“We kind of took the path less traveled,” he said. “A lot of these [types of] ziplines are owned by people who pay someone else to build them.”

But Russart said the rates for someone else to build the zipline for them were “insane,” so he and Rhodee took matters into their own hands.

After a year of research, training and hands-on work, Northwoods Zip Line Adventure Tours opened in June of 2014.

During the ideation and building process, Russart said both he and Rhodee continued to work full-time.

“I was lucky enough that I went to my civil engineering company and said, ‘Here’s the deal – this is my future,’” he said. “They were cool enough to allow me to work a week as an engineer, and then we would come here and build for a week [and then back to work].”

So, every other week, Russart said he and Rhodee made the four-hour drive to build the zip lines – working from “sunrise to sunset.”

“It was a long process, but we made it,” he said. “We know it like the back of our hands because we built it.”

For the most part, Russart said he takes care of all the business aspects of Northwoods Zip Line Adventure Tours.

Though he and Rhodee built everything at Northwoods Zip Line Adventure Tours together, today, Russart said, he is more of a silent partner.

“He’s the guy who can literally do anything,” he said. “He owns his own landscaping company. I asked him to be my partner. He said ‘yes.’”

What really matters

Now a little older, Russart said his three boys, Sawyer (15), Hudson (12) and Boone (nine) share his love of ziplines.

“This world is a little messed up right now,” he said. “[My wife,] Emily, and I take pride in getting them outdoors. We are trying to raise them right.”

Russart said it seems to be working, as his oldest son is already walking in the entrepreneurial footsteps of owning his business, maintaining beaches for neighbors.

Though Russart said his business allows him to be outside doing what he loves, there is also the business side of things that keeps him busy while not on site in Minocqua.

“When I’m home, I’m still working,” he said. “I always say that when I’m home, the work I do for the zipline is all the non-fun stuff – paying the bills, payroll, marketing.”

Russart said his wife – who, as the manager of finance for Rogers Hospital in Oconomowoc, he affectionately calls “the breadwinner” – has been very supportive of his dream-turned-business venture.

Though the zipline business isn’t as strong of a passion for her as it is for him, Russart said Lina “likes to do it.”

Owning your own business, Russart said, definitely has pros and cons.

“You can never get away from it,” he said. “You basically wake up thinking about it and go to sleep thinking about it. There is always that extra level of stress and headaches that an owner deals with. Sometimes, that’s not ideal for the wife or the family. But she also knows I would go crazier if I had to sit at a desk and have a boss. So, she gets it.”

Owning a tourist business in North Central Wisconsin and more specifically, being the owner of Northwoods Zip Line Adventure Tours, Russart said the job is very seasonal.

“I basically have three months of craziness – three months of stress – and I may not be in the best mood when I’m back at home,” he said, “but the other months – it’s pretty low-key, so it gives me a lot of time to do more family stuff.” 

In the off-season, Russart said he’s able to hunt and spend “a heck of a lot of time playing with the kiddos.”

“I’m the one getting the kids on the bus and off the bus,” he said. 

Enjoying life

Speaking from experience – building a business he is passionate about from the ground up – Russart said he encourages others who feel ready for a change to take the leap.

“It’s funny – as you get older, you feel it even more…,” he said. “It’s that old verbiage to try to do something you love, and you will never work a day in your life.”

Owning Northwoods Zip Line Adventure Tours, Russart said, “gives me more time to enjoy life.”

“If someone isn’t happy with their current job, it isn’t going to magically change,” he added. “So, you either have to suck it up or do something about it.”

In his case, Russart said he did something about it.

“We have maybe the biggest zipline in Wisconsin,” he said. “We focus on not just a quick thrill ride.”

In addition to a newer zipline tour for kids ages three to seven, Russart said Northwoods Zip Line Adventure Tours has a total of 13 lines and offers two-and-a-half- and three-and-a-half-hour adventures.

“Platform to platform – on big beautiful red and white pine trees – it’s a true canopy tour,” he said. “It’s an awesome zipline experience.”

Details on all Northwoods Zip Line Adventure Tours has to offer are available at northwoodszipline.com.