Monday, June 27, 2005
mccloud part II
Teenagers. We always have to go bigger.
The aforementioned waterfall we jumped off into the pitch black abyss last week has another cliff above it. Granted, we were too chicken to jump off in the dark as it is considerably higher than the ~40 foot ledge we were on last week, but we took it as a challenge to come back to. Saturday night, we went back.
We found a road that came at the waterfall from up above, so we came down right on top of the cliff. After looking over the edge, we all thought it would be best if we continued to the bottom to drop off our stuff at the bottom of the falls before we jumped, either that, or we just didn't want to jump at first.
At the bottom, I took a few pictures of the gorgeous falls while Cameron jumped off the lower ledge to warm up. [the jump | the way down | the splash!]
When he was adequately dried off, we both decided to climb up to the top of the falls again in hopes of making the biggest jump, while Jack just wanted to have a smoke and chill for a bit. At the top, the view looking down was frightening to say the least:
We sat up there for a good 20 minutes talking it over, who wanted to go first, how dangerous was it, really? I decided I could not live with myself if I didn't make the jump, so I volunteered and stepped up on the rock. After taking several deep breaths, I didn't think, and just jumped...
When we were throwing rocks from the top of the ledge, we counted about two and a half seconds of air time, which is theoretically the same as would be for a human. Two and a half seconds. Doesn't seem very long, but when you're free falling... there's nothing like it! I did some calculatios, and I estimated that I hit the water at ~50 miles per hour from the height of around 70+ feet. Phew. I could feel my feet hit, and the impact shoot up my body almost instantly. The adrenaline was the only thing keeping me going...
When I surfaced and swam back to the rocks on shore, it was a good feeling of accomplishment, like nothing else. I looked up at Cameron, for him to jump, but he just sat there alone until Jack hiked up to take a look. They both sat there for a long time, just talking, looking over the edge, and sitting down again. At the end, they decided it was getting too dark, plus it was raining, so we decided to call it a day and make it their summer challenge.
To give you an idea of what the waterfall looks like, here is a picture. I enlarged the part where Jack and Cameron were sitting, to give a sense of height. I jumped from right where Jack (red shirt) is standing:
So, if anyone knows of any waterfalls/bridges/rivers with a jump bigger than that, let me know, I'd love to try it!
I wanna try this one though. Will have to do it sometime next year.