waterfall diving

Tonight, I jumped off the side of a rock wall into a waterfall. It's been a goal to jump along a waterfall into the pool below for some time now. I can't imagine how awesome it must be when the water isn't glacial-cold! Still, it was pretty awesome!

As per our hot weekend tradition, I went to Oneonta Gorge with Ashes, Victory and Raven today. Andrew, Bastard and Emily also joined us. It wasn't as hot today as it was yesterday but the coolness of the Gorge was still worth the trip. After the log jam (pictured in the first picture above), we hiked to the waterfall through chest deep water. I love this trail because it's not for everyone. People with start the hike, see the log jam and give up. Then, if they make it past the log jam, they may not be prepared for the deep water and might turn back. However, if they make it to the end, they still might not approach the waterfall and jump in. But we did.

Ashes was the first person that we saw climb the rock face today next to the falls to jump in. I saw that he climbed it and then Andrew swim over that way. I knew that I'd never hear the end of it if I didn't do it too so I jumped in. The water was FREEZING and the falls pushed me towards the edge of the pool so I had to struggle just to get to the wall. Ashes had already made it up the cliff and into the pool by the time I started. Andrew tried and then swam back a ways to reevaluate how it was to be done. I got a hint from Ashes and then I went for it. At one point, I had to hoist myself up onto a ledge, using just my arms. It was a ways up out of the water but thankfully I go to the gym. :)

When I was on the rock wall, I began to lose my nerve. I don't like jumping a long ways into water but I was convinced that it was going to be okay and random strangers started coaxing me so I did it. It was pretty epic for me. I can't say that I do this every day but it's pretty damn wonderful to know that it is realistically an option for me.

What else?
As per usual, we headed down to where the falls spill into the river. I went to retrieve my phone at this time to capture some memories from this awesome day. Then I dropped my phone in the river. It was in there for a minute before Andrew spotted it and retrieved it. I was told by Victory, Ashes and Bastard to put it in a sack of rice which I did. I've tried this trick years ago with the droid which got we in my pocket after biking in the rain and it didn't work. Even if it doesn't work, it was still an awesome day!