Bridge and Cliff Jumping

Did you ever see a video or some pictures of those crazy people who jump off of 60 foot cliffs and wanted to do it? I did and eventually I found out I can. Well my cliffs aren’t quite as tall and I don’t do all the flipping those people do. That said it's not for most people. Most things here are safe enough for just about anyone, but this requires a level of confidence and courage that is a little higher than the other things I'm going to put in this blog. My recommendation is if you don't feel comfortable with jumping off of high objects into water then don't and even if you do feel comfortable be freaking careful. Actually so nobody tries to sue me lets say my official recommendation is that nobody tries it. That said, currently I'm completely comfortable jumping off anything 20 feet. It's fun and all, but there isn't any thrill to it anymore. At the 30+ feet it becomes thrilling. I estimate my highest jump at around 45 feet and I didn't land it quite right and took home some serious bruises. At every new place I jump I always take the time to make sure the water is deep enough. I also take some time to look carefully at my surroundings to determine what could go wrong and what to do if it does. I also never do this by myself.

The first place I jumped that was over 20 feet was on Flathead River near the west gate to Glacier National Park in Montana. I found it when my white water rafting guide pointed out the 30 foot tall bridge. You could do the same, or if you don't want to go rafting just ask someone in the rafting company. They are super helpful and will give you better directions then I could remember. The picture to the left is me jumping off this bridge. A good cliff to jump off that's a little higher than that bridge is located along Going to the Sun Road in Saint Mary’s Lake. If you look west along Saint Mary's Lake at the Rising Sun campground the cliffs to jump off are pretty obvious. While these locations are far from my current home in Massachusetts I did spend a summer out in Glacier Park so I know quite a bit about it. It’s my favorite place in the whole world and I totally recommend taking a vacation there if you like hiking.

The closest place to me in Massachusetts, which I know of to go bridge jumping, is easily viewed from the Mass Pike just west of where it crosses Route 9 in Framingham. The GPS coordinates for this bridge are: N 42 17.974 W 071 28.208. I usually park on the North side of Route 9 and on the west side of the Mass Pike in one of the business parking lots. Then walk the abandoned train tracks to the bridge. There is a fair amount of broken glass and the water has a little alga in it, but quite a few people jump from this. There are various heights to jump from (5-20 feet).