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Be forewarned: creek water sliding, swimming, and cliff jumping are dangerous. Swimming spots are available along Oak Creek, especially at the famous and fun water slide action at Slide Rock, an area where sandstone bedrock has been smoothed off over the millenniums to create a zoom-filled water slide. Kids jet through; grownups tend to drag bottom. Be especially careful of the shallow 3”- 6” deep ponds lining the flats next to the water slide. Algae covers the bottom of these shallows and they are as slippery as talcum powder on linoleum. There is a safe way to enter: sit on your butt or knees and slide across these slimy pools until you reach the slide channel. Go slow and enjoy the 58 degree water!
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Cliff jumping is inherently dangerous,
especially when you get above fifty feet; particularly
if you hit the water in any way except with your face
forward, your arms at your side, and your feet together;
and absolutely if you do not first swim your jump zone
and check for boulders or log jams under the surface.
All jump ponds in streams have the unique ability to
change depth in a short period of time due to intense
rainfall that washes in new deposits of rock and debris.
I always swim my jump zones first and dive deep
to check the bottom. If you have to hit bottom,
it’s much nicer to touch down in soft dirt or
gravel instead of large, angled rocks or sharp pointed
branches embedded in swimming hole’s floor. I
speak from hard-won experience. I was very fortunate
to leave a shallow river jump with just a serious shinbone
strike and no broken bones. The algae injected into
my shin scrapes by the sharp underwater rocks gave me
a quick ride to a 101 degree fever and weeks of infected
shin bones. The water was muddy and I didn’t check
it first. At least I didn’t dive....
A popular jumping spot in Oak Creek Canyon is Grasshopper
Point. There are safe ledges at 5 feet, 10 feet, and
even 20 feet. All of these jumps are straight down,
into a wide, 20 foot deep pond with no ledges or obstacles
below you on the way down. The 30 foot, 40 foot, and
outrageous Pine Tree ledge at approximately 100 feet
all require the jumper to throw their body outward in
order to clear the ledges below. The higher you go,
the more your jumping ledge is set back and the more
ledges below that you have to clear. In the past few
years, several jumpers/divers have died. I once climbed
up to Pine Tree and looked down. It was so far below
to that the tiny jump pond that it seemed that aperson
could easily overshoot and hit the other bank while
trying to clear the horizontally protruding 15 feet
of ledges on the way down. If it had been straight in,
I would have already done it. Even the mellow
spots along the creek that were fine last year for shallow
diving might be only 4 feet deep this year with lots
of new rocks and tree limbs beneath the surface. Be
careful and check below the water first!
This said, check out Grasshopper’s lower ledges and the 50-60 foot jump immediately below the bridge at Slide Rock State Park (Experts only! The jump pond is shallow.) There are easy jumps at both locations that the kids can enjoy safely, the kind that seem enormous to a child, but are actually only 4-6 feet. For tots and toddlers, there are many shallow pools a foot to two feet deep that can be enjoyed on the lap of a parent.
Slide Rock State Park
www.fs.fed.us/r3/coconino/recreation/red_rock/slide-rock-pic.shtml
Grasshopper Point
www.fs.fed.us/r3/coconino/recreation/red_rock/grasshopper-pic.shtml
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