Cliff Jumping

Yesterday I went rafting on the Stillwater River near Absarokee.


It is a nice day with clear skies and a fairly sunny forecast. I dress in shorts, a tank top and to save my skin from turning as red as a cherry I also pull on a sweatshirt (silly I know and a bit toasty too, but sunscreen just doesn't cut it when it comes to protecting my skin from the sun. And even when I do get sun I end up with weird patterns of burning. All around its better if I try to stay like a non-toasted marshmallow than be the burnt-to-a-crisp-no-one-wants-to-eat-marshmallow-so-just-let-it-drop-into-the-coals kind).


The rafting experience is similar to many I have been on before with the few intense and major splashes surrounded by calm and easy-going currents.There isn't a whole lot to it and you paddle only when needed to steer away from a tree or large rock in the path.Easy-peazy


The raft comes around a bend. We pull over to the side where it is calm and we can jump out. Daren, our guide, lets us know that we can jump off the cliff into the water, even showing us the footholds in the rock to get to the top. I'm already soaking wet (The last few rapids I really leaned into for full effect)and figure why not. What do I have to lose other than my life,right?(I know I could be the one who rather than gracefully jumps off the edge ends up tripping and hitting my head on the way down. It's not that I am so incredibly uncoordinated,I mean I am, but in moments of excitement I tend to lack the necessities for coordination altogether) Oh well, its a risk I'm happy to take. While climbing up the side of the hill my hands grasp at the lose soil crushing the fragrant grasses and my knees are scraped on the sharp ledges so that by the time I make it to the top my thighs are covered in dirt and my knees are red and scratched. The jump is a little further down a path. It feels wonderful to walk along the trail in bare feet.


The ledge. To reach it the trail slopes down and then the platform to jump from is another step down to the pointed precipice. I get a bit nervous here--what am I thinking? Really,I'm going to jump from this? I don't hardly even manage a jump from the curb in real life without twisting an ankle. Fuck it I'm going. I walk off the ledge and fall. My eyes are closed tight and my nose is plugged (This is my normal water immersion technique) soon ice cold water surrounds my body prickling my skin and I still continue to plunge deeper. It feels good.I let my arms float at my sides and my legs dangle below me. I never reach the bottom.


I have a go at this two more times before we leave. Nothing compares to leaping from the ledge with the knowledge that I can never reach the bottom. I will continually be in a free-fall state until I emerge.