Dare to Jump?

Crater Lake is the cleanest water in the world. Fed by snow and rain only, it remains and crystal clear blue captured in the bowl of a long dead volcano. I first visited the national park with my family, and in that visit, we stayed safely on the rim of the crater, looking down onto the pristine blue waters. Ryan however, wanted to go swimming.

While the lake may be held in an old volcano, make no mistake of the water temperature, it easily matched the icy frigidness of Glacier National Park’s. While Ryan was willing to get fully doused, I was thinking I would just dip my feet in and take pictures of him freezing his butt off…

That is until we saw this guy…

Woah. That looked fun. Should we try it? It took a few minutes of consideration for us to go investigate the cliff. The clear water afforded a perfect view of any rocks or obstructions along the shore, and below the cliff, there was nothing but dark blue water – there went our last excuse. “I’ll do it if you do it” I said to Ryan. And sure enough…

So then it was my turn.

Heart racing, hyperventilating a bit, I stepped out to the edge of the cliff.

A cousin of mine gave me the advice during graduation to do things that scared me, and this was certainly scary. It took every ounce of courage to lunge out over the open water, and fall.

Ryan's reaction to the cold...

Ryan told me that the iciness of the water was the second thing you noticed, and he was right. The first thing you notice is how far the fall is. I let out a little shriek before hitting the water it was far enough to catch my stomach and make one feel as though they were falling forever. It was also enough to push you far deep into the water, enough that I even looked up at the surface for a minute, surrounded by bubbles with shafts of sunlight seemingly forever away.

Then you notice the cold. It’s enough to take your breath away, and the waves buffeting you in the water makes swimming to the rocks a bit of a struggle. Nonetheless, I was shaking all over not from the cold but from the exhilaration of the plunge. We decided one icy plunge was enough, especially as the sun continued to lower and the air temperature continued to drop, but we were pretty glad we’d dared to jump.

Thanks for the heart-stopper Crater Lake!