12 FEET UNDER @ THE PUNCH BOWLS
Well my day started @ 5 am. I, being well organized, had my bag packed the night before so I lazed around watched cartoons and relaxed for an hour. I got out of bed about 5:45 and took a shower. (Showers are not required before cliff jumping. Your going to be in water all day.) I got picked up @ 6:30, grabbed a pre-packaged sandwich from the local store and hit the road. I met up with my sister, Skorch and headed for Santa Paula. As we were heading up Hwy 150, we ran into the most annoying road obstacle to date, bike road racers. These people were complete selfish morons. When we finally arrived after 10 miles or so of having to pass these morons (riding three abreast), we parked and got out of the car. One of them actually a few of them had the audacity to complain about our doors being open. This was more than I could handle after driving behind these jerks the whole way up. I proceed to let loose and give them the nastiest words I could muster. I mean they weren’t shy about being in the road the whole ten miles up, but our car door was an impassable obstacle.
Finally we made the trail, which actually starts through the St. Thomas de Aquinas college. We hiked through the flat land, and by flat land I mean areas without out a steady incline or decline. Then we arrived at the mountain. We got 20% percent up and I was feeling very out of shape. We pressed on and I was doing the huff and puff. We reseted only a couple short times and took in the stunning ridge line. It truly is beautiful up there. We got to the cone camp ground and much to my amazement some awesome soul went up there and cleaned the whole place up. There isn’t much you can do about the tagging but paint it an earthy tone and that just gives them a fresh canvas.
Our group made it’s first descent from the mountain and came to the first water fall. It looked inviting and refreshing. I say looked cause we didn’t stop. The team marched on we climbed up a goat trail to the upper part of the falls and our favorite jumping platforms. We pressed on at this point there are no trails you either have to go with someone who has been or do your best to just follow the river upward, ( I use the term river loosely it was a flowing steady creek). We saw great rock over hangs that you could have camped 20 people under in a rain storm, more gorgeous water falls into crystal clear lagoons and did some slightly challenging rock climbs. Finally we got to a giant pond and natural water slide.
It was time to play. Being cautious, I checked the depth of the water having never been this far in, then proceeded to jump out into the water. Skorch was the first one down the slide and we all followed. It was worth it! There are some obstructions but if you stay left you should be golden. At this location there is a rope swing, suffice it to say it took me three swings out to finally man up and let go……It was worth it. There were some beautiful jumping cliffs there, but they were outside my ability to climb to. Part of being safe and responsible is knowing your limits. Its no fun being air lifted out. Well scratch that a helicopter ride might be fun but you could be in serious pain at the time too. Back to the trip, we had a fire in a secure spot even though it was nice and warm the fire help raise the body temp after being in the cold water. My buddy being the most experienced out of the three of us showed us a great underground spring with the best tasting water I have ever had. I believe you can drink the flowing water but why risk the intestinal discomfort when you have a spring that has traveled underground and been filtered by Momma nature.
After replenishing our water reserves we hiked back to to the jump site. At cross camp we encountered a small city of campers. I couldn’t believe how many there were. They were everywhere.
My first jump was about 36′ and I got a confidence stealing smack to my neither region. Now 36′ is not an impressive height to jump from but its a narrow canyon and a rock pool. I decided to go lower to the log bridge and practice front flips for a while. During this time my buddy Skorch started swan diving. I manned up went high again. I jumped from a spot I didn’t jump from last time perfect entry…. Yea!
The most impressive jump of the day was a thirty foot swan dive. Now if you know anything about diving 30 feet is competition olympic height. Now throw in obstacles and rocks to smash your head on. Skorch stood up there like a man and without more time needed than to get the right camera angles executed a swan dive with perfect form. Props to you buddy!!!!!!
We jumped for a couple hours from different places and coaxed a few passerby’s to jump also. Then it was time to go back. Our plan was to stop and swim at the lower pool but it was getting cold and the sun was going down. We picked up trash left behind by other people and made our way home. On the way we saw a giant spider. Now I am not a creepy crawly expert so I cant say that it was a tarantula, but this thing was big. We also went passed a coyote. I didn’t see it but the group ahead of us did. We got out without out a hitch just as the last of the light was leaving the horizon. I have been injured on the last 4 trips out so I was pleased to be sprain, twist, abrasion and laceration free. I thought it was a wonderful trip and plan to be back in the spring. Thank you’s go out to Amanda and Skorch for making trip awesome. You will hear from me again after Matilla Ja. Our next trip is a 3 day 2 night trip into the wilderness. Peace until then.