The Leap of Faith
Man's Jump, a hop, skip and jump away, is one of the best patrolled nature preserves in Thousand Oaks. The ranger stands above the cliff jump and then escorts you out from there. He used to take your picture as you were walking out, yeah it's always the same guy. You get all kinds of tickets and fines. Bob the Cliff Jumping Maniac says "If there is no sign there is no crime." The water is 98 percent run-off, yep that's not good, and the rest is raw sewage. I never got sick or knew anyone who got sick from swimming there but...Last visit 7-22-04 the sewer pipe was totally burst and it was a stagnanting pool of human excrement. It was supposed to be fixed but it has been leaking for 20 years so...Rule #1 if it looks like S**T and smells like S**T then it's S**T. The jumps are 32-34 feet and the target area is a relatively easy hit. The only thing is one side is a jump and the other side is a step off. When standing just downstream of the jumps while facing them is a monkey head. The top of the ridge is "his" forehead and the path up crosses over "his" mouth. The Monkey Head is a fat cliff jump not that many people do. It's a pretty far jump out and there are 2 boulders and a shallow rock shelf that make a triangle. The coolest part about this jump is there is a step off on the other side that is scarier than any other jump down there. Bodies have been hauled out of this pool and I have hit rocks there hard so...Check The Water...don't just jump where it looks deep.
AHHH!!!!
The Monkey Head
I'm Falling!
Jesse
Man's Jump is in La Brinca Canyon and is one beautiful hike. The wind sculpted rock walls are the perfect place to go rock climbing. This is a rugged place where bouldering and rock climbing skills are very useful. La Brinca Canyon also has or had a heathy population of frogs, snakes and lizards. It is a crime to be caught with any of these things. The sighting of birds of prey circling in the canyon updrafts is a constant occurance. There are alot of interesting things back in this canyon like the steamroller that took the fast way down. There's also a motorcycle that's been down there so long only the back tire sticks up out of the dirt. There are garbage filled underwater caves by the jumping hole and 2 dry caves downstream. One is nautral and a great spot to sit with room for 15 people. The other is 30 minutes downstream and is a manmade sewage pipe channel. It had a locked steel door, the door's still there but someone "vandalized" the lock. The cave goes straight back, further than I wanted to go, and the roof is covered with 3 inch white salactites.
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Cliff Jumping Spots!
The Monkey Head | Man's Jump