Oak Creek Canyon, Sedona, AZ

On my way north to Flagstaff I stopped to visit central Arizona's escape from the summer heat, Oak Creek Canyon. Down along the creek it was impressive how much cooler it was. In the water it was really cool.

By far the worst part was the traffic, since there is just one road and everybody is trying to go to Slide Rock park or park along the road. I managed to park at the picnic area about a mile north of Slide Rock. From there we walked south along the creek until we reached a spot where you couldn't continue without getting in the water. We hung out at this natural pool for a while and I got a few small cliff jumps in.

 One of the small cliff jumps into a pretty shallow pool

Since we couldn't continue along the creek anymore we headed up to the road to make our way down to Slide Rock Park. The number of people at Slide Rock was overwhelming so we didn't stay. I did spot a huge cliff jump located under the bridge at Slide Rock, and a few guys were jumping.

Crowds at Slide Rock

More Slide Rock

Big Cliff Jumping under the bridge

-James

Lele Kawa

Devil's Punch Bowl

I heard about this "Devil's Punch Bowl" over a year ago. I did some research and found that at the time there were access issues. The trail from Ramona was closed as a result of injuries and issues with people drinking. The trail from Julian was still open but was about twice as long. This spring they opened the trail from Ramona back up under the management of recreation.gov. This management requires you to have a $5 permit to use the area immediately around the falls.

I got the permit and headed out to the parking lot. There was a Ranger standing at the gate of the parking lot, which was already full, to check permits. We parked along the road and geared up. We headed down the trail, which I did not find as hard and steep as advertised. We even had some time for a photo op. The only bad part of the trail was the complete lack of shade until you reach the bottom.

At the bottom you are awarded with the first shade and a view of the falls. There wasn't much water falling this day.

The water was plenty cold, and felt nice after the heat of the hike. There are signs that tell you not to climb the rocks, but people still made a splash. I was a pain, but we did manage to put up a slack line across the pool. It wasn't very long before it came off the rock. Only Jeff managed to stand on it. All I had to show for my attempts was a bruise on the leg.

In addition to the natural views there was no shortage of Souther California girls.

-James

Lele Kawa

The Lele Kawa DVD is out!

Follow the movie on face book at http://www.facebook.com/LeleKawasLiterallyLivingTheDream  Screening should be announced soon.

The DVDs are shipping now. You can get your copy with any donation of $12 or more at http://www.lelekawa.net/dudes/literally-living-the-dream-dvd

-James

Lele Kawa

Lele Kawa the movie

The Lele Kawa crew has been working on a feature length movie that documents some of our adventures in an artistic fashion. The plan is to finish the movie before the end of the year and then to sell it, with any profits it generates going to "Path International" a nonprofit that helps rehabilitate veterans through therapeutic horseback riding.

So far we have this trailer put together. I will add an update when we get our kickstarter up and running.

-James

Lele Kawa

Three Sisters Falls, San Diego, CA

Finally took advantage of my adventure pass and did some hiking in the Cleveland National Forest.

Reading about this hike most people rate it 8 to 9 out of 10 on the scale of difficulty. I think this rating was undeserved. I would only put it at about a 6. With good shoes and taking your time on the steep area of loose sands, there is almost no risk.

For what turned out to be for no good reason we carried a surf board and a body board the whole way. The only thing they proved useful for was a prop in the photo below, with the three sisters in the background. This picture was taken on the way down just before the steep and loose part of the hike.

Once we got to the falls it was time to play around. The hike up to the top of the third sister was a little sketchy, it was a slab scramble. If you lost your grip you would tumble down the rocks and over the water falls. The water at the bottom of the falls was only about knee to waist deep.

The shallowness of the water didn't prevent me and Jeff from jumping. There was a sandy bottom under the shallow water, so it was soft when you hit bottom.

Above the third sister there was this queens bath in a crack between the rocks that created an infinity pool. I slipped my way down into the pool and relaxed for a minute. Getting out of the pool turned out to be a little hard. The rock gets really slick when your wet.

A little way from the parking area on the way back we crossed paths with a Rattle Snake. This was only my second encounter with a rattler in the wild.

Even got to take a little Poison Oak home with me all over my right arm. I might have been able to avoid leaving home with it if I had read the directions better. At the bottom of the hill when you reach the creek you need to rock hop or hike along the left side of the creek. The trail seemed to cross the creek so I did some bush whacking on the right side of the creek.

-James

Lele Kawa

Jumping Sunset Cliffs, San Diego, CA

Spent part of the weekend getting back to the Lele Kawa roots. Jeff did the leg work and located the place to go.

Based on some videos we found, we made our way to the location. Once at the cave, we scouted the area. It looked safe enough, and our depth stick measured about 20 feet over the water with about 12 feet of water. The water was pretty cold so there wasn't any in water scouting.

Once you hit the water for the first time and got over the shock of the cold it wasn't bad. We both made a few jumps.

-James

Lele Kawa

Hawaii Cliff Jumping project

This is a new project I'm working on.

I am trying to compile all the places in Hawaii mostly Oahu that you can jump from into water. I have been kicking this plan around for a while, but wasn't sure how to present it. I am working on it now because I finally know how to make maps in google and because of this failed Kickstarter project I read about. Maybe someday I will try to turn it into a book.

I plan to keep working on this until everything I know is on this map, color coded by height.


View Lele Kawa  Cliff jumping in a larger map


Check back for updates

-James

Lele Kawa

Suchitoto, El Salvador Lele Kawa

While diving last week I overheard the Emer, the dive master, mention she was planing to do a waterfall jumping tour on Friday. I immediately said I'm going.

Friday morning I meet up with Emer and two other people, whom I had not meet before then. The person that knew where we were going had to cancel, so we were left to find the restaurant where the tour operated from on our own. This proved to be pretty easy, as it was in a town center, and the street signs were effective.

La Lupila del portal, where the tour is operated from in Suchitoto town center

We meet up with our guide and then jumped into his truck to drive to the trail head. A short walk down the road took us to the first and largest waterfall of the tour. This waterfall was about 25 meters tall. After a quick stop at the top for photos, we made our way to the pool at the bottom. The cool water of the pool was refreshing. With a little work you were able to wedge your body under the falls for a hydro-massage.

The first falls. Hydro-massage is on the left

After our quick dip, we made our way down stream along the river to the next falls. This falls was about 12 meters. The guide pointed out where to jump from and the rocks you need to clear at the bottom. Then wasting no time, I took the plunge, and repeated it three times. Rather than take the trail the long way back up, I climbed up the rocks to the side of the falls. The first time I was climbing up, near the top I slipped and almost fell. Luckily I escaped with only a few scratches on my side. Emer chickened out.

View from the bottom of the second falls

A short way down the river lead us to the third and smallest of the falls on the tour. It is about 7 meters tall, and it had a rope swing at the top. Again I was the first to jump, or rather swing. It took me longer to do this than the first jump. Rope swings are harder to judge than just jumping. The guide insisted it was safe, so I trusted him. All went well. Emer tried to follow me, but didn't let go of the rope. They pulled her onto the ledge on her back swing. After that she decided it was easier to just jump and Andrew followed her. While they were jumping, I explored the little pool at the top of the falls. It was about 10 feet across and five feet deep where there weren't rocks. I decided to jump off the six-foot ledge into this little pool. Emily joined me.

Rope swing at the third falls

Before we headed back to the truck, I wanted to jump from a different ledge at the third falls. The guide said the spot was ok. I made the jump, only to check the landing afterwards and find that there as a shallow shelf about three feet deep that extended out about ten feet out from the wall. Luckily I cleared this shelf but I told Emer not to follow me.

Thank you Rene from http://suchitotooutfitters.com/

Coordinates +13.893286,-89.045327