2016 Canadian Vacation: Cliff Jumping at Muskoka

 

About 30 minutes north of where my aunt and uncle live is the town of Gravenhurst on Lake Muskoka. When my mom was younger she lived in Bracebridge, slightly north of this area, on the Muskoka River. 

 

 

I grew up hearing her stories of how she, and her brothers, would float down the river (below the waterfall in town) on warm days when they walked home from school. I remember visiting this area one summer, but I had never been to Muskoka Lake to jump off the cliffs.

When I was a teenager, we would regularly make the drive to Heber Springs to swim and jump off the cliffs. I guess that cliff jumping, and floating down rivers or in lakes, is a rite of passage no matter what country you live in!

 

 

One of my uncles suggested we spend one of the afternoon's of our family reunion jumping off the cliffs on Muskoka Lake. Two carloads of us decided to make the trip.

I wanted to go and since there were plenty of relatives to keep an eye on Isaac, we decided to take Jack with us. My uncle let us know that there were different heights of cliffs and at the very least Jack could float around some.

So we drove further north and weren't disappointed. It was a beautiful day and the water was refreshing. My Uncle Mike made the first jump, followed by two of my cousins. Next went Daniel, diving off the 3-foot section. Initially Jack just wanted to slide into the water on a slight slope of rock.

My brother and I jumped off the medium cliffs (maybe 10-feet), while my uncle and cousins did the higher cliffs. Eventually working up the courage to dive off.

With me in the water, we convinced Jack to make the 3-foot jump. In the photo it looks like Daniel is throwing him, but he was just making sure Jack cleared the rocks. Jack did the jump about 3 times. We are so proud of him!