Sunday, August 8, 2010

yosemite - the swinging bridge


we spent most of our time at the swinging bridge in wawona. our family has been swimming there for years. it is on the merced river and the river pools up and slows down right by our beach, so you don't worry about anyone getting swept away. there's hardly a current. we get there early in the morning to set up camp and claim our stake. the water is very... refreshing, but feels great when you've been sitting out in the sun for a long time. 



this is the view down the river from our beach.


a shot of our camp from the bridge


another shot


this is the other swimming hole that we used to go to. we call it "hole in the rock," because there used to be a big rock that had a hole in it. it was a rite of passage to go down into the hole and swim out under the water to the other side. the rock has since broken in half and hole in the rock is not accessible unless you are camping in the wawona campground. which we weren't. we're soft and stay in cabins now. but, i wanted to show randy where it was, so we headed over there one afternoon for a brief tour. it involved sneaking past a ranger a little bit, but i finally got there to show randy. i would have liked to have spent a little more time there, but we had a great time at the bridge. 

part of the swinging bridge experience is jumping off of the bridge. i have been doing this since i was a small child. we used to do it over and over and i believe i did it 38 times one year. another rite of passage in our family. it scares other swimmers because there is a bit of a sweet spot that you have to hit to avoid hitting rocks, but we know just where to jump. everyone older than madeleine and younger than my mom jumped. 

first, check for rangers (apparently, you can get fined for jumping off).


sneak under the cables.

 


get positioned


gather your courage


and jump!

randy did it too:










1 comment:

Diane said...

I only gathered my courage back in 1991.