Malibu Creek State Park: Rock Jumping

In addition to jumping off rocks, people also go rock climbing in this area as shown in this photo.

These warm days are reminding me of this Malibu Creek State Park adventure that felt like a much-needed girls getaway at the time, on a beautiful Saturday morning almost two years ago. Don't worry, the rock pool is still there, and so are the rocks we jumped off of. I would check the water levels though — I don't know if it's any different with the drought. If anything, this area is a great hiking choice.

I conquered some fears on this little excursion, and I still vividly remember the experience even today.

Me, along with five other friends, arrived at Malibu Creek State Park around 9am — which was early considering it took about an hour to get there from the South Bay. After driving around for a little while trying to find where we were supposed to be going, we parked off the road (I found out there was a parking lot just a little further down but you have to pay to park there) and we started hiking toward the rock pools. There were signs for them once you got to the main trail — and it was only about a mile in — but we were sort of lost for a bit (typical).

Once you get to the pools it's this little oasis. Since we got there relatively early, there weren't many people there. Emily and Makenzye were the first to go right up and jump. I think when I planned this little excursion, the idea of going rock jumping was more for the people that I was with and I didn't really think that I would be the one doing the jumping. After an experience I had in Hawaii when I was twelve, I've been scared of jumping off things (although nothing happened when I jumped off that thirty foot waterfall, I didn't feel so invincible after that experience). And twenty feet was super high for me.

Finally, Lisa and I went up together. We both agreed we were scared. We stood there on the rocks getting sunburnt for about 20 minutes. I tried every mental game to get myself to jump. I thought peer pressure would help — my friend Kana was filming us, and the teenage boys that were around were saying anything they could to get us to go in even that they would just push us in (to which Lisa said heck no). I even tried singing that Katy Perry "Roar" song that was popular at the time, and that I had the eye of the tiger. There was one moment where I felt like I was ready to jump, and I was just about there, but then my legs and arms turned to jelly and I couldn't bring myself to do it.

Lisa and I finally climbed down, to even my own disappointment but slight relief. We went to a lower rock, about ten feet, and ended up jumping off of that a couple times. Compared to the higher point, this seemed almost like a piece of cake.

Then, for some reason, I felt ready.

I climbed up the cliff again, and just went. I didn't shout it out, I didn't care about the people around me, I finally jumped. And it was for myself. And it was because I actually wanted to.

Once I left the sturdiness of solid ground, I was there sort of floating for some milliseconds, thinking that it wasn't as terrible as I really thought it might be. I hit the water before I could think anything else, and came up feeling really happy for myself. There was something really removed and magical about being in that rock pool area. It was like another world.

After me, Lisa jumped. And then Emily, me, Lisa, and Makenzye jumped one after the other (in that order). It's funny to watch the video of that consecutive jump because we all jump a little differently. I think because I go in straight as an arrow, I touched the ground more than the others did (which is why you have to be pretty careful when doing this jump).

I really loved this day. That moment. I was reluctant to leave the pool, but as more people came it seemed to lose some of that solitude oasis feel, so it was about time. Plus we were hungry. And thirsty. Which made the sandwich place we went to in Calabasas after so much better.

It would be worth revisiting and going beyond the initial rock area to explore the rest of what that place has to offer.