Also, my family and I have a new swimming hole that's close to our home. A mere 30 minute drive to several spots along the East Fork Lewis River. It'd be best to swim in July or, preferably, August since the water is really cold as it comes from melting snow up at 4,000 ft (even now there is still some snow means pretty cold water in August), and the river is heavily shaded from the sun by the time the water gets to the swimming holes. By August water flow should be at its lowest and "warm" enough to tolerate the cold water provided that the outdoor temperature be at least 95 degrees. So, days are limited. But the swimming hole in Oregon, there are not a whole lot of trees, lots of exposed basalt rocks that can warm the surrounding water and the outdoor temperature gets warmer earlier and later in the season. It can get up to 110 degrees there in the canyons. Bliss! But then you have to watch out for rattlesnakes and H. torquata snakes, both poisonous snakes when you hike in or out. Heh.
Big plus is the in Oregon, it is isolated and relatively "hard" to get to with hardly no people to worry about (at least not expecting huge crowd of people) while the East Fork Lewis River is easy to access which means lots of people. But the two main pools in one swimming spot are plenty big enough for a crowd of people.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rjs50v5_DQs&feature=player_embedded]YouTube - My two daughters 14 foot jump into pool at sunset falls 07242010.3GP‏[/ame]
The first girl that jumped off the 15 foot edge into a 12 to 15 foot deep pool is my 2nd youngest daughter while the last one was my oldest daughter jumping in. Very proud of them! Yay! Adventurers they are!
