While thousands seek out the comfort of a local beach to cool off during a sweltering weekend, there’s another summer attraction in Malibu garnering a heavy following on hot days — the rock pool at Malibu Creek State Park.
The State Parks Department wouldn’t normally have a problem with visitors, except hundreds of daredevils continue the dangerous and illegal practice of jumping from 40-feet-high rocks into water that is just eight feet deep. Ambitious rock climbers also scale cliff faces in the surrounding gorge, sometimes injuring themselves in the process.
“It’s out of control,” said Lindsay Carrington, a California State Park Ranger who leads patrols in Malibu Creek State Park.
Malibu’s Search and Rescue Team responds to an average of two to three rescue calls in the area on a monthly basis, according to operations leader David Katz, with some victims suffering injuries during jumps or while scaling cliffs in the surrounding gorge area. The most recent and serious rescue came on Sunday, May 18, when a jumper landed on a 21-year-old man who had been swimming in the rock pool. The 21-year-old spent several minutes under water before being pulled out and taken to the hospital with several broken bones.
The typical busy day at the rock pool is something out of a movie.
Jumpers are usually in their teens or 20s. They traverse a steep dirt path to jump from one of two heights on the most popular side of the pool: a lower rock about 20 feet above the water, and a higher one about 40 feet above water.
Below, hundreds of people lounge, swim and splash in the water. Others stay dry by sitting on the hundreds of rocks and boulders that surround the pool. During wet years, Carrington said the water can be 20 feet deep. But during dry years like the ones Malibu has experienced as of late, water is only six to eight feet deep and comes downstream from Malibu Lake. Visually, it appears green, very still and does not flow or circulate very rapidly.
“It trickles,” Carrington said.
For those who step up to jump off the rocks, a gaggle of onlookers eagerly await the crashing splash sound that comes with it.
Those same spectators often chant “Jump! Jump! Jump!” or count down from 10 to root on hesitant jumpers.
As jumpers recovered from their landing, many were overheard complaining on Memorial Day as they emerged from the water. One person said they felt like they had “crashed through a brick wall” and many others said they had trouble avoiding hitting unseen rocks under water.
All the while, just a few State Park Rangers patrol the masses, mostly looking for illegal alcohol and hoping no one gets hurt during a jump. On Memorial Day, at least 300 people were at the pool.
But as has become the case in many publicly owned natural resources, the state does not have the funding to increase staffing or safety enforcement at the site. So, people keep jumping off.
“That’s the dilemma. We’re overrun. It’s like trying to keep everyone from going 65 on the freeway,” Carrington said.
Why make the illegal jump?
“It looked like fun,” said L.A. resident Austin Gartin after jumping from the higher rock.
“It looks less intimidating when you get up there,” he added. Gartin said he felt safe making the jump and the water was plenty deep, but banged his foot on a rock underwater. He said if he saw someone else get seriously hurt he might reconsider.
“Then I probably wouldn’t do it again,” Gartin said.
The area currently has no signage warning visitors that diving and jumping are illegal in the State Parks system, though Carrington said there are plans to install some kind of signage later this year.
He said the state will also add two staff members in July at a “checkpoint” leading to the rock pool, mostly to warn visitors not to bring in alcohol — another rampant problem for the park.
Families unpack tents, foldable lounge chairs, inflatable pool toys, plenty of towels and coolers full of drinks and food. Beer cans are strewn throughout the area, but the State has just a few officers out at a time issuing citations, which run about $200, Carrington said.
“Many of the rescues we go on are likely not preventable in a sense that it’s decisions that people are making, and it’s a recreational activity, and sometimes people make decisions to do wreckless hazardous activity,” Katz said.
