Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Mckinney Cliff Jumps

An aerial shoot gave me a chance to fly over and photograph a place I used to visit back in my highschool days.


Friends and I would make the trip out to this rock quarry for some adventurous cliff jumping, but I also took many pictures back then (amateur/hobbyist at the time) of the beautiful teal water which gets it's color from the limestone. It's such a unique place, especially for the DFW area.



It's rumored that a construction crew was digging and hit an underground aquifer, thus creating a spring that quickly filled up the area. Big trucks and all the equipment were left behind as workers ran for dry land. Now, I don't know if that's true, but it sure sounds cool. You can still see some of the equipment submerged in the shallow area.



But this part wasn't always covered in water. Shown above (left to right) is me, chopper, josh and mark standing on the same tractor in 2004 that is shown submerged (2008). By comparing images of the area, I've concluded that the water has risen about 30 feet over the past 4 years. The water table does vary a lot I imagine, as locals spoke of the jumps ranging from 45-90 feet.



Now the fun pictures. The left photograph is me on the large cliff, and on the right is Bober on the smaller cliff. (Bober has jumped the larger one, so I have to give him credit).

The quarry is unknown deep. I jumped off the 75ft cliff and swam strait downward untill I raw out of breath once, and still didn't hit bottom. As far as the location is concerned, the city is the only information I'll give you, as it's now trespassing to get out there, and well... obviously dangerous. Oh, the good ol days.


JUMP
to see more photos from the 2008 flight click here
to see more photos of the 2004 cliff jumping click here


-Jonny Carroll
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9 comments:

Jenny said...

I didn't know there was anywhere beautiful like this in the DFW area. I've seen similar places in Arkansas, but never DFW. Does it have a name/ where is it?

cord said...

We were playing out here in 1995......we would drag stand up jetskis into the Quarry......back then Legacy was the end of plano....field parties, michelles ranch at 121 and prestion and the rock quarry......you could get shot by local farmers with rock salt in the loads any time you went there and got caught....

cord said...

this was around in 95.....we put stand up jetskis and rode around in here during a field party..

Kent said...

Are these off of 380? I've always heard about these and seen pictures but I've never been able to find them for myself.

San Diego Roofers said...

It's rumored that a construction crew was digging and hit an underground aquifer, thus creating a spring that quickly filled up the area.

Anonymous said...

Where is this located im trying to plan a big day for my girl and i and i cant find this place please help me out

Unknown said...

I don't want to reveal the location as it's illegal to go there now.

Hint 1: If you look at satellite imagery that bright blue water just might stand out like sore thumb.

Hint 2: I flew over it... maybe it's close to the airport.

kthmarks said...

We used to swim a quarry that was off Custer Road just south of 121. Is this the same place? Would love to see it again. We used to back our pickups to the the edge and tie a rope off the bumper to climb back up.

kthmarks said...

We used to swim a quarry that was off Custer Road just south of 121. Is this the same place? Would love to see it again. We used to back our pickups to the the edge and tie a rope off the bumper to climb back up.