It was the swimming that first drew Damien Ward of Winterport to Monroe Falls more than 20 years ago.
“I’ve been swimming here since I was 9 or 10 years old,” Ward said Friday, as temperatures reached into the 90s. “But I didn’t jump until I was about 15.”
By jumping, he means jumping off a 35-foot cliff into the water below.
“I like the rush of jumping,” Ward said.
The swimming hole is located off North Center Road in Monroe, and there is a small parking area by a closed bridge. From the parking area there is a short, but rather steep trail down to the water left of the bridge. Beware of the poison ivy on both sides of the trail.
Although it is on private property, the landowners allow people to use the area but ask that people respect it, leave it clean and only come between dawn and dusk.