McCloud Middle Falls
UnverifiedIntermediate (31-60 ft)Expert (60+ ft)41.24380, -122.00970
Confirmed by 0 jumpers
The middle tier of the McCloud River falls, a 50-foot-tall, 100-foot-wide curtain dropping into a deep basalt bowl. The jumping is from the cliffs beside the falls: a 35-foot ledge, the lip at about 50, and a 75-foot cliff on river left that overhangs the lower ledge. Lower Falls downstream is a 10-20 ft swimming hole; Upper Falls is not jumped.
Jumps at this location
Lower ledge
35 ft
Intermediate (31-60 ft)
Falls lip
50 ft
Intermediate (31-60 ft)
High cliff (river left)
75 ft
Expert (60+ ft)
Warnings
Submerged boulders sit in the pool and the Forest Service warns people regularly overestimate the depth. Both recent serious injuries (2021, about 70 ft; July 2026, about 50 ft with spinal fractures) were slips off the wet basalt edge while hesitating, not bad landings, so commit or walk away. The 75-foot cliff overhangs the 35-foot ledge below it. At Lower Falls a boulder that fell in 2019 sits 4-6 ft under the surface in the middle of the landing zone.
Access
From McCloud take Hwy 89 east 5.5 miles to McCloud River Loop Road and the Lower Falls day-use lot (free, restrooms). Walk the McCloud River Trail about 1.3 miles upstream to the Middle Falls overlook, then the unsigned spur with wooden stairs drops 0.4 mile to the base.
Best conditions
July through September once snowmelt is off. Water stays in the low 50s all summer.