Hottest day of the year sees crowds jumping from Tubbs Hill rocks into Lake Coeur d’Alene

COEUR d’ALENE — The first 90-degree day of the year in Coeur d’Alene saw swarms of young people leaping off the rocks at Tubbs Hill on Tuesday.

“It doesn’t look as tall as it is until you jump off it,” said Daniel Wolff shortly before jumping again into the 71-degree water about 25-feet below. “Once you’re up in the air, it’s like the longest time ever.”

The temperature gauge topped out at 93 degrees on Tuesday, the hottest day of the year, said climatologist Cliff Harris. It was also the warmest day since Aug. 8, 2019, when it was 97 degrees, and the latest day of the year to finally hit 90 degrees since July 23, 1991.

“It’s been an unusually cool summer,” Harris said. “But we’re in a more normal pattern now.”

It’s been dry of late, too, with .57 inches of rain so far in July, generally the driest month of the year.

It should be a bit cooler today and Thursday Harris said, but 90 remains a possibility.

“I don’t see anything to stop us,” he said.

And nothing could stop kids, teens and a few older adults from leaping from the rocks along the shoreline of Tubbs Hill.

Distances ranged from high above the lake, some 30 feet, to a few feet closer to the surface. Some performed aerial acrobatics. Others, turned in midair to wave at friends. Then, they climbed back up to do it again and again.

Despite the potential dangers, none showed any fear.

“Exhilarating,” said Jared Stephens as he took a running start and launched himself from the safety of land.

“No worries,” said another.

Brennan Forness, 12, visiting family, executed a back flip, coming down feet first.

“It felt good,” he said.

Asked if he touched bottom, Forness said no.

“But from where we’re standing right now, yeah, you’re going to touch the bottom,” he said.

Bill Greenwood, Coeur d’Alene Parks and Recreation director, said the city discourages such activity. But it doesn’t have laws against jumping from rocks into the lake.

Each year come summer, people have been jumping from the Tubbs Hill rocks into the lake for decades, he said.

“There’s nothing in policy that says they shouldn’t be doing it, but common sense says they probably shouldn’t,” he said.

Just as the city can’t try to stop a person from jumping off the seawall at City Beach onto the sand or jumping off Independence Point steps into the lake, it can’t try to stop everyone from rock jumping.

Warning signs have been tried in some locations and don’t work, either, he said.

“As many signs as we might put up, everybody is going to find a reason to ignore them,” he said.