Hiking - Blue Mountains: Rodriguez Pass/Junction Rock

Sunday I went on my first trip with the Outdoors to the Blue Mountains. This is kinda a misnomer cause it's actually more of a canyon, not a mountain. For geographical reference:

way zoomed out :)

So this is like a 1.5 hour drive, from the stars (which is campus) to the Park.

a not-very-helpful map of the Park

      I've decided to include these pictures as their full size instead of smaller (which makes it easier for your browser) so it they might take a sec to load. Mom, press Control and - (minus) to zoom out so they can fit on your screen easier. (Control and + to zoom back in).
      It had been raining the entire day and night previously and was still going when we started. It finally slacked off after about an hour or two. I was well prepared though (thanks, mom). This was supposed to be a beginner hike, but I'd definitely contest that. However, I felt like I had definitely accomplished something by the end. My knee was not at all happy about it, but I was. We crossed a river ~10 times during the hike which often meant just walking across it because of how high it was due to the rain. I also stuck my head in a waterfall. But the intense hiking meant I wasn't ever cold for long.

This is the view from the lookout where we parked. That waterfall on the right is the largest single-drop waterfall in this National Park (180m)

This is after hiking straight down the cliff, some of it on stairs fastened into the cliff wall. Those are two little waterfalls that were falling on our heads as we walked. That was pretty cool. The water was quite cold but it was so much fun.

A girl decided that she would go swimming. It was ~50degrees outside and the water was quite cold. But this was once we started climbing out of the canyon so we were pretty warm (at times you might as well use your hands to help, it was so steep).

Little waterfall, but you can see some of the cliffs here.

same waterfall. You might be able to see the rock structure here which was quite cool - it had kinda broken into bricks

This was after we had climbed out most of the way. The day cleared up really nicely.

After we finally got out of the canyon, we walked along a road for a bit and then went back into another trail to get to the parking lot we started out. Which included more down and then back up >.<  By this point I had to stop every now and then because my muscles were cramping and my IT band (knee) was hurting on every step down. (Still worth it)

This is from just to the right of that giant waterfall from the lookout where we started. Beautiful.

This hike was ~13km (8miles). We left the trailhead at 10am and finished at around 5.

p.s. I was supposed to start Parkour today (even though it's still raining) but the instructor didn't show. Hopefully will start on Wednesday. Tomorrow (Tuesday) I have a kayaking lesson in the pool where (hopefully) I'll learn to roll.