HEY, I've been here! Looks like the secret's out, this is literally one of my favorite places in the world I can escape to with any regular frequency. Huntington Gorge kicks bushels of Green Mountain ass.

Been going here like clockwork every summer since I was about 5 years old. It's about a 25-30 minute drive from Burlington, 15 minutes or so from Essex. Beautiful place, a couple different spots to jump from depending on how bold/experienced you are. A little something for everyone's specific comfort zone.

The spot where all the deaths occur and will probably continue to occur is unsurprisingly the highest/trickiest place to jump from. There's not much clearance on either side of you as you try to clear two overlapping ridges and NOT land in the "dead zone".

Basically, the river current plunges under the bottom of the rock face a few feet away from where you would want to land and goes underground (the regulars refer to it as a whirlpool but I'm not exactly sure what the proper term for it is) for a good 30 feet before resurfacing; the vast majority of people sucked under don't come out the other end, getting pinned against debris (there's said to be a few good sized logs down there) or stuck in a pocket where the oscillating current keeps you in spin-cycle until you drown.

The "newbie" area, in video @ 2:19 with the guy back-flipping, is a 20-25 foot drop with a nice 12 ft circumference pool to land in, 10 feet deep with a soft sandy bottom. This is where you go to build up courage for "the jump". Here, the only thing you really need to worry about is hitting the water properly (clench those cheeks and streamline yourself!).

The slides/caves carved out by waterfalls further up/down river are also places to check out if you're not into the whole thrill-seeking thing, accessibility depending on how dry/wet a summer it's been.

What an utterly agreeable configuration of natural elements this place is, well, for me at least.