Welcome to the Newschoolers forums! You may read the forums as a guest, however you must be a registered member to post. Register to become a member today!
Black hole from coolhand192 on Vimeo.
Fawn's Leap is open to the public with no issues. Due to recent (in the past two years) construction, parking has gotten a bit more limited. You may have to park down the road at Rat Hole and walk the half mile or so up now on a crowded summer weekend.
If you are coming up 87, get off at Saugerties. Drive toward Palenville and take Rt. 23A toward Tannersville. You will cross one bridge with a parking area on the left a bit after it. This is Rat Hole, a very popular swimming hole with small 5-10 foot cliffs. Continue up the road another half mile and cross the second bridge (Moore's Bridge). A few hundred feet after this bridge you will see cars parked on the right side of the road. Fawn's Leap is on the left, down a slope. If you get to the large paved parking lot on the left for Kaaterskill Falls you have gone way too far. The jumps range from 20 to 45 feet (45 if jumping from the top of the tree). I can confirm that the jump is still safe after Irene, but it is always good to check after the winter to make certain no boulders got washed into the landing. The water is not particularly deep, and I tend to hit the bottom on every jump. It is deep enough to not hurt though.
There are a number of good areas in the Adirondacks, including a 20-25 foot spot near Keene. There's another place in the Catskills (about 45 minutes from Fawn's Leap) that has an amazing rope swing with a 20 foot vertical drop and a swing out of around 50 feet.