Injuries prompt visitor HILO >> Ryan Meeker of Winona, Minn., jumped 80 feet down Hilo's Rainbow Falls on Sunday because that's the sort of thing he does. It's his hobby, he says.
to scale back his
jumping hobby
By Rod Thompson
rthompson@starbulletin.comBut since the jump landed him in the Queen's Medical Center, facing surgery for broken bones at the base of his spine, Meeker said he will probably stick to smaller jumps in the future.
"It's probably the last time I will jump from that height," he said by telephone from his hospital bed yesterday.
Meeker, 23, arrived in Hilo on Dec. 7, escaping the Minnesota cold and knowing nothing about Rainbow Falls. The next day, he discovered the popular tourist feature a mile above downtown Hilo.
"I was just awed by the beauty of it," he said. "It looked so perfect."
Naturally, he wanted to jump it. He's been jumping from heights into water since he was about 12.
Back in Winona, boys and girls have been jumping for generations, Meeker said. The usual starting place is the 35-foot-high Wagon Bridge, he said. Some graduate to the 80-foot-high Interstate Bridge crossing the Mississippi to Wisconsin.
He said he caused a hubbub when he jumped off the Interstate Bridge because someone thought he was attempting suicide.
Authorities stopped barge traffic and dredged the river for his body. When they discovered he was all right, except for torn chest muscles, they tried to prosecute him but finally decided there was no law against jumping off the bridge.
Meeker, who is unemployed but said he is supported by a settlement from an auto accident, went on to jump off rock outcrops in Costa Rica, Jamaica and Mexico.
In Hilo, Meeker checked warning signs at Rainbow Falls State Park. "It doesn't say 'Don't jump,'" he said.
Glenn Taguchi, state parks manager in Hilo, said the signs do warn people to stay back from danger spots. Taguchi did not know whether jumping is illegal.
Before jumping late Sunday afternoon, Meeker swam in the pool at the base of Rainbow Falls. He went down 15 to 20 feet and did not touch bottom, he said. A person needs only 12 feet of water to stop a dive, he said.
When he jumped, he did not have the "pencil-like" form he wanted, entering in a slightly seated shape, but not badly, he thought.
"I feel my injuries were kind of a freak thing," he said. "I didn't land that poorly."
Hurting "a little," Meeker swam onto a rock. Three other swimmers swam to him, rubbed his legs and told him, "It'll be OK."
Paramedics were called by someone on the scene.
Hawaii County paramedic Mike Hayashida dropped into the water from a helicopter. Meeker could move his legs and toes, Hayashida said. The chopper lifted Meeker out of the pond.
"It was something I had to do to prove to myself I'd taken a new direction in life, to conquer my fears," Meeker said. "I don't recommend it. It's a personal decision."
