Just before 4:40 p.m. Thursday, James Scott made a small piece of history, becoming the first man to legally bungee jump off the High Bridge across the Crooked River north of Terrebonne.

With a whoop, Scott leapt from the back deck of a specially built truck parked on the bridge, turning a near-somersault above the Crooked River during the roughly seven-second free fall. Minutes later, he was hoisted back to the bridge deck to the cheers and applause of a small crowd of onlookers.

“Feels great,” he said.

Scott’s newly formed company, Central Oregon Bungee Adventures, received permission from the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department to begin offering bungee jumping in the Crooked River gorge. It’s the first time the state has approved a commercial bungee-jumping operation at any state park.

The company will host its first paying customers on Saturday, and this week, a crew from Pennsylvania-based Adrenalin Dreams has been in Bend to help train Scott’s team in safety protocols. The company also manufactured the bungees used Thursday, wrist-thick cords allowing anyone from 90 to 290 pounds to make the 250-foot jump.

Scott, who’s been bungee jumping, skydiving and BASE jumping for more than 20 years, said he still gets nervous every time he jumps, and Thursday was no exception.

“It’s a pretty long free fall,” Scott said, recalling his thoughts as he dove from the platform for the inaugural jump. “Oh man, here we go, sure hope my calculations were right. And they were.”

Scott said he’s been eyeing the bridge as a potential bungee-jumping location for three years. Last winter, he said he figured he’d spent enough time “daydreaming,” and decided to push ahead to make his dream a reality.

Matt Abate with Adrenalin Dreams has traveled all over the world helping set up bungee-jumping operations and said there are few places that have both the scenery and the long drop found at the Crooked River Gorge.

“This is a one-of-a-kind location,” Abate said.

On Thursday, Scott and his team spent the morning putting the finishing touches on their truck, then headed out to the bridge in the afternoon to inspect their equipment and make their first test jumps. They plan to be at the gorge today for more testing.

Scott said the 250-foot drop is among the highest bungee-jumping experiences open to the public in North America.

“This is going to help solidify Bend as America’s adventure town,” Scott said.

— Reporter: 541-383-0387, shammers@bendbulletin.com

For more information, go to oregonbungee.com or call 541-668-JUMP.