A Dive in Voyageur's National Park

[AandA]

Oh My Gawd.  I just came back from a great dive and just have to tell someone.…. ;D

I know that this type of dive may be a bit concerning/controversial to some, and with this in mind, I welcome any feedback. :

I’ve been free diving this lake at the center Voyageur’s National Park (up at the Canadian border) since I was a kid.  Voyageur’s is only accessible by boat.  The specific Lake I like to dive is called Cruiser. This lake is pretty much in the center of the park, meaning it’s quite a hike to get there. Cruiser is about the clearest lake in the park.  Visibility can range to forty +.  In the past I’ve found old bottles and pieces of logging stuff that were really cool.  As these are considered historical artifacts they can not be removed.  The thermocline in this spring-fed lake is an absolute killer.  At about 25 feet the temp drops into the mid forties.  Without a pretty good exposure suit my penetration to depth has been limited as much, if not more, by cold than by lack of an air source at depth.  The spot I like to dive is from a peninsula that goes out into the lake and drops off quickly from a bluff to the water.  At the top of the buff are the foundations of a very old logging camp that very few people, including the Park Service know about.  Underwater the bottom slopes for maybe ten yards out to 25 feet and then plunges toward the bottom to seventy feet.  Although I’ve previously made it down close to the bottom, between the cold and the depth I certainly couldn’t stay.

I’d often thought it would be a GREAT place to SCUBA dive but have not had the training I felt would be prudent or the inclination to haul all the gear involved for five miles over pretty rough trails!  Although both my wife and one of my daughters also dive neither of them was sufficiently motivated to attempt this particular dive.  This would mean that were I to make this dive it would be SOLO.  Well this year was the year.  I took several additional classes this year, including SOLO, and worked on my physical conditioning.  Last week my family and I took a camping trip to the park.  We took our motor boat thirty miles across Rainy Lake and put in at Brown’s bay.  We then portaged canoes and hauled camping equipment to a small lake on the interior called Oslo.  This is where we made our base camp. I’d managed to get all of my dive gear into one large back pack (just over eighty pounds “Whew! :o”).  It took me two trips on separate days to haul the needed diving equipment in to Cruiser.  I dove on a crystal clear bright day.  The diving was simply spectacular.  The granite wall, leading to the bottom, was reminiscent of and yet better than any I’ve dove at the mine pits.  The bottom was simply covered with old remnants from bygone days (bottles, jars, pots that were mostly orange rust, all sorts of old tools- chisels/axes/shovels).  I managed to make two dives of thirty and forty minutes.  I’m fairly confident that I may have been the first person to dive this lake. 

If you would like to take a look at a couple of pictures, (sadly to say no underwater pictures though), you can click on the link below.  If it does ask for a password use the word “divers”. 

[freedivernd]

now that sounds like quite an adventure.. lucky you.  my wife and I jetskiied voyageur's from the west end to crane lake and back a few years ago (the last year they allowed jetski's in the park)  we camped on some tiny islands here and there, and when we got to crane lake I took my jetski up some falls, ended up sucking up a rock and putting a small hole in the hull but nothing to major.  beautiful country.
we never saw water that super clear but your spot at Cruiser really sounds great for a dive.

[Appolion]

That definately sounds like one fun camping trip. I gotta check that out next summer. I've wanted to go there for a long time. Diving would just make it so much better. I'd probably have to do more cardiovascular training if im going to do that five mile hike with an 80 pound bag on my back.