Crosby Pits on 8-11-12 and 8-12-12

[DetectorGuy]

I dove 4 pits this weekend and viz wasn't the greatest. Northwest Divers had a 3 day treasure dive with hidden clips in Portsmouth, Louise, and Mangan. There were 57 registered divers for this treasure dive. There were lots of other dive shops doing check-out dives in some of the other easy-access sites, so I locked in the hubs on the 'Remote Access Dive Vehicle' and was on a mission to find access to the less popular pits. The ignition on my Jeep got wet in one hole, and after 10 minutes of drying the plug/coil wires, it started back up. Needless to say my green Jeep is now red clay covered. I took a few pictures and a lot of video of bass, but I only won a pair of 3 mil dive gloves from the treasure dive.

Portsmouth had the best viz of the 4 with 15' viz down to 75' and the temp was 50 degrees at 75'. The first thermocline was at 20' in the 4 pits I dove. I found the 8' diameter concrete culvert East of the Cuyuna Country Campground at about 40'. I didn't have my light with so I didn't go in it, but I heard it is about 60' long and daylights out at 57' deep on the East side of a rock berm. This is one of the few that are solid concrete.

Alstead South had about 12' of viz down to 30' and worse below that. I dove the beaver lodge there and video'd fish for a while.

Hopkins (on the south side) had about 12' viz down to 20' and only 2' of viz from 20' down to 40'. I didn't go any deeper in this pit. I saw a rope swing and I thought this is where the G-men were a month ago (especially after I saw a bra hanging in the rope swing tree). I didn't see the ATV, but after looking at Hydro's video today, I was at the wrong pit.

With the viz so poor at Hopkins, I walked across the road and dove Menomin #1. The viz here was 10'  down to 25' and then only 5' below that. Nothing real great to see on this North side of Menomin #1 except for some massive pilings and misc steel pieces.

I did motor the Jeep around to the North side of Joan Mine and found a nice path down to the water in the NW corner where the creek leads from Joan into Menomin lake. The road on the South side of Joan is all blocked off so I didn't go down that one. I heard the 1 ton dually truck in Joan Mine is on the middle of the South side at about 40' and I would like to see that someday. There is a very destinct mud line at the West end of Joan where the red mud from the huge puddles in the main road runs off and into Joan Mine. There was a fairly large oil slick on the surface of Joan Mine along the North shore and more towards the East end of the North side. I wonder if there is another vehicle recently dropped in here...???

[doug67]

John that truck came out a couple years ago. I had heard about it and asked around and at that time I had missed it by two weeks.....oh well. The monti carlo that was in there this spring was in the nw corner where you where. It must be gone or you would have seen it. Did you win anything at the clip dive?

[DetectorGuy]

Interesting... I noticed the oil slick in the NE corner, but I know the water flows through this pit from West to East. Now it makes sense. I didn't dive in Joan yet, but I would say the Monte Carlo must still be in there given how thick the oil slick was. It should be easy enough to find if you follow the slick from East to West along the North side and drop down where the slick stops to the car. I won a pair of 3mm dive gloves and two hooded sweat shirts. Nate tried to talk me out of going to the treasure dive to go find some real treasure... But I was feeling lucky, and thought with all this good Karma, I would win a regulator or dive computer for sure. I guess good Karma is like anything... It has an expiration date

[doug67]

The car was marked with police tape and a jug so if you didn't see that its probably gone. Plus on a sunny day you could see it from atop the hill. I don't remember the exact depth but I think it was at 12ft. Joan is my least favorite of the pits. Once you go to 90ft the lights go out. I wish the vis wasn't so bad there because there's a really nice wall going south from that Nw corner but you don't get a very good look at it because the vis is so bad.

[DetectorGuy]

Well I looked at the photos I took from about 150' above Joan Mine last Saturday and I guess the Monte Carlo is still in Joan Mine. I didn't see it looking down at the lake from this monsterous hill on the SE corner of Joan Mine but I see the jug marking it now. The first photo is looking at the West end of the pit and you can see the mud running into the pit there. The second photo is of The North East corner where I noticed the oil slick. This is the corner where the water leaves Joan Mine and runs into Menomin Lake just North of it. The third photo is looking at the NE corner of the pit. If you zoom in to the center of the photo, there is a small notch in the shoreline. There is a buoy floating near this notch and that is where the car is. The fourth photo is another photo of the same area showing the buoy. How could have I missed that. I need to get my eyes checked 8)

[DetectorGuy]

Here is a couple photos showing how I got to the top of the hill, and a couple from in Hopkins

[doug67]

Your second pic should show the bouy. It was only 50ft from where the channel is to menomen lake. I dont know what that othere thing is but its not where the car was or is.

[Terry]

               The 97 Monte Carlo is real shallow John, 11-17' and with that little V-6 shes got no doubt she couldn't fly over the cliff very far, she'd of been as gutless as a jeep. From the turnaround between Menomen Lake and the north side of Joan, head down the walking trail leading towards the creek between them, then swim back towards the west along the northshoreline of Joan, she was only 30' from shore. She was leaking gas pretty bad when I dove it, few months back, as you can see. The braches in the 1st pic show you just how close to shore she is, taken from the parking lot level. Now you let me know buddy, if you need one of the junior members of the G-men team to show you where it is  :-*

[DetectorGuy]

I'll let you know... With my track record [wreckord actually], I need all the help I can get finding things.