Iowa Diving

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Grumman-581 - 27 Mar 2005 18:02 GMT

I drove around the Cedar Rapids area today looking for local lakes /
quarries that might be possible diving spots... I've determined that I'm
stuck in a diving desert... Found a free gun range though...

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John Cassara - 27 Mar 2005 20:21 GMT

Wow brings back memories. I went to school in Des Moines. But where's the
missile silos?

>I drove around the Cedar Rapids area today looking for local lakes /
> quarries that might be possible diving spots... I've determined that I'm
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
> http://s-h-c.frwh.net/2005-03-26/iowa-20050326-12.jpg
> http://s-h-c.frwh.net/2005-03-26/iowa-20050326-13.jpg

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Grumman-581 - 27 Mar 2005 23:17 GMT

> Wow brings back memories. I went to school in Des Moines. But where's the
> missile silos?

Are they flooded and a possible dive site? There's one in west Texas like
that...

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ben bradlee - 28 Mar 2005 04:25 GMT

>I drove around the Cedar Rapids area today looking for local lakes /
> quarries that might be possible diving spots... I've determined that I'm
> stuck in a diving desert... Found a free gun range though...

Unless you have permission I don't think I'd start shooting. I don't
remember finding a place to dive near Cedar Rapids. North of Des Moines
there is supposed to be a fairly deep reservoir. I've dove quarries near
the Missouri border and Okoboji on the other end of the state is a fairly
good lake. Even when you head north there isn't much for quite some
distance. I could look in my dive guide to Wisconsin and see what is in the
southwest corner. There is probably something relatively close in that
direction. I'm hoping the ice will be off next week and I can go diving.
I'll bet there is something closer than you think but it might take some
looking to find it. I think there are some caves near the Mississippi open
for diving. There's probably an old quarry or two near you too.

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Grumman-581 - 28 Mar 2005 05:41 GMT

> Unless you have permission I don't think I'd start shooting.

The ranges that I saw were created by the state and they are in a public
hunting area from what I understand... From talking with some of the locals,
it appears that they flood the area during certain parts of the year as
either a reservoir or for duck and geese hunting... The area where the range
is located appears to be slightly higher than the highest point that the
water rises... It's located to the SW of Cedar Rapids, probably a bit south
of Swisher... Dirt roads mainly to get there... The state made the ranges by
basically cutting a gash into the side of a hill so that the hill could be
the backstop... There's even official state signs around the area informing
people where the can and cannot shoot...

> I don't remember finding a place to dive near Cedar Rapids.

That's pretty much what I've gathered from my drives around... The place I
was at was on the Iowa river and it is muddy... Even if it was deep enough
to make it worthwhile to dive in, you would be lucky to see the mask in
front of your nose...

> I've dove quarries near the Missouri border and Okoboji on the
> other end of the state is a fairly good lake.

I've noticed some quarries off to the NE of Cedar Rapids, but I haven't been
able to see whether the water is clear enough to make it worthwhile to
dive... It was on a weekend and they had the gate closed with large "NO
TRESSPASSING" signs on it... If I had my plane up here, I could cover a lot
more ground quite a bit quicker... The areas with water stand out a lot
clearer from the sky, especially areas where the water is blue instead of
brown... When scouting from plane, I'll save the location on my handheld
GPS, plot it on my computer street map (StreetAtlas), and then try to find
it from the ground on another day...

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ben bradlee - 28 Mar 2005 16:54 GMT

> I've noticed some quarries off to the NE of Cedar Rapids, but I haven't
> been
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> GPS, plot it on my computer street map (StreetAtlas), and then try to find
> it from the ground on another day...

That sounds like an excellent idea. This is a bad time of year to check
clarity of water with the runoff from the snow and ice turning even
relatively clear water muddy. Your about 150 miles south but I thought
there would still be ice on many of the lakes. The shallow ponds with any
water moving are open here and the rest are thawing rapidly but there is
still plenty of ice.

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Grumman-581 - 29 Mar 2005 07:32 GMT

> This is a bad time of year to check
> clarity of water with the runoff from
> the snow and ice turning even
> relatively clear water muddy.

But with only 3 days of 'summer', I can't waste time... <grin>

> Your about 150 miles south but I thought
> there would still be ice on many of the lakes.
> The shallow ponds with any water moving are
> open here and the rest are thawing rapidly but
> there is still plenty of ice.

As far as I can tell, the ice has melted here... It's possible that there
are some ravines that are always shaded and still have some snow in them, I
guess... Even the large mounds of snow from the parking lots has finally
melted and left piles of sand in their places... We had some snow the other
night, but I believe that it melted by noon of that day -- possibly somewhat
later on the north side of the buildings...Being from Houston, this is a
cold winter day, but the people around here have the nerve to call it
'spring'... It got up to 69F today, but it was down to 29F last night...
Back in Houston, people are running their air-conditioners (mainly to cut
the humidity down though)...

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