J-Vo
Contributor
Spent the weekend in Lake City and decided to give the seemingly crystal clear waters of Lake San Cristobal a try.
Lake San Cristobal sits at about 9000' elevation and is the second largest natural lake in Colorado. Looking down at the surface it appears you can see a good 20' or more into the water. Most of the lake has steep scree or rock walls going directly into the water. If you haven't been to the lake or Lake City, it's a great area for a long weekend.
On to the diving:
The surface temperature this weekend was about 60 degrees with a thermocline at 12'-15' dropping the temperature to 48 degrees (dry suit recommended). As far as I could tell the algae gets heavier below the thermocline reducing viability a bit, but still pretty good for Colorado. Below about 25' the grass line fades to mud and that is all I found other than a random tree stump. After the dive my "surface crew" informed me that based on my buoy I hadn't made it out of the cove where the boat landing is so maybe things are a bit more interesting in other parts of the lake. I would hope so based on the terrain formations jutting out of the water around the lake.
I should note that you need to give your self a day before you plan on returning to the front range due to the elevation gain over passes on the drive.
Here are some not so great shots. Please no comments on the flooded mask as I was camping all weekend and couldn't trim the mustache before diving.
Lake San Cristobal sits at about 9000' elevation and is the second largest natural lake in Colorado. Looking down at the surface it appears you can see a good 20' or more into the water. Most of the lake has steep scree or rock walls going directly into the water. If you haven't been to the lake or Lake City, it's a great area for a long weekend.
On to the diving:
The surface temperature this weekend was about 60 degrees with a thermocline at 12'-15' dropping the temperature to 48 degrees (dry suit recommended). As far as I could tell the algae gets heavier below the thermocline reducing viability a bit, but still pretty good for Colorado. Below about 25' the grass line fades to mud and that is all I found other than a random tree stump. After the dive my "surface crew" informed me that based on my buoy I hadn't made it out of the cove where the boat landing is so maybe things are a bit more interesting in other parts of the lake. I would hope so based on the terrain formations jutting out of the water around the lake.
I should note that you need to give your self a day before you plan on returning to the front range due to the elevation gain over passes on the drive.
Here are some not so great shots. Please no comments on the flooded mask as I was camping all weekend and couldn't trim the mustache before diving.
