Lake Murray OK./Sunday 4/22

[texdiveguy]

We made a couple of dives with some local boys that used to pull the big cats out of holes with welder's gloves, down in the creekbed. I didn't participate...just

Sounds like a form of 'underwater Noodling'!!

 

[Joe-Diver]

Sounds like a form of 'underwater Noodling'!!

Exactly what it was, and took a braver man than me to do it.

I'd be interested in diving Murray again....but I'm a warm water weenie....and I'd probably be more apt, if I'm gonna don full suit/hood/gloves/lights, to hit the bottom of the cliff at Scuba Point....

 

[texdiveguy]

Exactly what it was, and took a braver man than me to do it.

I'd be interested in diving Murray again....but I'm a warm water weenie....and I'd probably be more apt, if I'm gonna don full suit/hood/gloves/lights, to hit the bottom of the cliff at Scuba Point....

No problem....I am looking forward to warmer weather and balmer water myself after this brisk winter..LOL!!!

PS-- http://www.okienoodling.com/

 

[ZzzKing]

Like I said, it's been a while and for some reason I always narc'd really bad deep in that lake...but I "seem" to remember small drops into the creekbed (5' or so) and some areas of the creekbed as you went toward the dam that could hit 100 to 105...depending on lake level.

There has probably been a foot or two of siltation since then so you might be hard pressed to find 105' now. Frank claims 95' at some point on the first dive. My deepest reading was 92'.

 

[Joe-Diver]

There has probably been a foot or two of siltation since then so you might be hard pressed to find 105' now. Frank claims 95' at some point on the first dive. My deepest reading was 92'.

Anybody follow the creekbed to the intakes? I never had the cahonies to do it but I heard "stories" of others that had...don't know if they're true or not....down there was supposed to be 110'....

I've seen the other side but didn't make the hike down....if you cross the road and start to make your way down the dam, where the foliage clears you can see the outlet down in the valley. I didn't go all the way as it looked like a difficult hike/climb and my fear of rattlers got the best of me...

 

[texdiveguy]

Anybody follow the creekbed to the intakes? I never had the cahonies to do it but I heard "stories" of others that had...don't know if they're true or not....down there was supposed to be 110'....

I've seen the other side but didn't make the hike down....if you cross the road and start to make your way down the dam, where the foliage clears you can see the outlet down in the valley. I didn't go all the way as it looked like a difficult hike/climb and my fear of rattlers got the best of me...

I have not seen the intakes. The lake looks to be still a bit low,,not by much though. We have not found anything in the 100'sffw.

 

[Timeliner]

Really cool to hear the stories about the VW !!

Man ... I Gotta Tell ya ... The first time TexDiveGuy and I located that thing the vis was so bad that we thought it was a cockpit of a small airplane
We couldn't see more then a foot at best and a 5 watt light was eclipsed at less then 3 feet. I just love that kind of stuff !
What a dive that was !!!

I love that part of the lake no matter what the visibility is.

That VW probablly won't move anymore it's in the mud at the bottom of the slope.
My beer can is still sitting on the driver side vent window that I put there the first time I visited it.
It would be a megga lift bag deal now to move it and not just a Heav-HO~~~

OMG... can I say "Heav-Ho" now in this PC World

I have found 94 ~ 95 ~ 97 feet so I bet you can still find 100 feet out there if you go looking out in the Moon Scape and get lucky in the mud towards the center of the lake. The water level is still down so maybe not.

I thought the vis. was super for Lake Murray. It was clear enough to see things up close but it still had the spookie factor going on.

Intakes .... Hmmmmmmmmm I'm in !!!

 

[Joe-Diver]

Intakes .... Hmmmmmmmmm I'm in !!!

Man, not me.....now, I've never been able to talk to anyone with first hand experience, just offhand comments about "the intakes at 110" and such.....and I've never met anyone who's gone to the base of the dam and swam it to find them....so I don't know if they're there or not nor what they would be like. It could be a lot of BS. There IS an outlet on the other side, way down at the bottom of the valley so it stands to reason they're there. I have pictures of the intakes at Ray Roberts before the lake filled and I've seen them at other lakes...my experience with Murray is that the deeper you go, the worse the vis...and the LAST thing I want is to be poking along in 1' vis and find myself inside the dam. That dive just has death written all over it.:no

Perhaps some qualified, experienced cavers with doubles, lights and reels could check it out....see if they're there or not, what the depth is and the general structure.

 

[Timeliner]

It sounds like something fun and exciting to work towards and hunt for that is for sure.
Do you know of any topographic maps of the area 'before" the lake was impounded ?

Those could be the key

Oh and just to add a correction by saying "I'm in " I meant I was interested in finding them. I don't know about heading into an unknown hole either.
Finding it would be a kick though !!

 

[Joe-Diver]

I've never seen any, but I "think" there are pictures of the area before the impoundment, in Tucker Tower....and stories of the cave underneath Tucker Tower from the old west when it was a hideout...like Robber's Cave.....I've also heard diver "stories" of diving/finding that cave...but like the intakes, no first hand knowledge or confirmation.

My fear of trying to find the intakes is finding them by realizing you're now inside the dam.:11: