Rock Lake Closing--this time might be for real

[Diver With Altitude]

Maybe you could contact the State agencies who’ve been using the lake for training and ask if they’ve approached him.

 

[broncobowsher]

Probably the best avenue would be to look at the local government. Not as a government action, but it is still very much a small town. Maybe the mayor of the town could encourage it? There is a (small) economic loss to the town with the tech divers who won't be coming to town, spending the night, eating locally, filling up at the local gas station, etc. And very much a town that lives on tourists coming through.

It is a diving town. If you stop by the Blue Hole and the office is closed, they give you the phone number for the mayor who will come out and issue you the dive permit. So long as they realize that the Blue Hole is no substitute for the depth of Rock Lake. Rock lake is an additional attraction to the town, not part of the Blue hole attraction. Tech divers come specifically for Rock Lake. Tech divers are known to spend stupid amounts of money on there hobby.

Trying to reach the owners from the divers side of things, something they are not interest in, is likely to have negative results. But the locals, if they were the ones that put a little influence on it. Likely to have better results.

Have to look at it from the local perspective. Not these outsider divers.

 

[boulderjohn]

Are there any other recreational activities going on at Rock Lake? For instance, fishing, picnicking, swimming?

Nope. It is on a huge ranch. The word we had was that the owner was interested in having ranch employees enjoy it for those reasons. I doubt it will happen much. It is a sinkhole 500 feet across and 280 feet deep, so there is not a lot of fish life in the middle of the lake. There isn't a lot on the fringes, either. The owner has allowed the invasive Russian olive trees to take over the shoreline. I have periodically cut them back over the last decade, but I am the only one doing that. The steps and platform used for entering the lake were built and maintained by divers long ago, and they are starting to go. In a money saving attempt years ago, the previous owner got it some kind of wetlands designation, so no development can be done on the site.

When the previous owner was trying to sell it in the past, the city was interested, but nothing happened. A problem was that the city just wanted the lake area, and the owner wanted to sell the whole ranch. She made the price pretty high. Some divers talked of putting together a coalition to buy the lake area, but that would have been a legal nightmare to maintain.

 

[VikingDives]

My knowledge of Rock Lake is limited, so I'm not sure this would apply: N.M. Supreme Court rules non-navigable water rule is unconstitutional. If I recall correctly there's a pipe that feeds the fish hatchery. If that's not passable, maybe there's an old waterway? That might provide an easement to the lake.

 

[boulderjohn]

My knowledge of Rock Lake is limited, so I'm not sure this would apply: N.M. Supreme Court rules non-navigable water rule is unconstitutional. If I recall correctly there's a pipe that feeds the fish hatchery. If that's not passable, maybe there's an old waterway? That might provide an easement to the lake.

There is no river. The water enters the lake through cracks (vents) deep in the rocks below. The biggest ones we know are at about 190 feet, but there are vents all over the floor. The bottom is rock rubble from the collapse of the sink hole in the distant past. The water does exit through a pipe leading to the trout hatchery next door.

 

[boulderjohn]

I have been watching the closing/not closing of this lake for about a dozen years, like a slow motion tennis match. I just got an email saying the owner had decided to allow access for the rest of this year.

 

[Ulfhedinn]

So @boulderjohn just so I understand. I would not be able to just show up and dive it? I need to submit papers or have a dive instructor who has?

 

[broncobowsher]

So @boulderjohn just so I understand. I would not be able to just show up and dive it? I need to submit papers or have a dive instructor who has?

That was how things were. You had to know the right connections to get in. Never open to the general public. Sort of like a private club.

Now, you just don't get in.

 

[boulderjohn]

Well, it seems to be open again. Who knows about next week?

You do have to be under the supervision of an approved instructor. That is largely because all the payments, waivers, etc. are handled by that instructor. Access is only allowed on dates arranged by that instructor. Our group has been allowed in once a month for the past year, on dates arranged well in advance. It's not really a private club. If you know the instructor and make contact, I assume you will be allowed to come. I'd let you in, as long as you are at least AOW.

 

[broncobowsher]

Well that's suddenly good news. I do hope to make it there someday.