Vail, Colorado Visit June 2018

[ScubaGypsy]

My family has a get together during 09-16 June 2018 in Vail Colorado and I'm hopeful to log 3-4 dives in as I've never dove in Colorado before. It appears that Beaver Divers is the closest dive shop and I have emailed them as well.

My youngest son (age 23, PADI MSD) and I (PADI DM) will be the ones to go diving. We are New England cold water divers who plan to bring our own dive gear, including drysuits, with us except for tanks and weights which we hope to rent from Beaver Divers. We did a similar trip two years ago where we dove in Utah, Lake Yellowstone (Wyoming), Montana and Idaho and had a ball. Certainly the higher altitudes are no joke and need to be planned for.

Just doing my own research, I have found the following possible dives sites that seem reasonably close to Vail,

i) Officers Gultch (Dillon, 23 mi, 9000’),
ii) Turquoise Lake (Leadville, 39 mi, 10000’),
iii) GeorgeTown Lake (GeorgeTown, 54 mi, 11950’),
iv) Twin Lakes Reservoir (60 mi, 9200’)
v) Glenwood Springs? Hot springs about 60 mi west

I don't know anything about these sites including preferred entry and exit places and maybe underwater maps or special features. Are there any other activities at these listed sites that other family members might partake and enjoy (such as hiking, boating, etc)?

Are there other shouldn't miss sites that I have not listed but should consider? Also, what might the water temperatures be? Are dry gloves preferred? Is a dive flag required in Colorado?

Appreciate any insights that Colorado divers might provide!

 

[diversteve]

If it's the same Glenwood Springs I visited years ago (world's largest hot water springs pool?) I don't believe you dive there - too shallow, IIRC it was also very green water. There was a diving board at one end of the pool but that seemed to be the deepest oart - most of the pool was less than 6' deep.

The attraction is that since they're Hot Springs - the water is swimsuit warm even when there's snow on the ground. The family might like that.
Glenwood Hot Springs Resort Pool, Lodge and Spa

boulderjohn might know other local options

you;ve probably seen this - Six Places to Scuba Dive in Colorado

 

[boulderjohn]

I would love to be able to help, but to me, local diving in Colorado means New Mexico. Jefferson lake and turquoise lake are both good dives if you are ready to deal with 10,000 foot altitude, if you don’t mind really cold water. Beaver divers may have some suggestions that I do not know about.

 

[boulderjohn]

I will be taking a group to New Mexico about that time, but that is a long haul from Vail.

 

[Sam Miller III]

Vail Colorado has a dive operation and apparently a darn good one !
(That is very interesting ! a ski resort area with a full blown dive operation !)

It seems like only yesterday -- but t wasn't - it was many moons ago, I had a party at my home which was attended by local divers.

One of the US Divers officials came in and loudly stated "Would you believe it ? I opened a dive shop in Oklahoma ?" "Wonder what mud hole they will dive in"

Then Sears, a year later Wards and finally Pennys began selling mail order dive equipment- (Oh the horror mail order dive equipment ! ) According to our board members thwey used the Science of Skin and SCUBA to learn the elements of safe diving rather than the books recommended and marketed by the retailers

I few years later the late Ken Seybold opened Bay Travel in SoCal and teamed up with the editor of Skin Diver Magazine the late Paul Tsomoulis and began traveling the world searching for dive locations, soon airlines began offering flights to distant places and dive resorts sprang up allover the world.

I note that you are now attempting to dive all 50 states and have scratched quite a few off the list - with Colorado rapidly approaching - Good luck!

I suspect a book is in the future - If so I would like to place and order for a hard back copy personally lavishly inscribed to me. It would be interesting to compare your book to Hilbert Scheck's 1955 monumental work which discussed possible diving in the US 63 years ago
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lastly it has been about 4 years since your son Sam received his Eagle Scout. Is he in college? Undergrad or grad school ? Our family, because of our faith and the value of scouting has been active in scouting since Lord Baden Powell organized scouting a century ago and our family sports Eagles galore

Cheers from California- where it all began

Sam Miller, 111

 

[ScubaGypsy]

Thanx for the responses! It appears that Jefferson Lake is about 2 hours out from Vail so perhaps abit further than we'd prefer though not unrealistic for one of our days. New Mexico would just be asking too much for this trip though since the overall intent is for a family get together in celebration of a 60th wedding anniversary so we do need to be back for dinner and evening activities. Someday though I do hope to dive there, particularly the Blue Hole.

Are dive flags required for the lake dives in Colorado? What are the lowest water temperatures that we might expect? Below 42 F? Just wondering if we should be bringing dry gloves as well.

 

[ScubaGypsy]

I note that you are now attempting to dive all 50 states and have scratched quite a few off the list - with Colorado rapidly approaching - Good luck!

I suspect a book is in the future - If so I would like to place and order for a hard back copy personally lavishly inscribed to me. It would be interesting to compare your book to Hilbert Scheck's 1955 monumental work which discussed possible diving in the US 63 years ago

Yes I have been trying to dive all the US states and have so far logged 34 so there is still much to go. Many of these dives have been as an aside during work travels so I'm hopeful to fill in the remainders during the next few years after I retire next year.

I do not plan on writing a book but perhaps you have seen the recent book "An American Immersion: How the first woman to dive all 50 states was transformed by her quest"?

Lastly it has been about 4 years since your son Sam received his Eagle Scout. Is he in college? Undergrad or grad school ?

My middle son Sam received his Eagle Scout in 2010 when he built a diver rack at one of our local shore diving sites as his project. That rack has been so popular that another rack has since been built by another scout. Sam will be along on this family get together but he is my lone warm water only diver so he is not interested in joining us! Currently Sam is finishing up an internship at a Nature Conservancy park in Jupiter, Florida while he just completed his first year of his graduate studies. His older brother was a Life Scout and is in the Merchant Marines and is presently in Saipan so he will not be in attendance. My youngest son was also a Life Scout and will be joining me for the Colorado dives. My oldest and youngest sons and I did a week long dive trip to Iceland last October. I will also note that two of my nephews that will be at this Colorado get together are both Eagle Scouts as well though they are non-divers.

 

[ScubaGypsy]

Hopefully I can do better than this with more direct questions...............

I've broken down my Vail, Colorado family get-together trip into two days of diving amongst our other family activities. These include the follow dive sites,

Dive Day 1) 2.5 hours driving, 102 miles round trip: Turquoise Lake (Leadville, 39 mi, 10000’) & Twin Lakes Reservoir (60 mi, 9200’).

Dive Day 2) 4 hours driving, 168 mi round trip: Jefferson Lake (85 mi, 10685’) & Officers Gulch (Dillon, 23 mi, 9400’).

So my questions are:

- Is a dive flag required for diving these sites?

- What is likely the coldest water temperature that I will experience amongst these sites in less than 100' depths?

- What might be the likely depths at each of the sites?

- Where is the preferred parking and diving entry/exits at these sites?

- Are there any specific underwater maps available for these sites?

- Aside from high altitudes, are there special features at any of these sites that I should note (such as wrecks, like the plane in Aurora Reservoir, or notable geological formations, etc)?

- Are there any other activities at these listed sites that other family members might partake and enjoy (such as hiking, boating, picnics, etc)?

Sure appreciate any help that folks can provide!

 

[boulderjohn]

Dive Day 1) 2.5 hours driving, 102 miles round trip: Turquoise Lake (Leadville, 39 mi, 10000’) & Twin Lakes Reservoir (60 mi, 9200’).

I have done one day of diving in Turquoise Lake, about 7 years ago. We parked in a small parking lot along one of the shores and dived immediately off that parking lot--thank goodness, as I will explain later. We did not get much depth, but we did not try to, really. There is reportedly deeper diving near the dam, and there are reports of it being 100 feet there, but we did not go remotely near such a depth. Visibility was poor. I don't remember the temperature. It was late summer, so it would have been a lot warmer than you will find it. You had better bring your heavy undies diving it in June.​

Dive Day 2) 4 hours driving, 168 mi round trip: Jefferson Lake (85 mi, 10685’) & Officers Gulch (Dillon, 23 mi, 9400’).

I have also dived exactly once at Jefferson Lake, about 10 years ago. Access is on a road that is not maintained in the winter--I assume it will be open in June. especially since we bot about no snow this winter. We set up our gear on a picnic table on the far side of the parking lot and walked down to the boat ramp entry. I was carrying double steel 108s. By the time I got to the water's edge, I thought I was going to die. It was at that point that I realized I had left my fins back at the picnic area. Fortunately, someone else who was not suited up went back to get them. I had my warmest drysuit underwear, and I was comfortable for an extended period of time. (I don't recall the time of year.) I think I hit something like 70 feet of depth, but I was doing some training then, so we weren't going for the bottom. I believe I was able to dive as long as I did because I was mostly using a scooter and did not have to work hard.​

I do not know of any maps of the bottom, and I don't think there is anything to see there to put on such a map. I am told there is a good number of big trout in Jefferson lake, and in the really cold weather you can apparently swim up to them, grab them, and put them in a catch bag. I don't want to test that.

Do not underestimate the altitude. The following is pasted directly, in the original color and type, from the current US Navy diving handbook (page 9-50).

Altitudes above 10,000 feet can impose serious stress on the body resulting
in significant medical problems while the acclimatization process takes
place. Ascents to these altitudes must be slow to allow acclimatization to
occur and prophylactic drugs may be required to prevent the occurrence
of altitude sickness. These exposures should always be planned in
consultation with a Diving Medical Officer.​

On both my experiences, I was absolutely wiped out as I set up my gear. I needed much longer to acclimate than I gave myself, and I was living at my home at 5.400 feet for a very long time before travelling to the dives. This is one of those cases where I would say the US Navy knows what it is talking about.

If you just want to ring up some Colorado dives, it is only about 2.5 hours to Chatfield Reservoir or Aurora Reservoir. You will be diving at about 5,200 feet for each dive. If you can wait a few days, I can do it with you.

 

[boulderjohn]

Dive flags are not needed at either of those lakes, at least we did not have them. I don't think it occurred to them that people would dive there. You will need one at Aurora if you go there. I have one if you wait.