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SurfLung
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Tioga Mine Pit, MN

Tue Aug 09, 2016 1:55 pm


- After watching the video above, my buddy Rich and I did a whirlwind tour of Tioga Mine Pit. Jill was going out of town for a shower and I had the weekend free with the lake not looking too good for diving. Seeking an adventure, I remembered we were talking about Tioga Mine Pit last year and then kind of forgot about it this year. Rich agreed to go with me so we both quit work at 3:00 Friday and hit the road for Grand Rapids, MN... About 3.5 hrs from Alexandria. It's right on Highway 169 so Sea Hunt Jerry could probably get there with a direct drive north.
- Grand Rapids is a busy town with lots of amenities. We had dinner Friday at the Ground Round. Stayed at AmericInn and had a nice hot complimentary breakfast in the morning. Weather was absolutely perfect. We looked at the google maps in my phone and found the pit really easy.
- Here are the directions: Drive 169 to Grand Rapids. Turn left(west) onto highway 2 (in town). Turn left on 63. Turn left on Tioga Beach Road. When you see Pokegama lake on the left, you'll see the beach and then a little further on you'll see a boat ramp on the left. When you get to the boat ramp, there will be a boat and trailer parking lot on the right. Go thru the lot and follow the road out the back and you will be there at the pit.
- Diving Conditions: There's a boat ramp access right down to the water that is more like a beach than a ramp. To the left of that is a trail about 100 yards to a picnic and swimming area. To the right of the access is sandy hillside that curves probably 300 yards around the shore. Anyway, we could see it was kind of cloudy right off the ramp from stirred up sand. At about 23 feet visibility improved to 30-40 feet. I continued down to a ledge at about 60 feet, went over the ledge and down to about 83 feet... It goes deeper but I stopped there and came back up to the ledge. Visibility was quite good 30-40 feet but always a hint of stirred up silt. When we got to the halfway mark of our air, I went up to the surface to see where we were... And we were right at the end of the curving sandy area to the right. Second dive we came back from having lunch in town to find a few swimmers had come to the areas right and left of the access. We went to the left of the access this time, I followed the ledge at 60 feet and Rich was about 15 feet above me. Again, about 30-40 feet visibility but always the hint of stirred up silt in the water. On the return, we went up to 25-30 feet deep as we swam back by the picnic area swimmers, and visibility went down to about 10 feet. Temps at 60-80 feet were 43-41 degrees F.
- By the time we got back to the access, there were about 75 teenage swimmers on the 300 yard curved sandy area to the right. This is an area of Minnesota that has plenty of lakes for swimmers to go to but here they all come to the Tioga Pit! I think it is the local Teenage Swimmin' hole! Anyway, that explains the stirred up silt of the water... Both of our dives were right in and below the heavily used swimming areas.
- Conclusions: The Tioga Pit is about the same size as Fortune Pond, and we only dived the areas that had heavy swimming traffic. The rest of the pond has virgin shoreline with just one house and dock down at the far end from our access. I think the visibility will improve markedly in the Spring and Fall when its too cold for swimming. And, it may be quite clear in the areas that aren't under the heavy swim traffic and stirred up silt. Visibility below 23 feet deep was 30-40 feet... Which was far better than we had at Crosby last week. The town has nice motels and restaurants. I think this might be a good 2-day dive trip in September/October when the kids aren't swimming so much.
SurfLung
The Freedom and Simplicity of Vintage Equipment and
Vintage Diving Technique are Why I Got Back Into Diving.

swimjim
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Re: Tioga Mine Pit, MN

Tue Aug 09, 2016 4:44 pm

Looks like a sweet dive!

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Bryan
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Re: Tioga Mine Pit, MN

Tue Aug 09, 2016 8:03 pm

Damn pesky kids messing up the diving!

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Ron
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Re: Tioga Mine Pit, MN

Sat Dec 02, 2017 2:06 pm

I've got to make it to some of these inland sites someday man. Maybe I'm an oddity, but lakes, ponds, and rivers are equally as cool to me as the ocean provided that don't eat my face off with flesh eating bacteria or alligators or whatever.
The impossible missions are the only ones which succeed. -JYC

crimediver
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Re: Tioga Mine Pit, MN

Sun Dec 03, 2017 5:57 pm

I prefer rivers if I have to dive fresh water. Living in Virginia the rivers are full of fossils, Indian artifacts, and colonial and civil war relics as well as modern treasures. I dive in rapids as well as deeper pools and always find something cool every dive. The viz I n the rivers is pretty good as well.

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Nemrod
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Re: Tioga Mine Pit, MN

Mon Dec 04, 2017 1:07 am

Ron wrote:I've got to make it to some of these inland sites someday man. Maybe I'm an oddity, but lakes, ponds, and rivers are equally as cool to me as the ocean provided that don't eat my face off with flesh eating bacteria or alligators or whatever.
Or brain eating amoebas. :shock:

James

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