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"I guess it isn’t just a dive buddy I am looking for, but an all around ’adventure buddy’.......yea....that sounded a little strange to me too. But you get the point. I can get my girlfriend to do a lot more than most gals might, but she has her limits too. I will hack through overgrown woods to get to some body of water, or hike over a thousand feet up a mountain to get to a dam with a pond of crystal clear water that is only 12 feet deep....just for the dive and the possible never before addition to a dive log. That’s the kind of person I am looking for."
Beware of locals promising virgin dives up in thar hills, I once had some lead me on a dirt bike expedition, I think it was a way to rent out another bike :) The hook was a crystal clear lake near a coal mine in Hazleton. I was wearing the tank and had visions of loosing the bike, snapping the valve and going into low orbit. The lake was clear because whatever the mining company was dumping in it killed everything, no o2 in the water so even the trees that had fallen in didn’t rot but hey it was deeper than 12’. But like you say, it was an adventure :)
This week I’m exploring a site that’s listed, Townsend Inlet but I don’t see any pictures or reports on however no sherpas will be needed :)
I don’t have a kayak but I do have a rowboat (see my pictures) that can double as a SMB if you find something we can drive too.
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As soon as you said ’dirt bike’ and wearing your pack, I instantly thought of the valve. Hell’s no!! I’m clumsy, that would be disastrous for me! ;-) (in my late teens I took out my OWN car in a friends driveway with his dirt bike).
The crystal clear pond I am talking about is one I have been hiking into since I was a kid. It’s along the Appalachian Trail, but a 3 mile or better (miserable) hike in from the nearest road. Late last summer when crossing ’no trasspassing’ areas to look for a better way in, I met a guy, president of the home owners association just below the dam area I was in to look at, who gave me his number and an invitation to get me up there when I am ready. I would dive it alone.....I know....taboo. I have issues with that concept though, but my girlfriend has issue with that, so I am being a good boy and searching for a buddy for some of these shallow things that I would just go alone were it up to me solely.
Here is a little about that particular pond. As a kid we would hike up to the source. One or more springs below a large boulder field at the top of the mountain.
http://aslongasimalive.wordpress.com/2011/09/07/shikellamy-scout-camp-dam-pre-planning/
As far as driving to, I would need to do a little more looking at it, because I wouldn’t want anyone to come a long way for a failure, but there is a creek I have been looking at running (kayak) that seems to have some really clear water, all the way to the confluence with the Susquehanna River. Pequea creek. Where it meets the River it gets deep enough that some people have motor boats tied up almost a mile up the creek. When we paddled that lower mile or so a few weeks back, I didn’t think it looked that clear, kinda greenish, but a friend kept commenting on how clear the water was. When I stuck my arm down in almost up to my shoulder I realized he was right. Guess the green is bottom composition, or something. Still adjusting to how clear or not clear water can look from the surface and then be just the opposite once submerged. This would probably be only 8 to 10 feet if we were REALLY lucky, but I was thinking it could be an interesting drift type dive. With all the boats moored in this area, because there are houses up on the hill, we might even find something. There is a public boat launch located at the mouth of this creek. It’s where we pulled out from our trip. But again, I was looking for someone local so that a full blown failure is no big deal, just a 45 minute drive or so back home, or take gear back to the car and kayak the rest of the time. Again, as I said before, I would do these simple things alone, but it’s frowned upon. I don’t feel like anyone would be interested in this sort of thing. Seems like most friends I have are interested in pay to play quarries, or trips to warm places. I actually enjoy the local spots, cold and all, because it is my home town area. There are things to see that don’t require a once a year trip. You can have a mini vacation every day if you try. That’s my outlook at least.
I should shut up, that was a little long.
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