2007

O'Leno 2007 Trip Reports

15 September 2007 -

Location: Sweetwater Lake, O'Leno State Park

Divers:                Michael Poucher, Brett Hemphill
Profile:               60 minutes total
Conditions:         Very Poor visibility

Description: Downstream visibility is now down to five feet.

11 September 2007 -

Location: Sweetwater Lake, O'Leno State Park

Divers:                Michael Poucher, Jerry Murphy
Profile:               90 minutes total
Conditions:         Poor visibility

Description: Vis check upstream. Only about 10-15 feet and very hazy. Line is broken about 1200 feet in.

9 June 2007 -

Location: Sweetwater Lake, O'Leno State Park

Divers:                Michael Poucher, Sandra Poucher, Jerry Murphy, Jill Heinerth, Beth Murphy
Profile:               123 minutes total
Conditions:         Relatively good visibility, algae in basin, few fish.

Description: Vis check upstream. Vis approximately 50'. Lots of bacterial growth and algae of various forms and colors. Mike built time on his rebreather while Sandy took photographs of the bacterial and algal growths in the basin and cavern. Jerry and Jill checked out the cavern while Jill took photographs. Both teams swam across the basin. Dead dear and fawn at far end of the lake. Beth and Jill free-dove, noticing healthy gar population.

1 April 2007 -

Location: River Rise, O'Leno State Park

Divers:                Michael Poucher, Sandra Poucher
Profile:               144 minutes total
Conditions:         Relatively good visibility, no algae in basin, few fish.

Description: Vis and line check. Water tannic but relatively clear. Lots of young white catfish in the cavern. Only saw a couple of translucent shrimp and scattered mollusks. Bottom of the basin is a web of discarded fishing line, hooks and lead weights. Removed some of the fishing debris and miscellaneous bottles, etc.

3 February 2007 -

Location: Sweetwater Lake, O'Leno State Park

Divers:                Michael Poucher, Brett Hemphill, Jeff Peterson, Dave Miner
Profile:               90 minutes total
Description:       Visibility 5 to 7 feet in the upstream, and 10 to 15 feet in downstream, possibly due the rain the previous Thursday. Fixed the line on the far side of the upstream. Warm water is coming out on that side along the top.

27 January 2007 -

Location: Sweetwater Lake, O'Leno State Park

Divers: Michael Poucher, Jim Womble, Kelly Jessop
Profile: 95 minutes total

Description: Checked the visibility in the downstream passage. Visibility was about 20 feet. Swam back to the stage drop.

20 January 2007 -

Location: Crab Sink, O'Leno State Park

Divers:                Michael Poucher, Jerry Murphy
Profile:               120 minutes total
Conditions:         Silty, low flow, sulfide, 5-20 feet visibility

Description: First time in this sink near hwy. Steep walls to 63' depth and into cave. Saw isopods or amphipods coming out of the silt in places. Saw one group of 6 large crayfish. Silty floor with hard clay in places. Passage connects to Big Tick Sink and has a downstream that is still going.

Top