You aren't kidding.
The Great Travis Traverse
- Thread starter mkiiisupra89
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You aren't kidding.
diver 85
Contributor
Out of curiosity, why is this being done???......ie, "Depth ranges from 140 to 170 feet depending on time of year, conditions are the biggest issue most of the year, cold with zero to near zero visibility conditions can be expected most of the time. . ."
I haven't reread the beginning posts & am lost as to why........tia.....
ianr33
Contributor
FIXXERVI6
Contributor
To bring back spanish gold
I think a better question is.. why not?
You also have to remember, texas is not known for its steller reef diving or abundant crystal clear springs spewing forth.
I still remember stopping at a ledge at 60 feet looking into the black abyss that is travis going hmm, whats down there? and again, and again, then I find the bottom and I go hmm, whats out there? I'm finding out.
What will we find on the other side? I dunno, but we'll find out
Then if I do a crossing, then cool! if someone else does it, then I contributed, still cool.
If you read the thread from the start you'll see how this all got started
FIXXERVI6
Contributor
diver 85
Contributor
gotcha , chief-------& if I read it all, I would not have time to dive----even nite dives.....
and another curiosity question, how much more to go??.........tia
FIXXERVI6
Contributor
Not sure, from the profile the line is obviously starting up the other bank at this point but the other side is a long long stretch compared to WP side, its thousands of feet total, some where in this thread I think I posted total straight distance according to google maps scale but I don't remember.
We have added another 200 feet of line across the bottem and we are now moving up the bank on the other side. The end of line is at 122 feet with a bottom depth 155 feet. Next run will be with scooters to save gas to get to the end of line. Currently we have about 1000 feet of line set.
ianr33
Contributor
Did you find anything solid to tie off to?
How is the 400 ft stretch of line? Would like to get back to that before too long and add some stakes before it disappears into the silt.
How is the 400 ft stretch of line? Would like to get back to that before too long and add some stakes before it disappears into the silt.
FIXXERVI6
Contributor
Took two stakes on the way out, trimix carried one I carried the other. Hit zinc and ians section swam a bit and sunk one, amazingly enough it DIDN'T blow the vis, that carpet like stuff on the bottom (bacteria?) held the silt down, swam a bit more and sunk another one, we need a minimum of two more stakes to sure up that section, maybe 3, its close enough to dead west we need to stake it in and keep it.
On the way out we were cleaning crud of the line, stuff built up fast.
Got up to the PVC zinc and ian laid in, and yep, shallow rock just like the first one was on WP side. By the time I got up to this Trimix1050 had already tied off and was heading up the slope, I caught up to him, he was waiting on me to sink a stake as he didn't want to go over a hump or have the incline change putting the line against the ground. Went to stick the stake in, nadda, tried a few spots it would go down about an inch or so and hit rock, looked around, nothing to tie of to...
We wrapped the reel several times around the middle of the stake, and pushed the stake into the silt sideways, hoping that the 5 foot seciton of pvc would provide enough drag in the silt to allow some line tensions, which it did.
On the way back I spotted... are you ready for this.. A LOG WITH A BRANCH!!! - evidence there were trees on that side, which is a good thing - I took a section of the line over to it and gave it a half ass wrap so we can find it next time, need to go back, retrieve the reel, pull the line back down to that log and do a real solid tie off there, from there we can pull it really tight and put some distance out if we have to looking for the next tie off.
On the way back, off to my left I spotted... a pvc stake, I swam over to it and it was just a stake, as I got closer I spotted orange line wrapped around it and down in the silt, so I pulled it up, its the original line Carl laid in, but the line is totally shot and burried, I pulled the line up and followed it, it ran parallel to the new line maybe 3 or 4 feet off the new line, then it crossed, its the section of that line that curved north, the straight west line cut over top of it, but it was burried good in the silt, at least an inch at that point, so I wonder, did it just get buried over? or did it break and then slowly sink + get buried? anyway its down on the silt again, woudl proabably be a good idea to pull that section out while the vis is still good, that is if it can be found again before it covers back up but I thought that was a pretty neat find.
A couple of spots the new line is getting close to the silt, from what I can tell the silt is building up, so I tried to pull the stakes UP to lift the line away from the silt, idea being as the silt builds up just keep lifting the stakes and the line will stay up.. it wouldn't budge that sucker was in there good, tried another, same story.
On the way back up to the last stake I found another stake laying on the ground at the bottom of that first drop off, I picked it up and hooked it back on the main line for easy findings.
Looking at the topo and judging how much line is out I'm almost certain we put that line right into that gully on the opposite site - resulting in the longest deep section possible
Good news is, its all up hill from there, we stopped around 122 feet looking for a tie off and the slope was going up really good at that point.
So list of things that need done:
Survey (we know zinc/ian section is 400 feet)
zig zag removal
directional markers (I'll bring some more gttp arrows next time)
Sure up long stretch with a mininum of two more stakes
Pull reel back to log and create a solid tie off on the log
Add more line
create jumps!
The additional line really needs to come off of a solid tie of on that log othwerwise we risk that furthest section being very wimpily secured as the silt doesn't allow for sinking of stakes anymore
Vis was around 10 feet - best I've ever seen down there on that line, it was pretty cool, good dive.
On the way out we were cleaning crud of the line, stuff built up fast.
Got up to the PVC zinc and ian laid in, and yep, shallow rock just like the first one was on WP side. By the time I got up to this Trimix1050 had already tied off and was heading up the slope, I caught up to him, he was waiting on me to sink a stake as he didn't want to go over a hump or have the incline change putting the line against the ground. Went to stick the stake in, nadda, tried a few spots it would go down about an inch or so and hit rock, looked around, nothing to tie of to...
We wrapped the reel several times around the middle of the stake, and pushed the stake into the silt sideways, hoping that the 5 foot seciton of pvc would provide enough drag in the silt to allow some line tensions, which it did.
On the way back I spotted... are you ready for this.. A LOG WITH A BRANCH!!! - evidence there were trees on that side, which is a good thing - I took a section of the line over to it and gave it a half ass wrap so we can find it next time, need to go back, retrieve the reel, pull the line back down to that log and do a real solid tie off there, from there we can pull it really tight and put some distance out if we have to looking for the next tie off.
On the way back, off to my left I spotted... a pvc stake, I swam over to it and it was just a stake, as I got closer I spotted orange line wrapped around it and down in the silt, so I pulled it up, its the original line Carl laid in, but the line is totally shot and burried, I pulled the line up and followed it, it ran parallel to the new line maybe 3 or 4 feet off the new line, then it crossed, its the section of that line that curved north, the straight west line cut over top of it, but it was burried good in the silt, at least an inch at that point, so I wonder, did it just get buried over? or did it break and then slowly sink + get buried? anyway its down on the silt again, woudl proabably be a good idea to pull that section out while the vis is still good, that is if it can be found again before it covers back up but I thought that was a pretty neat find.
A couple of spots the new line is getting close to the silt, from what I can tell the silt is building up, so I tried to pull the stakes UP to lift the line away from the silt, idea being as the silt builds up just keep lifting the stakes and the line will stay up.. it wouldn't budge that sucker was in there good, tried another, same story.
On the way back up to the last stake I found another stake laying on the ground at the bottom of that first drop off, I picked it up and hooked it back on the main line for easy findings.
Looking at the topo and judging how much line is out I'm almost certain we put that line right into that gully on the opposite site - resulting in the longest deep section possible
Good news is, its all up hill from there, we stopped around 122 feet looking for a tie off and the slope was going up really good at that point.
So list of things that need done:
Survey (we know zinc/ian section is 400 feet)
zig zag removal
directional markers (I'll bring some more gttp arrows next time)
Sure up long stretch with a mininum of two more stakes
Pull reel back to log and create a solid tie off on the log
Add more line
create jumps!
The additional line really needs to come off of a solid tie of on that log othwerwise we risk that furthest section being very wimpily secured as the silt doesn't allow for sinking of stakes anymore
Vis was around 10 feet - best I've ever seen down there on that line, it was pretty cool, good dive.
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