Now for something completely different

[Furnari]

Our local dive club visited Smith Reservoir, which is about 70 miles east of Eugene, along the McKenzie River. It's part of a hydroelectric project that works like this- water is diverted from the McKenzie into Carmen Reservoir, then it travels underground through a 2 mile long tunnel to Smith Reservoir. From there, the water runs through a penstock to a turbine, into Trailbridge Reservoir, then back into the McKenzie.

The attraction to us was the outflow from the diversion tunnel into Smith Reservoir. The day we went, the tunnel was about 45 feet below the surface of the water. We would take turns descending into the outflow, where we'd be carried at a high rate of speed a couple hundred yards into the lake. I've dove in some brisk currents, but this was easily the fasted I've ever moved under water. The video doesn't do this justice- it definitely was something different from any other dive.

http://youtu.be/GbvnYq49YOc

[60south]

What a scream! I love it.

[Mattleycrue76]

Awesome! I wanna play!

[H20doctor]

That was the shizz..

[Norris]

Wow just wow. I think I may have just made a new addition to my bucket list


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[coulterboy]

Ya kidding me? I'm in. A guy like me would have the "torpedo" effect from the mouth of that tunnel. Awesome!

[Blaiz]

haha awesome!

[Alexitt]

That looks like a blast!!!!!

[nwscubamom]

That looks SO cool! Is there any particular time of year you are able to do this? Does it require any sort of planning? Looks like such fun - at first I'm thinking (after watching the rocks) - they're NUTS! But then seeing the footage and that everyone survives, you start thinking it would be a blast to try this.

More details!

- Janna

[Furnari]

More details:

The dive is about a mile from the closest road. There's a gravel boat ramp, but I first found about this from a guy who gets there via kayak. The ramp is at the south end of the lake, and the outflow is close to the north end. There's also a campground at the north end accessible by boat / kayak / trained dolphin. Once you're at the north end of the lake it's hard to miss- there's a pretty good whirlpool of stuff on the service. Descend the slope to the concrete tunnel exit, drop in and hang on. From a risk management perspective it really wasn't too bad-I'm not saying I would do this right out of OW but I never felt scared or anything.

It's a little over 2,000 feet so it's almost an altitude dive. As long as the roads are clear of snow you can get there-I would say from April to October you'll be ok.

The volume of water depends on the hydroelectric needs of the power company that runs it- the project is set up as a peak source. It's possible that flows might be lower when river levels drop so they can keep more water in the channel for the fishies. Speaking of, in the first run in the video you can see a trout flash by on the right. Fish tended to hang on the edge of the flow, but since they're mostly planters they're not much of an attraction. Not that I'm elitist or anything

By the way, if you come down to check out this dive, I highly recommend Clear Lake which is just a few more miles up the road. Highlights include 150+ feet of viz and 3,000 year old sunken trees. If anyone ever wants to check these out, pm me and I can help with arrangements on this end...

[BASSMAN]

Are you kidding me?
Do this dive and clear lake on the same day?
Sign me up! I'M in!
Now who can we get to organize such a dive?(s)

[Furnari]

The weekend of the 16th is a full moon. I haven't done the full moon thing at Clear Lake (changing out of my wetsuit in the parking lot doesn't count), but I hear it's spectacular. Just sayin'.

[Norris]

I would be interested in going on this if it begins to get organized.

[selkie]

Coming down to dive with you guys at Florence two weeks ago was fun but this looks like a blast.

[straitscuba]

My sister lives in Cottage Grove, looks like it may be a fun side trip next time I visit!