Cave Mountain Lake - A U.S. Federal Park - Bad Bad Bad

[Steve and Bia]

First, lets start with the email permission we received from the U.S. feds....

________________________________________________________________________________

>Good Morning,
>I apologize for taking so long to reply to your question, but I was
>out of the office last week. You may have a metal detector on the beach area
>to search for money and jewelry, however, you may not do any digging
>other than with a screwdriver. No shovels or diggers are allowed.

________________________________________________________________________________

Did you read that! That's right! A screwdriver!


Well, we took the screwdrivers and drove the three hours it took to get there. When we arrived there was a self service "pay to enter", so we did- $5. There was also a small note reading the lake was drained which had us very excited! But the website didn't tell us that. Nor did the ranger service email! Although, I was interested. I was waiting to see a perfect beach ready to dig with NO WATER! When we walked down to the beach we could see it wasn't a beach at all, we were surprised. I'm sure you will be too. I tried walking on it but it was saturated and I kept sinking in muck up to my knees. It was very hard to get out of it! I had to quit.

I think the pictures speak for themselves. There is no nut... except a quarter. :sad:

This is the worst "skunking" we've had.

I want my $5 back!



Here's what you see at their website...

Here's what we had today... but tomorrow we have BIG plans to make up for it!

In this picture I was stuck up to my knees- real bad and struggling to get out! (Bia was laughing in the distance) All of the sudden this critter pops out and say's "Hi!" He was a cool lizzard!

 

[Mike (Virginia Beach)]

Wow...that sucks. I would have thought that lake would be the deal...another Mr. Chile metal detecting wet dream come true. Guess his didn't have a muddy bottom. And a screw driver??? That's ridiculous. Bummer.

 

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't even attempt to bring a detector onto Federal property. The way I heard it, is that detecting on Federal land is a majorly big no-no. I'm glad to see you did get permission. To bad they only let you use a screwdriver.

 

[Macaco]

How bout this? It's a cordless screwdriver with an auger bit. That will put some holes in the mud and it's within the range of tools allowed (they didn't say it couldn't be a power driver and they didn't say what kind of bit.)

Sooooooo.......

 

[bdahunter]

Let me get this straight. The feds are gutting the bottom of the swimming hole with a bulldozer and an excavator but you can't bring a garden shovel to the party? The guy from parks should've stayed on vacation for all the good he did.
Try hunting around the loading area for the dump trucks if they've shut down for the weekend. Piles of scooped lake material will dry quicker than the bottom itself. HH

 

[Steve and Bia]

n/t

 

[Bobbie]

n/t

 

[Steve and Bia]

n/t

 

[Steve and Bia]

When it comes to getting the required "permission" from the U.S. Federal park ranger, it can take weeks. You may have noticed this from the email at the top of my post. Each park is different and every Ranger gives some crazy rule like "only a screwdriver to dig with". Other than that, the law reads this-

"You can detect ANY man-made area at ANY U.S. Park only with "permission" from THAT park area ranger/manager."

Everything else is off-limits without a permit. Permit's are impossible unless your in a group of archeologists working for the historical society. Screw that! (Pun intended)

 

[Steve and Bia]

You may be on to something with this. Seriously! If you could do an aluminum, 6 inch wide, auger bit that's 2 feet long it would easily dig wet sand. It would be easy to carry and effortless digging!

 

[Bobbie]

n/t

 

[Bobbie]

So get a heavy equipment screwdriver......some are about 3 feet long with a very large flat blade.

 

[Mrchile]

n/t

 

[Macaco]

It would be nice to get a copy of the regulations for that park which would show the rule that only a screwdriver can be used for digging. If all it says is 'screwdriver' then you can get creative.

 

[Craig-PI]

Steve

I'm sure they told you to use a screwdriver thinking you were going to hunt in the sand or dirt... If I were you I would call them and ask if you could use a scoop in the mud, it can't hurt and all they can say is no...