Where is everyone???

[LKunze]

If anyone needs more info on the pits in MN check out the mnscuba site in the local diving forum.  They are a bit different from Wazee.  Ore Be Gone has a lot of stuff sunk for divers, it is mostly all in pretty shallow water though.  There are a couple of helicopters, airplanes, school bus, boats, railroad speeder cars etc.  Viz was about 25 feet there last weekend.  Max Depth is over 400 feet. Lake Mine and St. James Pits which are close by Ore Be Gone have 30 to 40 feet of viz.  Lake Mine has some old building rubble along a hillside above a wall in the 50 to 60 foot depth range.  Max depth of the pit is over 400 feet.  St. James is the clearest of the three places typically and has an awesome wall right off the boat launch.  Max depth of the pit is around 370 feet.
The Crosby pits are cool because there are so many pits to choose from and they are all a little different.  Some of them have large horizontal drift mine shafts at various depths.  They aren't stable so not a good idea to go in them but it's cool to shine a light in them and look around.  There are also a few vehicles in the Crosby mines that either went through the ice or were stolen and ditched.  The Crosby pits are in a pretty unmaintained area.  The roads are pretty rough but most of them you can get to without the need for 4 wheel drive or anything.  I think it would be worth the drive for the WI folks to check out, particularly if making a 2 or 3 day trip out of it.  The only location air fills aren't available are at the Iron Range (Ore Be Gone, Lake Mine and St. James).  For Crosby you can go to MSD in Brainerd which is about 15 miles away from the pits.  They only have air and nitrox there though so no trimix available.