"Adventure with all its requisite danger and wildness, is a deeply spiritual longing written into the soul of man." -John Eldredge, Wild at Heart
Finally made it to the "clearest, deepest lake in Wisconsin." Definitely the deepest at 355 feet - nearly a hundred feet deeper than the next deepest lake -Green Lake in Green County (Green lake is the deepest naturally formed Wisconsin lake).
Whether Wazee is the clearest lake is debatable -a bragging point many lakes in Wisconsin claim. Looking at a list of the states' 15 clearest lakes, the top position rotates year to year.
Because Wazee is a man made quarry and because of its popularity, we were slow to pay it a visit.
Not liking a crowded scene we "smartly" picked nearly the busiest vacation day of the year -July 4th, to visit Wazee. Busy as expected, with hundreds of beach goers, a few fisherman dotting the shoreline, lots of kayakers, paddle boarders & plenty of SCUBA divers. (Wazee is the most popular SCUBA diving destination in the midwest).
"YOU..SHALL NOT..PASS!"
Lake Wazee sits in west central Wisconsin, near Black River Falls, on the northeast edge of what is called the Driftless area of Wisconsin. Strangely untouched by glaciers, it is "driftless", meaning, it doesn't have the glacier drift land features or glacier formed lakes common in other parts of Wisconsin. As if obeying Gandalf's (Lord of The Rings) command: "You..Shall Not...Pass!" -glaciers advanced up to this region and retreated, leaving a landscape full of nooks & cranies & microclimates; home to some very unusual plants & animals -subject of many books & documentaries. Here's a link to a good one: http://lakefrontrow.com/mysteries-of-the-driftless/
I call this area of Wisconsin a type "A" personality landscape; -pronounced edges, ridges & valleys. Comparatively few lazy stretches of land or water. Water is decisively carted away by the many streams -it's a "Git-R-Done" - "Ship It Out" system. Very different than the brooding, indecisive, glacier scraped land in many other areas of Wisconsin, where water doesn't seem to know which way to go, hanging up as wetlands and lakes (These are some of the best lake areas!)
Wazee is one of the relatively few lakes in this driftless region. Although a man made quarry with the resulting lack of wild ambiance (to my mind), I found it awesome to dive in. Carved out by dynamite & machinery, natural phenomena has taken over -except in its bottomless depths where not much light can reach (no light=no plants=no other life forms -or at least comparatively less).
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| Bluegill on Nest at Wazee |
THE ALLURE OF THE DEEP
The quest for depth is ageless. Similar to The mountain climbing quest for elevation -or the quest to do absolutely anything that challenges you.
Seems the human spirit is restless if unchallenged.
Whatever challenges YOU -Free Climbing El Capitan in Yosemite, or summiting your backyard tree, freediving 300+ feet or 10 ft. Whatever stretches/challenges you, is your "DEEP."
My Judeao Christian perspective on life tells me this desire to explore is a good thing, something to be embraced, celebrated. Part of our divine design, hardwired to be curious, to find wonder & joy in discovery.
To shut down our desire to explore is the makings of an unhappy life. I say you CAN be too careful. As a famous adventure quote goes: "If you think ADVENTURE is Dangerous, Try Routine. It is LETHAL."
As a freediver, I'm uncomfortable with too much focus on depth. I've read most of the freediving books available & find them all interesting & motivating in ways, but the obsession with depth gets to be a bit much for me.
I like James Nestor (the author of the book DEEP), Fred Buyles' (shark tagging expert & freediving champion) and a host of other former competitive freedivers' perspectives. For them, freediving is embraced as a means to explore and get close to wildlife & to more intimately experience the underwater world -not primarily as a test, or competition for depth.
AND YET...
I find the attraction to go deep at times to be irresistible. Curiosity often gets the best of me as I float over a body of clear water that suddenly drops -gotta check it out, see what's down there.
Early in my lake explorations I learned that most of the lake life is around the shore, in shallower water -connected to water plants. Most of my spearfishing is done in 3-15 ft of water.
But the deeper water is also part of the lakes that we love and that barren moonscape has a beauty of its own.
Wazee more than satisfies that enjoyment of The Deep.
The mystique of Wazee is not only its great depth, but that you can SEE a good ways into that depth in dramatic fashion as the water plunges suddenly from the cliff like shoreline.
A non-diving friend of mine says his main memory of Wazee is the trance like spell that would come over him as he'd gaze from shore into that bottomless abyss of deep clear water. Kinda creeped him out.
My first impression of Wazee was similar. Looking from the shoreline into that aqua blue dropoff, I knew I was on the precipice of a grand adventure.
FINALLY IN THE WATER
After checking out some of the dive access spots: Blue Gill Alley, The Garden, Sherwood Forest, I thought the spot called The Wall looked especially inviting.
Called "The Wall" because it has Wazee lakes' quickest dropoff to 100ft from the shore. I liked the shelf like structure stretching out from shore before the steep dropoff. Made for a comfortable amount of shallow water to snoop amongst water plants looking for fish.
Just yards away the drop off was immediate. My imagination kicked up visions of the famous freediving hotspot at Deans Blue Hole (663 ft deep!) in the Bahamas, where world freediving world records have been set.
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| Freediver at Deans Blue Hole |
Here at Wazee I could catapult off the edge into my own Blue Hole & free fall to my hearts content -which was not very far. The need to do a better job of equalizing (https://www.google.com/search?q=equalizing+pressure+in+ears) against the head/ear pressure, combined with dealing with that shockingly cold deeper water "thermocline" (distinct depth where the water temperature is suddenly colder) -sent me back up quickly.
Eventually I relaxed & got better at dealing with & enjoying that alien world. Gotta equalize immediately upon submerging & constantly throughout the dive. And the cold!? With Wazees' depth comes Wazees' cold. I wouldn't be able to stand that sharp cold for very long without a wetsuit. The other factor is that what seems unbearably cold, becomes bearable after a bit. That cold ache subsides...to an extent.
Below the thermocline the water temperature is 40°-50° F A snorkeler without a wetsuit would be comfortable in the 70° F (summer) surface waters.
Having the right mindset regarding cold water helps.
Cold Water Immersion has gained a lot of popularity in the last few years with Wim Hof "The Iceman" & others popularizing its health benefits: "Good for circulation, boosts your immune system, reduces inflammation, reduces stress, lifts your mood..."
This past winter, after learning some general guidelines for cold water immersion, my son, Josh & I, set out to do some short swims in our nearby river. The first couple minutes were horrible with the ache of the cold -can make you panicky to get out. But, as I mentioned, you get somewhat used to it after a couple minutes. In the 32°-37° degree winter water we'd last 5 min with a shorty wetsuit. The invigorating effect on body & spirit lasts all day!
Combine that cold water invigoration with Wazees' depth pressure, the breath hold of freediving, along with the thrill of viewing the "dark side of the moon" i.e. beholding what is normally hidden in the depths, & you have the makings of an even deeper level of invigoration/ ADVENTURE!
SHORT CLIP OF OUR WAZEE DIVE:
FOR THE FISHERMAN
I did not see many fish. Very clear, "oligotrophic" water, typically does not hold a high fish population. What makes for clear water -lack of particles in the water to block sunlight- also generally means less food to support plankton, which is the basis of a lakes fish population.
I saw a few small bluegill, one big one on the nest, some largemouth bass, & one rainbow trout.
BUT, fish biologist say: "The fish that occur in oligotrophic lakes are often low in abundance, but large in size."
We look foward to going back to Wazee. Inspite of the crowds, we were able to find our space. Testimony to the escape value of mask, fins & snorkel.
GETTING TO WAZEE LAKE
You can GPS to Wazee Lake with this address:
N6302 Brockway rd.
Black River Falls, Wisconsin 54615
- 4hrs from Chicago
- 3hrs from Milwaukee
- 3hrs from Green Bay
- 2hrs from Madison
- 1hr from La Crosse
- 50 min from Eau Claire
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