Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
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Alex Cabrero reporting One of the most frustrating things to find at a recreational area: Piles of trash.
Many popular places where you go hiking, camping or fishing just seems to be a dumping ground for people who don't care.
One group decided enough was enough. They call themselves the Water Dawgs, they're a SCUBA diving club out of Clearfield. Today, they traveled more than a hundred miles West - South of Wendover - to their favorite diving lake. It is a place that has looked more like the county dump lately.
There's no real normal reason to see someone swimming in a lake in November, except this lake isn't normal.
Ron Fuller, Layton Resident: "Blue Lake. I really enjoy it because you can come out here in the winter. It's warm water."
72 degrees on the surface, and even warmer as you go deeper.
Tom Regan, Clearfield Resident: "There's five hot springs that feed into this lake."
That means for SCUBA divers - like this group out of Clearfield - traveling out here is no big deal.
Ron Fuller, Layton Resident: "People from Montana, Wyoming, Idaho... They come down here and use the lake all the time."
But for as much enjoyment as this lake brings to scuba divers, they're starting to like it a little less. The main reason? A lot of people aren't picking up after themselves."
Tom Regan: "Typical thing. A diaper."
All around the lake is nothing but garbage.
Stuart Craig, North Salt Lake Resident: "Yeah, we just get tired of coming out here and seeing all this crap around."
Tom Regan, Clearfield Resident: "This is the epitome of human laziness."
So this weekend, they decided to do something about it. If it wasn't natural, it wasn't staying. Plenty of it didn't belong.
Tom Regan, Clearfield Resident: "Glass is the toughest one."
Ron Fuller: "If people would just pick up after themselves when they come out, it would make it nicer for everybody."
While Ron Fuller was diving, he found a bowling ball.
Ron Fuller: "It upsets me quite a bit."
That's just the beginning of the trash. There's more of it, everywhere you look, a tough task to get rid of it all.
Tom Regan, Clearfield Resident: "Maybe not. We'll be out here tomorrow if we don't finish today."
The divers told me there used to be a small building at Blue Lake, a place to throw away some trash. But someone burned it down a few years ago.
