Droughts Are Now Showing Lost Treasures, Including a Snowmobile and ATV

Over the years, I've definitely lost quite a few things in lakes, rivers, and streams. It tends to happen when you fish as much as I do or when you head out on a jet ski. You forget to tie something down, put it deep enough into your pocket, or set your rod down for a hot second, only for a big ole catfish to use the moment to take your bait and run off with the hook, line, and pole. Ask me how I know about that last one...

What you don't expect to lose are things like vehicles, yet, it happens more frequently than you'd imagine, especially in areas where winter freezes mean thick enough ice to support said vehicles. 

Each year, across the Northern Hemisphere, folks head out onto frozen bodies of water using all manner of powersport and regular vehicles. From ATVs to snowmobiles, trucks to UTVs, people are braving thick and not-so-thick ice to ride or navigate to the best ice fishing holes. And, inevitably, some fall through the ice, never to be seen again. At least, that's the case for some.

But lately, due to persistent climate change-induced droughts, these vehicles are being unearthed once again, thanks to falling water levels. We saw this the other day in Hungary with a Nazi motorcycle. But closer to home, low water levels unveiled not just one, but two powersport vehicles in Colorado, thanks to the Green Mountain Reservoir's water level dropping to historic lows.

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According to NBC 9News in Colorado, "A team from the U.S. Forest Service and the Summit County Sheriff's Office retrieved an ATV that had been submerged in Green Mountain Reservoir since it fell through the ice in 2018. Historically low water levels exposed it for the first time in eight years." 

Those "historic low water levels" are that the Green Mountain Reservoir is currently sitting at only about 20% full, meaning it's dropped 30-40 feet in certain parts of the water body. The Forest Service and Sheriff's office retrieved the ATV using kayaks and buoys, then dragged the thing to shore, as the mud and lake bed was far too soft for them to walk on or get a truck onto. Additionally, they found a snowmobile that they believe had been on the bottom of the Reservoir since the 1990s. 

But while the ATV's owner is known, and the authorities hope to return the machine to them, the snowmobile's fate is likely one for the scrapyard. I mean, the '90s were now nearly 40 years ago, depending on what part of the '90s we're talking about. 

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