Ice and Snow

About all of that ice in front of Diamond Willow cabin yesterday? Gone. The wind switched and took it all somewhere. Either that or it melted. When I went over this morning, only the thicker shelf of ice nearer to shore remained. This is really quite a process. I was thinking about how the water tends to almost look thicker as the ice-up draws near. Even though the viscosity doesn't change, it almost looks like it does. Yesterday it was displaying that. Today it is as wild and free and full of waves as ever.

As we walked past the beach to go eat lunch yesterday, the ice there was quite interesting. It was rather like folds. Greg stepped out on to it to explore it. For several days, we had seen the ice forming, but it did not have the rippled and folded texture to it. Since he was on his way to the boathouse to check on something stored there, he decided to continue along the shore on the new ice.

See that darker grey part towards the middle right of the photo? That ice is not as strong. Ask Greg how he found that out. He knew that it might be a little soft, and he could feel it as his boot went through. He also knew that the water was only about one foot deep in that spot. Now we know that the little bit of ice is still on the thin side, but we likely could have guessed that one.

It is snowing today, and so far we have collected about three inches or so. I'd say that we are getting close to the point when we will be able to start grooming the trails for skiing. Early snow makes a perfect base for skiing all winter long. Time to pull out the skis, boots and poles and hit the trails.