Ridges

This picture is of the ridge @ NE corner of Queer Isl.-that is Pipestone Pt. in the background. There was enough room under the ridge that I could crawl through it!!! I cut the ice chunks into little bits and used fire pump to flood the area. I'm hopeful that when I go back in morning it will be solid enough to drive a vehicle over. I tried to do the same to the ridge at Allan's Reef but by the time I got set up my equipment was froze up and nothing would work. So I went visiting at Moore Bay Lodge-ice was good in Moore Bay-drove through there yard and into Andrew Bay -tried to go over the Portage at Bottle Bay but there were 5 trees in a clump over the trail and my chain saw was frozen,had to back out and travel West in Andrew Bay to Dorian Marsh to get home. Will check out the ridge in the morning and if it's froze I will attempt to freeze Allan's Reef.
I froze pine trees at both ridges to mark the safest passage--But if anyone is traveling this route I strongly suggest you do not assume it is safe to cross!!-please check for yourself,

Finally made it to Town!!

Plan was to snowmobile to Town this morning--the strong winds over the past 2 days blew all the snow off the ice and onto the shore. So I made the trip by quad!! the least amount of ice we came across was 6" this was in the areas that froze last.I left French Narrows and traveled West to 12 mile portage(only 1 pressure ridge and it was a long WET one). From 12 Mile traveled North to Strawberry Portage(2 pressure ridges here and again both had water either side) Once over Strawberry there was only 1 small ridge close to Rocky Narrows then good right into Bare Point.
The trip home took us over Strawberry Portage and headed straight for the Point of Queer Island-the pressure ridge in the picture was taken @ Allan's Reef looking West. This pressure ridge starts out @ South tip of Scotty's and travels through the Slate Islands past Allan's reef. and heads towards Pipestone Pt. There is another real bad ridge @ the Most NE tip of Queer,after that good travel all the way home.
Tomorrow I will go back and place Pine trees at the 2 bad ridges and attempt to flatten them out so they will freeze.
Quad travel is great-not enough snow for sliders yet-not enough ice for vehicles yet!!
If anyone is venturing out check the pressure ridges on both sides as ice is not very thick and is soft.
Stay away from Copper Island as this was one of the last areas I know of to freeze and will have only 1-2" ice??

Flew into Bare Point after lunch today. We have 8" of good blue ice @ our landing and ice at Bare Point is also good-just have to tighten up that stretch in between!!! I did not see any open water in my travels today.It will be a few more days before we snowmobile into Town.
The pressure ridge in middle of the picture is At Allan's reef,your looking towards Strawberry Portage.

Lack of Ice

Flew around today checking ice conditions, There is no possible way to snowmobile from French Narrows to Bare Point. There is lots of good ice between here and there BUT there is also lots of open water. A lot of this open water is were the roads normally go. The whole area around Rocky Narrows is wide open-could boat from Lunny's to Scotties. There are now pressure ridges forming between us and Queer Isl.
Was already airborne when I realized I didn't have my camera. Will get a picture next time up.

Checked ice this morning and its now 6" at our landing,can still see open water to the South of us and it extends to Crescent Isl. Parts of the Manitou are still open as well as Andrew Bay and Bigstone.
2 days ago we saw a lone wolf walk off the ice and onto East Allie(opposite the flag pole) Last night around 22:00 they were howling in our back yard.
Because there is still no snow on the ice to insulate it as it expands it makes the same sound as holding a hand saw and flexing the blade. I have also been standing on ice and you can hear the wave coming and it sounds just like a jet passing by. This is the most noise from the ice in our 6 freeze ups.

We have had these beautiful sunsets all fall,even the sunrises are colorful. If you look At the streak below the tree line-that is still open water.On a map this is the area around the Red Bouy South of French Narrows on the alternate track. Have heard that the Manitou is still open in areas ,have not heard about Bigstone Bay-she is always last to freeze. This morning we have 3" ice at our landing.With yesterdays 40km winds gusting to 60 the ice around the docks was creaking,we only have a dusting of snow in the bush and none on the ice.

Lake Froze Overnight

Took this picture standing in same spot as last one.
What was water yesterday is now a sea of "white". Temp was -13c,calm winds, made 3/8" ice overnight.This coming week has some good ice making temperatures.Last year we froze on Dec. 03rd.

Beautiful morning -8c and calm,made a trip to Bare Point for supplies. The ice in the picture was 1/4" thick,sounded like glass breaking when we drove through it. The picture was taken 08:30 am. looking North towards French Narrows.The ice was spotty like this all the way to Queer Island,then no ice till Hades-Through the Hades the ice was 3/8"thick,then clear all the way to Bare Point where the docks there had 1/4". We hit a high of +1c and on our return @ 14:00 never saw any ice till we tried to go into Moore Bay to the old Lodge for a visit,Here the ice was getting thicker the further East we traveled,The ice was 3" thick and the boat rode up on top and just sat there. Not wanting to get stuck we back tracked out and drove around through Andrew Bay and came in from the back side,no sign of ice this way.I still think we can boat into next week but just in case we brought in enough supplies till we can snowmobile out.Have not seen or heard a boat around here in over a week,also had a huge wolf walk through the yard yesterday

Laurenson Lake by the jail froze yesterday,as a rule we freeze 14 days later. Moore Bay had a skin of ice from the West entrance to the old Lodge,we had a dusting of snow to make the ice white.
Forecast is for mild temperatures mid week with 25 km winds so that should break up a lot of the ice as it is only 1/4" thick.

Fall Report

We have 1" of fresh snow on the ground,finally getting a little sun shine. The North wind is blowing and temps are dropping.Woke up to -11 and its now -14c
Lake temp on Nov. 04th was 8c. Temp on Nov.19th is 1.5c. My first guess was freeze up Dec.08th but I now think that may be too late.Moving the date forward to Dec.04th.
Yesterday I went to Town( saw a loon) in open boat-strong East wind blowing and each time the bow went down in a wave the wind caught the spray and blew it back over the boat, by the time I got to the landing the inside of the boat and me had a 1/4" coating of ice.
Monday will be 2nd last trip to town for supplies,then sometime around Dec.01 for the last trip of fresh produce etc.. Then batten down the hatches till we can snowmobile out around Dec. 15.

testing from firefox

test test test

Rick Jackson's Post

ice is gone...

one the afternoon of may 6th the ice left bigstone bay
in the morning of the 6th the ice disappeared on the east track past Bunn Island, and the first boat went by an hour later.

This morning the ice is gone South and West of here.

2011 boating season

Today we boated from French Narrows to Bare Point,on our trip into town the Hades and back side of Scotty's were plugged with ice. We had to go around Scotty's on West side(Manitou) and straight into Bare Point. We had to push through a couple hundred yards of mushy ice in Bald Indian Bay.
On our trip home the we left Bare Point and travelled through Rocky Narrows and down the back side of Scotty's(East side)There was some ice to push through but again mushy.
Anyone boating from Keewatin/Kenora/Bare Point area to there camps on the North side of the Barrier Islands should have no problem. The Main track to Tranquil is also open.
Bigstone however is still ice covered, I thought it may be gone late in day on 6th. but Terry Lunny from Scotty's Island says 50/50 chance.
We will not be boating till 8th but if we hear of any change will post it.

boat ride

Took this picture on 27th ,the Square Day marker is @ Bald Island looking West,Queer Island would be just around the corner to the right.
Yesterday afternoon we went back out in the boat and made it around our Island and all the way to Hall' Gate @ South entrance to Hades.
We had to push through some black mushy ice(6" thick and feels like a "slurpee"
Still solid ice West side of Queer Island and entrances to Andrew Bay and Moore Bay still have ice.Forecast for us this weekend is -4c and 2cm of the white stuff!!!
Good thing is the winds are supposed to be @ 30kms.Still predicting Bare Point by 6th

Picnic

Went out for a picnic yesterday, took this picture 2 miles South of Oliver Island around 11:30. The ice here is solid!!! On our way home 18:00 the sun had softened the ice and we dragged a wave behind the boat.
Today's forecast is excellent for breaking up this ice a high of 20 with South winds 20 gusting to 40
April 26th killed 1st Skitter of season and yesterday we heard the frogs.

Ice for Happy Hour

Picked up this piece of ice from Green Bouy # E25 (double left click on these picture's to enlarge).This ice is easy to drive through and great for cleaning bottom of boat-when I put her back on lift and checked bottom it was shiny.
As a rule when we can boat to this point its about another week to Bare Point. Heard first Loon calling April 25th.

Ice Update

This Eagle had a snack and the crow wanted some of it,the crow dive bombed the Eagle for 20 minutes before tiring and moving on.

Slow but steady thaw this spring,overnight low was +2c and we still had a skin of ice at shoreline.Has been a very quiet week here,most of the early arriving birds have moved on,Still have not seen or heard the Loon,Robin or Cormorant's. The only new sighting was the beaver swimming across on 21st.
Have not had a chance to play with ice boat yet(busy renovating) But standing on shoreline looking out the ice is black and rotten looking. We still cannot paddle around the Island and Ice close to shore would not support my weight.
Thinking we should hit Bare Point May 06th at latest.Supplies are holding out, ran out of fresh milk this week and rationing the oranges to one a day. The lake level has risen 4" this past week and with today's West wind of 20 gusting to 40 and 30% chance of rain this should all help in busting up this ice.

Set Back in Ice Conditions

This time last year it was +17c and we were boating. This morning its -3c and we woke to 2" fresh snow on the ground with 10cm in forecast for today.
Also with last weeks cooler temps we made over 1" new ice around the docks,and the mushy spots on road have also tightened up, back to having quad on the ice. As for the area that has opened up between our Island and East Allie we can now canoe across--in the past when this happens its 2 weeks and we can boat to town.It will have to warm up fast for that to happen this year,lots of minus temps in long range.
On the 12th saw return of Merganzers,13th Mallards and yesterday the Pelicans.
Last year the lake was very low on this date-yesterday I measured and we are sitting 7 3/4" higher than last year.

Ice

A few more sightings this week: April 09--Grackles,Aprill 11 th saw the return of butterflys,Black flys,Bumble Bee, and Turkey Vulchers.
The ice on our road has "candled"--long clear fingers of ice,Great for cooling down your favorite beverage but you need to use a tall glass as you could poke out an eye using a stubby one.
This area of the ice road is the same spot that I measure ice in the fall before venturing out.Yesterday I took a 2x2 and in 3 stikes could break through-it was only a couple weeks back there was 24" ice there.There were 2 of us walking on the ice road and you could hear and feel it moving up and down.
Couple more days like yesterday(high 13c,sunny,breezy) and we can launch a canoe and paddle to East Allie Island.
The average amount of Geese this time of year at the open water of the Narrows is around 30-50, this year there are more than 200. Lots of noise when they all take flight.

Spring Thaw

This picture is of our ice road just South of French Narrows looking North towards the Portage.We have taken our vehicles off the ice and travelling by Quad.Fisherman are still driving trucks around Bare Point and Strawberry Portage. There is nothing new to report so here are the dates we have noticed the return of some birds:
March 11th---Our resident Eagle,--saw one in February around Rocky Narrows.
March 15th--- Geese
March 18th--- Raccoons
March 22nd---Crows
March 24th--- Seagulls
March 26th--- Ant climbing up the wall.
April 01st--- European Starling
April 04 th-- Golden Eye Ducks.

Ice Roads

To Town by truck this morning,The boys have been busy plowing and have done a great job to date. Roads are wider than years past-- The Portages are passable and some of the driveways are even plowed out.The snowmobile clubs have trails marked and signs posted.Have heard the fishing has been good-lots of shacks set up.Remember to check ice when venturing off the beaten path and check it often!!