Not much has changed in the way of ice making with these mild temperatures.There is now 2.5" of snow on the ice.Reports of 8 to 10" ice in Welcome Channel area,even Kaputsky Island has good ice so when the boys start plowing through Holmstrom's Marsh should be okay.Only 4" ice in Clearwater Bay area as well as Rocky Narrows. We are over 8" French Narrows.We have a lone grey wolf with white boots prowling around our Island,he has set off the motion lights several times.I keep moving the game camera to catch a glimpse of him but its like he knows its there and keeps avoiding it?The long range is promising sun and cooler nights to help build up our ice.If that's the case then the boys will probably start plowing around New Years. This will be our last posting for a while as we are heading to Arizona on 23rd-so the only ice I will be worried about is to keep my beer chilled!Hopefully as you come out to your camps you could leave a comment on conditions so others can be kept informed?Stay to the trails and if not check ice thickness often!

Dec.13th we traveled from our Island to BarePoint by snowmobile.From our place traveling North to Strawberry Portage there are 1/2 dozen pressure ridges ranging from little bumps to 18" high. On North side of Strawberry to BarePoint there are no ridges. Still only 1" snow on ice,more in forecast this weekend.Saw a truck on ice in Matheson Bay,and a friend used his truck to plow a road from his house in Welcome Channel to 10 Mile Island.Still a little early for trucks!

It was a beautiful day out here today,sunny,-19c,light N breeze. We went by snowmobile to visit friends @ Moore Bay Lodge. There are 6 pressure ridges to navigate around between our place and there's,following the same route the ice roads would take. We were only gone 2.5 hrs and in that time wolves took down a deer at French Narrows Portage.Talked with Lunny's last night and they were going to walk out to Scotties Island from BarePoint today,the least amount of ice they found was 3.5". Our supplies (beer/rum)are holding strong still no need to head to town.Its 3 weeks today since we were last in town by boat.This freeze up seemed to drag on this year,blaming the lack of sun shine? If anyone reading this is planning on going to there camps soon please check your ice conditions on your route,As of yesterday I found 9" to be thickest and 3" @ least.

Yesterday I ventured to the narrows by quad,from our Island I crossed channel to East Allie and followed the shoreline around the point. Have to keep at least 2 tires on shore as there are open patches and ice is thin.When the Red and Green Bouys froze in they were on a 45 degree angle from the North wind,last mild spell they opened up and are now floating. I have seen snowmobile tracks through this area but I would never travel there! The rest of the area freezes early because we are sheltered and shallow. It also stays open in front of the old Lodge till later in season.Last night 22:00 we had freezing rain again! Everything coated in ice again.Rec,d a report from BarePoint area and sounds like more open water than ice!

Sun was out for a few hours today,first time in a long time. The 6" block of ice I cut from North side of Island-it froze up Nov 24th. The 4.25" block was from South side of Island-this area froze Nov 28th.A friend from Welcome Channel area called this morning to say the Manitou froze overnight-he could not see any open water! Bigstone is still open water.Hard to tell but could still be open around Bunn Island. There is no snow on the ice,The rain over the weekend melted the little bit we had,since then we have had a dusting but winds have blown this to shorelines.

Well here we are on Dec.03 with a temp. of plus 5c !! Its raining,all snow has melted off the ice and grass is showing. On Nov 24th the North side of Island froze we have 4.5" ice. On Nov.29th The South side froze and we now have 3" there.Reports that Manitou and Bigstone are still open. In fact we heard you could launch a boat at Bare Point Marina,only ice is around the docks!!Also had a picture sent to us showing open water between Bare Point and Lunny,s Island.I had expected to make a trip to town this week but with all these mild temps will be lucky if its next week!Have not seen the sun since Nov.21 and not much in the way of wind power.