Winter Mode

 This picture is from Greg Smith on SE tip Queer island yesterday morning.

Fall update

 From the Crest in August till Nov 01 the lake had dropped 53”, would be nice if it drop another 6” before freezing. The bridge to Coney Island goes in today, last years high water/ wind/ice damaged the old bridge so this is a brand new one, expecting to take couple days to install.

There is ice at French Portage, the “S” turn in Welcome Channel and Laurenson Lake is 90% ice covered.We normally freeze 7-10 days after Laurenson freezes over. The Christmas Tree at the intersection of 2 nd and Main goes up next week. So with white stuff on ground we are well into winter Mode

Lake is open

 Heard a couple boats have made it from Town to their camps on south side of Hay Island and West end Moore Bay. I made it from here to Hay other day so I guess safe to say lake is opening, I can still see ice towards Crescent and the East wind has switched to South and that ice is coming our way. Only a 100 yard strip ice to East otherwise water as far as you can see. This morning I heard from People around branch road 6 on storm Bay saying could still see ice towards Eagles Pass. And report from North tip Scotty’s was open to Town but not sure if you could get into Barepoint? If  wind stays up till dusk all ice will be gone for sure. Use caution as there is lots floating debris, this will be last post till we start freeze up.

Update on Thaw

 Laurenson Lake in Town is ice free as of yesterday, when that happens we are still 3-10 days before I can boat to Barepoint. After lunch I went for a boat ride and was disappointed that I couldn’t get as far as I thought. I had expected to make Cat Island but could not get past Railroad island  to North, Moore Bay still shore to shore ice with ice measuring 8.5” thick there and I could have walked the ice road! could not get around North side Queer island but could navigate the boat channel around South side. The ice on stretch Allan’s Reef is white/solid. Cannot navigate the South side of Barrier Islands and ice as far as you can see looking towards Yellowgirl .  In my travels I came across 2 floating docks the nicest one was up on rocks small island West Kelly’s Boot so I started towing it to nearest dock to secure, that’s when I noticed it was a Docks and Lifts floater and they write the customers name on end steel , I recognize the name and towed it to their place on Pipestone, the other one I tied to a dock on Queer. There is a lot debris floating around. Today I can walk out on my dock wearing shoes but at rate it’s coming up will need rubber boots tomorrow ? I’ve cancelled my Winnipeg trip for tomorrow and going back to my first prediction of reaching Barepoint May 17.

Spring Thaw 2022

 There has been nothing new to report till yesterday, we can now canoe across to East Allie without touching ice. When this happens we can boat to Barepoint anywhere from 7-19 days. This year is very similar to 2014, late,wet ,water rose 7” on top ice that year, yesterday we have 23” water on top ice at shoreline and rising. Snow has all but melted on our South paths around island but snow still too deep on North paths that cannot drive quad around. Long range has rain/cloud and warmest day is only 15c..What we need now is strong gusty winds to start moving ice on surface, the strong currents will be wearing it away from below. While working around boathouse yesterday a small hole appeared in ice and within hours was wide open. Im predicting to reach Barepoint May 17 , I will post progress as we get closer to that date.