Due to snow and blowing snow the roads have become narrow,Bob will be widening the main routes in next couple days. Happy New Year and travel safe.

Ice roads are open

Rec'd this e-mail from Derrick Cooke who has taken over the responsibility of the ice road in our area. The ice road is confirmed by Bob Boucha. It travels all th regular areas extending to French Narrows and Moore bay. There is 9" of ice or better found during testing, however as always use caution on the road and use it at your own risk. The road is paid by you and starts at Galt Is. And extends to or by your cottage. The driveways will be put in next once the main road is widened. To those of you that have paid thank you for your support and encourage those who use the road. To also help pay in the maintaining of this unique situation we call our road.

Roads

Heard they are going to start plowing roads on Monday

This picture was taken Nov 30 from the sandy beach on Bare Point looking South towards Lunny,s Island. The ice varies from 2" to 3"

They are driving snowmobiles on ice in Welcome channel,and Manitou is now froze

Rec,d word from Moore Bay Lodge they have 5" ice at their boathouse. They can still see open water to the West towards Manitou and also open water on there backside to the East in Andrew Bay

Rec'd word that Malachi Lake froze,past years we freeze 5-7 days later

Rec,d work that Laurenson Lake froze yesterday,in past years we freeze 2weeks after this

Rick advises, that Bigstone Bay is clear!

He drove around to Bare Point and up to Northern Harbour today  and no ice  was to be seen.

START YOUR ENGINES!!!!

See you on the lake...

Thanks,

Northern Harbour

Good Morning Everyone,

 

Well the day has finally arrived, the ice is out to the end of the bay, but not on the big lake (fyi: this usually takes about 3 more days...)

Drove boat around Middle Island, got a 1/2 mile north towards Lunney Island.

There is ice towards the south of us,  most is broken up.  There is open water for over a mile and were pretty sure its the same towards the Elbow.

There was a bit of ice present heading into Moore Bay yesterday, but on my way out later in the day it was gone. 

Andrew Bay is open, but not navigable from town.

Day marker by Scotties Island is open, but the North tip of Scotties you cant get around.

Bigstone Bay - the ice is getting whiter, but still sticking around.  With the winds we are experiencing today, it could change by weeks end.  Stay tuned.

We have heard that the bridge to Coney Island is coming out tonight.

Just an update to say that the ice is still in the bay...

We will keep you posted...

 

Northern Harbour

Went for a boat ride Sunday.  Pushing lots of ice by Queer .  The old ice road was hard to get thru.
Headed to the Haydes, got as far as the red buoy in the middle of the Haydes.  Went to Moore Bay and had coffee. 

Forecast is for wind and heat this week.  Heading into town later this week.
Hoping for a ice free wknd coming up. Will advise if any changes.

Rick and Deb

Hi from Rick and Debbie


Got in the boat , made it to the green buoy's by Queer Island.
Lots of white ice, but i spotted a crack in the ice and followed it towards Moore Bay.
Got concerned as the wind was shifting and I may have had to spend the night in the boat in the middle of the lake, so i headed home.  Will attempt this run again on Mothers Day - Sunday.

Heard from a friend on Laurenson Lake that it was clear of ice.  Usually that means within 5-7 days that the Lake of the Woods is clear of ice.  Still planning to follow thru with my prediction of making it to Bare Point by the 15th of May.

Further updates will be made available - keep checking the blog - and again notations and commentary are appreciated by all who visit this site.

Rick is predicting from the way the ice is melting on laurenson lake that its maybe more than a good possiblity of boating action this long wknd coming up; but its still just a guess.

looking to getting up in the skies,  for a better look of the lake  via the plane ...

further updates will be forthcoming ...so everyone please stay tuned and your contributions and comments  on the blog are appreciated....

Hi ,,, Rick called and left a short message
Got the boat from our place as far as 100' short of the red and green buoys in the French narrows
Black ice (6" thick) in the bays ,,, but white ice (8 to 10" thick) in the horizon as far as the eyes can see
Will try tomorrow and get though the narrows ,,,
And than maybe go up for a quick fly around ,,, will call again ,,,
pt for Rick
 

from
Ric and Debbie
Can you post on the blog for them a notice that due to technical problems beyond their control ( computer is down) they are unable to keep the blog current regarding lake conditions at the moment-

but will try and up date shortly ,,, thanks everyone

Past 2 days have seen a drastic change in ice conditions! Sunny ,22c today same for tomorrow. Last 2 mornings the open water skinned over and melted by noon both days.Yesterday morning I was walking on solid ice,At 17:30 I was out there again to measure ice and my right leg went through up to my knee. That,s it for us on the ice! I am back on track for boating May 15th. Today we heard the Loons calling,and saw 1st Skitter. I launch my tin boat this afternoon and tomorrow will see how far we can get. This picture is looking North towards Narrows, ice boat broke it and I think I may be able to get that far in tin boat,will post again then.

Took this picture 12:30 on May 04,single left click on picture to enlarge. Look close down the hole and you can see the ice is candled. We are not getting the sun/heat as forecasted it is a cool 8c today with North breeze. At least the minus temps are behind us with no new ice forming last night.The only visual difference in past week is a little more open water along shoreline.I have suggested to our kids to think about making alternate plans for longweekend!? I would be very surprised to boat in on my first prediction of May 15th. Once Laurenson Lake opens we can boat to BarePoint a week later.Will advise when this happens. Yesterday we saw a Robin on path,pair Pelicans flying North and @ 22:00 the Wolves were very vocal towards French Narrows,this is the first time we have heard them for a long time.

Hit publish before I attatched photo!! This is the ice between us and East Allie Island

Looked back in the diaries and when the ice in this picture is gone between us and East Allie that we could canoe across it averages 22 days later we can boat to town.This usually happens Early to mid April. With the minus temps. the last 3 nights in a row this open water has skinned over with ice and does not melt till late afternoon,when it did open yesterday it was full of Golden Eye ducks and seagulls.Tonight is our last minus temp and if we get the heat as forecasted will really speed up this process. We have not heard the Loon's calling yet but friends in Tranquil channel said they are back,lots of open water down that way.Another friend who has been travelling from Mud Portage Area to Moore Bay reports that the ice is getting bad in that area and can only travel by ice boat.

After the 5/8" rain the sun came out and I was going to go flying and get that picture of the Hades(remind me next year).There is too much water between dollie and good ice-end of ski flying for this season.Yesterday working on the ice boat I was running back and forth with quad,holes were starting to appear and you could see ice sinking under the weight.Will now have to lay down a plank to get out to her!The only new arrival is some Pelicans around the Hospital-have not seen any down this way.

Since the last post our landing has gone from froze solid to huge holes!!Yesterday I had Sidekick truck on ice and by quiting time today I have to be careful with quad.At this rate I will be building a bridge to get out onto ice. Today saw the return of Cormorants,Grackles,Butterflys and a huge bumble bee.I'm hopeing to fly on skis one more time(actually several)before switching to floats,I did not have a fresh picture for this post so if anyone has a suggestion for next picture of Island or location leave a comment and I will give it my best shot? On 23rd I flew over Keewatin Channel on my way to Malachi. There was only a couple hundred yards of ice around the Yacht Club then you could boat from Keewatin Bridge all the way to The Tangle.Put snowmobiles away today and working on getting ice boat operational. I will not travel to Town by Quad/snowmobile anymore.

Looking out across the lake you would think its still January. However we did lose a lot of snow last 2 days,sunny and South breeze.Only new arrival is 1 lone Snow Goose on 24th. This picture is Queer Island across bottom of picture looking North towards Strawberry Portage. Hopefully the next picture I post has some more open water in it.My guess is boat to BarePoint on May 15th.

Nothing new happening as melt has stalled.Went to town by quad morning of 20th. It was -11c crispy,quad road on top of snow barely leaving a mark. On ride home @ noon it had warmed to +2 and I was breaking through crust but still easy going. This picture is French Narrows looking North,not a lot of open water and it flashed over with the -11 ,was still froze when I went for a walk @16:30 and about 50 Geese were returning,some did a little wiggle landing on slippery ice. There is a 10" drain hole on edge of road to East of this picture and the South side of the Little Portage here is now opening up,several drain holes in road on North side. The Elbow and Shammis Narrows are both a little more open than here,Lots of open water in Tranquil Channel.No new arrivals to report. If you double left click on picture you can see Bouys.

We use Laurenson Lake as a guide down here. When we hear it freezes over in fall we usually freeze up a week later and same goes for Spring(if it ever arrives)When Lake opens we can usually get to Town a week later. I went to BarePoint by quad yesterday-mistake should have gone by sled. You have to stick to roads with quad as too much water/slush beside road.I crossed Strawberry Portage on snowmobile tail and trying to get back onto ice road got stuck in snowbank,8" water and snow up to my knees and no shovel! Took over an hour to go the 3 feet through bank using only my hands to clear slush. The stretch from Rocky Narrows to BarePoint was almost as bad,had to back out a few times and take alternate trail. The only sign of open water down this way is from the tip of French Narrows you could now canoe over to East Allie,the open water is only 100' wide and home to about 100 plus Geese,small flock of Golden Eye ducks and seagulls.Spotted first Turkey Vulcher on 16th.

We started keeping records in 1986 but they were a little vague back then! In 1991 Debbie started buying me the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Calendar. For obvious reasons I started keeping better records. So to answer your question we think the latest Spring was 1990.We could boat from Keewatin to South end of Scotties Island,South of this area all the way to Queer Island was solid ice on May 05.We tried Manitou and it was solid ice as well,boating down to French Narrows a week later. Here are a few years/dates we made it to Bare Point from French Narrows.April 16/2006,May 04/2007,May 09/2008,May 06/2009,April 14/2010,May 04/2011,And last year was earliest on April 10. We will be making another quad trip to town this week for fresh produce.We rec'd 1.5" snow by noon today and its been snowing all afternoon but melting on impact.

Not much happening in the way of melting! We went for a visit to Moore Bay on Friday by quad,Had to stick to ice roads as there is too much snow/slush to go cross country. On our return home coming into Dorian Marsh there were 20 plus Bald Eagles that took flight-very impresive to see that many soaring. There is a little more open water @ the Narrows and approximatly 50 Geese hanging out there. Fisherman are still driving trucks over 12 Mile but with season closing today I think truck travel will stop as well.Next weeks forecast does nothing for our melt with 10-20 cm forecasted and we do not reach double digets for a high till 26 th. The ice is honeycombed on our road South side of Island where it is sheltered,everywhere else still blue.Don't rush getting boats ready as I don't think you will need them till end of 2nd week May at earliest.

Took truck off the ice yesterday,roads are still in good shape.This is the first time we have taken vehicles off without running through a foot of water and rutted Portages! On the return trip from BarePoint I left the ice road on quad and tried to take a short cut,Broke through the crust of snow and the slush was too deep had to return to road.Woke up to a dusting of snow this morning.Still no sign of open water down here, Seagulls are back around Safeway.

I wasn't going to start posting until we took the vehicles off the ice,car is coming off on April 2nd and truck will follow later in week.The ice roads are still in good shape but landings are rutted and wet.Will travel with quad. On March 29th saw our first goose,crows have been back for a while. The lake temp. has gone from +1c to +3c always amazing with 2' ice and snow cover.I don't think we will be boating till end of 1st week in May or even into 2nd week?