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.