Sitting on the boat dock in the middle of the
afternoon, I noticed a small crack in the ice. It ran 50 feet
out into the ice sheet, two inches wide. Then it closed. Slowly
it opened again. The ice was beginning to move - ever so
slightly.
There was a lot of water along the far shore.
Once this crack worked its way through to that water, the whole
ice sheet would move, and I could go canoeing!
As I watched the very slow movement of ice, I
thought, "I could get the Grumman out, and push that crack
open." Ah, but that would be cheating.
Turns out I didn't have to wait very
long.
Partway along the crack a few little chunks
of ice came loose. They jammed in the crack, preventing it from
closing again. The day was hot and windy. The wind pushed as
best it could on the surface of the ice, but it held
tight.
After about half an hour, the crack opened
some more. It was four inches wide, and a few minutes later,
six. Once it reached eight inches wide, the
whole flow began to drift. The wind won this
small battle.
I could launch the canoe! As soon as the wind
died down…
By 7 pm, I decided the wind had calmed enough
to go. Ahhhh, to be floating again. Nice to think I walked on
the ice one day, and canoed the next. I was able to paddle all
around the island, and halfway out the bay.
The beavers were having a fine spring evening
as well. Three of them met me at the shore by the where a big
chunk of ice had broken off and drifted to shore, effectively
blocking my path of open water.
Some of the ice had turned to 'candle ice',
which was easy to paddle right through. Some of the chunks were
of the "honeycomb ice" variety, and rubbed hard against the
canoe.
Then I paddled freely along the shore for
another quarter mile. Alas, I came to the end of the open
water.
I pulled the canoe onshore, and walked up to
the winter trail we use for snowshoeing. The deep pine duff
underfoot felt softer than I ever remember it being. I walked
for 20 minutes, then stopped in the middle of one of my
favourite red pine groves.
The sun lowering in the western sky,
reflecting in the few wet areas that remained on the main body
of the lake ice…quiet beauty.
How much longer could the ice hold out? My
records tell me it has been as long as 10 days, and a few as
three. This year? I think it will be set free
by Monday.
