February 9, 2014

Fresh snow at Lake Wicwas, and another beautiful winter weekend.  Snow fell on Wednesday, and cold temperatures kept things absolutely pristine right through today.  It was chilly, with lows down below zero over night, but lots of people were out enjoying winter activities in the bright sunshine.  With the Meredith Fishing Derby taking place this weekend, there was more traffic - and I mean traffic - on Lake Wicwas than I have ever seen.  There was a regular highway running down the middle of the lake.

I took a ski trip in the Hamlin-Eames-Smyth conservation area and the conditions were fabulous.  I saw quite a few snow shoe tracks through the area, and some wildlife activity:  mink, weasel, fox, and mice.  The mountains were beautiful and the sky was cobalt-blue.

White Mountains from the Red Trail

Arbutus Hill

There was of course plenty of activity at the Fishing Derby headquarters on Meredith Bay, where the population was identified as 43.

On the ice was the usual eclectic assortment of bob houses, from the high tech space-age moon habitat

to the rustic back-country

to the, well, I'm not sure how to categorize this one.

 There were even patriotic people fishing the old fashioned way.

There were snow machines everywhere, including a new one for me

Hovercraft

Powered by a Big Block Chevy V-8

It was quite the active scene, fun to explore and watch

but still nice to come back to the peace and quite of Wicwas.