Winter is taking its time this year in its slow but nonetheless certain approach on Lake Wicwas. The snow we had several weeks ago has managed to hold on even with several days of warm and rainy weather. And where the snow formed a layer of slush in the lake, it has survived the rain as well. After a couple of cool nights that fell below freezing I saw the first pioneers out exploring the ice on the lake. No surprise they were fishermen!
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| First Ice Travel of the Season |
I cut a hole through the ice and found to my surprise almost six inches of ice; two inches of frozen slush on top of almost four inches of good black ice. So where it has remained frozen it is quite safe for foot travel - just be certain you know where the line is, because at the same time there is open water farther out in the lake.
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| December 15, 2014 - Lots of open water |
That was on December 15th. Today, after a few flakes of snow this morning, the ice has filled in a bit more.
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| December 21, 2014 |
The open areas are getting smaller, but the weather forecast for the coming week indicates this may be short lived....
I took a walk through the conservation land around the beaver ponds on one of the few sunny days this week. I saw no wildlife, but had some beautiful scenes of white snow and blue skies.
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| Beaver Pond in the Hamlin-Eames-Smyth Conservation Area |
For those of you who are alpine skiers, Ragged Mountain in Danbury has opened their new high-speed quad chair lift to the summit of Spear Mountain. Four minutes to the top sure beats the old lift of 13 minutes - if it didn't stop three times on the way up!
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| New Doppelmayr High Speed Quad from the Summit of Spear Mountain |
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