The Day the Ice Disappeared

We watched all the ice piling up as the wind blew it to our

shore - it hit peaks of 10 - 15 feet high before spilling over

to make new piles.

Ryan & Makenzie wanted to climb on the ice,
but settled for pics in front of the piles. : )

Last spring (2010) we were up at the lake on THE day that the ice "went out" or disappeared. It is one of the most amazing things to watch & listen to - there is this constant breaking glass clinking noise because the ice crystalizes into these long shards of ice all connected on the top  bottom, but with space between them.

All it takes is a little wind, and the ice starts actually blowing across the top of the lake (very slowly) and when it hits shore, it all piles up & breaks into the ice cyrstals. And it all happened in a day that it disappeared! The ice was probably 10 - 15 feet tall and it went out into the lake in a mound for probably 50 - 75 yards, and then throughout that day, the waves chewed away the ice mounds and it all just disappeared.... it was so cool!!

When we talked to the neighbor, they told us the ice was completely gone by 6 that night, with just the crystals floating near the shore, melting.  Where does it all go so fast? I think it melts very quickly, since the water is warmer (obviously) than the ice, but it is simply breathtaking to experience!  One more reason to live on a lake if you can, I guess...

And then we could hear the music of the waves on the shore again.  One of my favorite sounds... I hope to see the ice go out every year when we go up in April, but I've only been so lucky one & 1/2 times - the 1/2 was when it disappeared way out on the lake & on a different shore, but I didn't actually finish seeing it go out - it did it in the night, so there were waves in the morning! And just the day before, we were wading in the cracks in the ice wearing Dad's waders... I think we were crazy - what if the ice would have shifted?!?  But kids are dumb & fearless, so we did it anyway. :)  I think spring is simply awesome...

Looking out from the neighbor's boathouse roof - it was
an incredible sight, with ice going out in rows at least 1/2
a football field in length and anywhere from 2 - 10 feet high!

At about 3 or 4 pm on the same day, all those piles had
disappeared, washed away by the waves... it was incredible!
We had to leave before that last bit was gone, but it was
completely gone by 6 pm that night, from what we heard.