Shut Out! Again...

It was a glorious, sunny day. We took the dogs for a walk up on the hills where we'd skied recently. Warm weather and rain earlier in the week had put an end to the snow. In the afternoon I headed down to the lake for a paddle, confident the same weather which had so quickly nixed the snow had also got rid of the ice. It was not to be.

I paddled out onto the lake and before long was up against the ice barrier again. This time it was razor thin skim ice. I could break it easily with my paddle, which I did for a ways. In the end it was too slow going and again I feared for my gelcoat. At one point I considered doing a wet-exit and swimming the boat through the ice. It was that easy to break. Then it occurred to me that all the strollers and dog-walkers would see me out in the icy water, floundering about and I'd have the rescue people out for no good reason. My drysuit might get a few cuts in it as well...

I headed back to the river, swollen with melt water and full of ducks. I tried to get some pictures of this pair of Hooded Mergansers swimming with some mallards, but they were very skittish and only distant shots were possible. I headed home. Thursday looks like the next good day. Sunny and mild is the forecast...