Today out on the lake I had 15 3/4 inches on the thinner ice. In the bay I had 15 inches. Adrian’s road is open with no restrictions. Cracks will still develope on the trail and condtions can change so everyone still pay attention and be careful. The road is marked out to about 3 miles past pine island.
Well it did not work out to open the road on the 29th. I will not make another prediction as I have failed two times already. Maybe I will become a weather man as you never have to be right. Today out on the lake I had 13 1/4 inches on the thinner ice. The marked of spots that opened on Dec 7th was 9 1/2 inches. In the bay I had 12 1/4 inches on the thinner ice around the trail. We are still allowing any vehicles smaller than full size vehicles not pulling wheel houses. Wheel houses can be pulled out behind 4-wheelers or other atvs. There is a crack that shifted this afternoon out in the deeper water( out by the deepest houses ) so watch where you drive as conditions can change at any time. For those of you who think you know more than me it is not you that has to move the trail when it cracks up and try to keep everyone on top the ice. There is still a local guy pulling wheel houses out and back for $50 one way or $100 round trip. You can call me at 218-434-0200 and I can set you up with him. I will let you know if anything changes.
Out on the lake today I had 12 1/4 inches on the thinner ice. The areas that are staked off that opened on Dec 7th had 8 1/2 inches. The thinner ice in the bay was at 12 inches today. I am sorry to say we are not going to open the road to full size pickups yet. We are allowing vehicles smaller than full size to go out [such as cars, trail blazers, explorers ect.] not pulling wheel houses. We are allowing wheel houses to be pulled out behind 4 wheelers and bigger atvs. Please do not drive full size vehicles out until we fully open the road. some resorts may have to drive a full size vehicle out for business reasons. If you are parking on the ice to unload and see a full size vehicle drive out does not mean you can drive out. We do not want the trail to crack up. Please respect this so we dont have to ruin it for everybody. Our plan for opening the road to full size vehicles is Thursday Dec 29th if all goes well. For everyone wondering if they can get a wheel house pulled out, we will be too busy hauling people to our fish houses but I have a local guy who say he will pull houses out and back in this week. He will be charging $100 to pull a house out and back in. If you are interested in this you can call 218-434-0200 and I will set you up with him. Merry Chistmas and everyone be carefull out on the ice.
For those of you that are buying shiners from us we thank you. We ask that if you use our buckets instead your own that you please return them. We understand that some of these break and that is ok. If you could please return the buckets we loan to you and the ones stacking up in your garages we will be able to continue to provide you with this service. Thank you
Today out on the lake I had 11 inches. The spots that are marked off that opened on Dec 7th had a little over 6 inches. Yesterday there were some pressure ridges that formed out on the lake. We do not have to cross any of these on our trail but I know there are some bad ones down by the pine tree on pine island and also out in front of the light house gap. Be careful if you are going to try to cross these cracks. We are hoping to open the road on the 25th but we will have to see what the next few days brings us.
Today out on the lake I had 9 1/2 inches of ice. The bay has a little bit more with 10 1/2 to 11 inches. Back on Dec 7th the wind piled up some 6 inch ice and left us with scattered spots of open water. The bad spots on the lake by us are marked. There are spots out further and around the lake that are thin ice or still open. Everybody be careful out on the lake. Remember just because somebody says there is a foot of ice out there does not mean they know anything. The lake is not ready for vehicle traffic!
I checked the ice over pine island at 4:30 pm today. The spots that froze last had 5 1/4 inches of ice. Things are looking good. A small pressure crack developed in the bay today but it should not be to big of a problem. We marked a trail across 4 mile bay and over pine island. Some people are going to start fishing out in the lake tomorrow. Everybody be careful it is still early.
I took a snowmobile out over pine island and out to 12 1/2 feet. At that depth was some smooth ice that was open yesterday. That smooth ice had 2 inches of ice. I will check that thin ice again tomorrow and let you know what it made over night. I did not see any open water.
We worked on cutting down the snow humps on the north side of pine island today. By the end of the day the north wind brought the ice back and we could not see any open water. We have to wait and see if it will hold.
I went to Pine Island again today. The Ice did not hold the south wind pushed the ice out. Lots of open water. I will keep you up to date.