|
|
 |
|
|
|
Ice Reports
| submitted on January 4, 2009 10:31 AM EST |
| Reports/Comments |
pleasant lake/parker pond Casco ME. sailed sat. 1/3 6"+ lumpy with smooth areas launched from north end of lake at state boat
ramp.lake is sailable. |
|
| submitted on December 5, 2008 9:00 AM EST |
| Reports/Comments |
The ice has been icing. The spies have been spying. We think there may be some joy on Plymouth Pond Saturday Morning--but
it's a guess and a gosh. Spy MacDonald could almost walk on the ice before the long thaw. Unreliable spies at Plymouth reported
open water. Then Spy Buccholz sent a picture of almost walkable white, not black, ice yesterday. Last night was high 20's
temp. But Saturday morning is a lovely 18 degrees, sooo....
So the utter ice hounds, choked this warm 10 days by their restraining chains, will break free with full gear to Plymouth
Saturday morning. We may be able to update this later in the day, if spy MacDonald should venture that way.
Otherwise, some of us will roll the dice, mainline some Advil, and SHOW UP!
the ex-treas
|
|
| submitted on November 29, 2008 5:36 PM EST |
| Reports/Comments |
We skated, skimbatted--Lloyd even iceboated--our hearts out in the magic of pre-thanksgiving ice on Tolman Pond. Even got
our pix on the front page of the local paper. Four straight days, we wore ourselves out, muscles tired at each day's
end, and headed home hoping for a sequel. Then finally, it began raining, blew a full gale, and a massive thaw set in |
|
| submitted on November 29, 2008 5:36 PM EST |
| Reports/Comments |
The next morning I rushed down to the pond with full gear and looked out at the mess. I waded across the watery edge and
bashed my axe thru one measley inch of ice. Gosh, rain really thins down good ice! The plate was littered with brush from
the storm and puddles from the rain. I sat there emitting sighs and groans. Why had I not used this ice more? I could
have had ice parties, bonfires, skated by the moon, camped on the shore. All those hours of ice, and I had only used a
tiny fraction of them. What blindness, to take such a gift for granted! Ahhh ...... the Higher Power giveth, and she taketh
away....
So now the stage is set for sweet Plymouth Pond. Tomorrow I will call the convenience store there, whose cashier can
usually summon the intelligence to declare if the pond is at least frozen or not. Then, if it is, perhaps the cold nights
later in the week will work their thickening magic. Often we've come to Plymouth with full gear to find only the margin thick
enough. Other times we've come without gear to find the pond is bulletproof ice, and gone home royally cursing whoever suggested
coming without gear. It's just over an hour from here, due north, and you come over the final ridge on Rt. 7, and feel
an additional chill in the climate. The road is now frozen, perhaps, and all hands excitedly scrutinize Plymouth, as it comes
into view on the right.
The best plan to to spy frequently, and not let that tiny window of snow-free ice come and go without notice. We've
never had much more than about three days of good ice there; but they are days well loved and remembered.
Stay tuned......the ex-treas.
|
|
| submitted on November 22, 2008 10:26 AM EST |
| Reports/Comments |
Saturday Nov 21, 2008
We have skating ice on Tolman Pond (on Rte 90 just South of Rte 90/17 intersection. There is 1 3/4 - 2 inches of tough black
ice this AM. Should all be 2+ inches Sunday AM. Tolman is just big enough for Skimbatteurs. We also skated on How Hill Swamp,
a beaver pond in the woods, with still some open water. Ice similar to Tolman. Neat skating in very cold NW wind and blowing
snow flurries slaloming around the grass clumps and stumps. The beaver are in residence in a large mound in the middle of
the pond. This is made of saplings and mud with a central vent down through the saplings. Frost around the inside of the vent
testifying to live beavers slumbering within, neat.
As always we report what we find without guarantees stated or implied, go on the ice at your own risk. Ice picks mandatory
for your peace of mind.
This ice is very hard and in the cold it is dynamic and often "zips" as you skate on it. Jumping up and down on the 1 3/4
ice makes nice big white stars. You have to get used to this stuff and skating on it is only sensible (?) when it is cold,
not a sunny afternoon in the 30's or 40's.
Iceman
|
|
| submitted on November 16, 2008 10:15 PM EST |
| Reports/Comments |
sunday, Nov 16: forcast for a string of nights in the low 20's and teens! I'm going to check to see what's happening in
northern maine and vermont. |
|
| submitted on November 16, 2008 10:10 AM EST |
| Reports/Comments |
First Ice prospects; Very warm weather here on Chicky in Mid Nov suggest first ice nay be a bit late. The water is still in
low fifties after a dip into high 40's about 2 weeks ago. Iceman |
|
| submitted on October 20, 2008 10:22 AM EST |
| Reports/Comments |
ICE FORECAST 10/20/08
Deep frost on shores of Chickawaukee this AM. Look for ice first weekend Dec. on Plymouth Pond. Stay tuned.
|
|
| submitted on December 9, 2007 4:44 PM EST |
| Reports/Comments |
megunticook ice. at boat launch ramp on RT 52, 3" of ice covered by 1/2" snow and wetted snow.
at Cam Lewis' sauna, 4" of ice covered by bonded snow. We need some sort of 'precipitation event' to transform things.
jory |
|
| submitted on December 7, 2007 7:15 PM EST |
| Reports/Comments |
Dear Fellow Icelovers,
It seemed important to follow up on the marginally thick ice reported yesterday, so Lloyd and I loaded the axes and skates
and headed to Lake St. George State Park on Rt.3 between Belfast and Augusta.
Sure enough, yesterday's 1.5" thick ice had become 2" in the -5 degree evening temps and we merrily skated around the northern
bay which borders the State Park. We never found anything less than 2", with only a dusting of snow on the top.
Then on to Unity Pond. We first went to the western side I had skated on Thursday, where the access is off of "Prairie Rd".
There the 3" shore ice had grown to 4" and the offshore ice had grown from 2" to 3". There had been no snow accumulation
beyond the 1/4 " of yesterday.
But, rather than skating there, Lloyd was keen to check out our usual boat launch area near the center of town, on some street
like "Kalakonos" which leads west off the junction of RT 139 and RT 202.
There, we found 2" of very nice ice and proceeded to skate our hearts out.
Though the ice was still marginal; the enormous size of the plate, that broody, gray, late December afternoon, the tiny snowflakes
falling, all combined to make the silent glide-filled hours worth every mile of the 40 mile drive. The only hole we found
in the miles of skating was skinned over with 1.25" of ice.
The high teens night-time temps predicted for Unity tonight will perhaps add additional thickness for safer skimbatting and
perhaps for even careful iceboating. The slight snow showers probably won't kybosh things, but I plan to call Jim MacDonald
who lives on the lake in the morning, before heading North.
For anyone not wishing to go the additional 20 miles to Unity, certainly Lake St. George is great skating.
I hope we will see some of you over the weekend. All the best, the treas.
|
|
| submitted on December 6, 2007 2:07 PM EST |
| Reports/Comments |
Many thanks to Jim MacDonald, for his recent tip about possible ice on Unity Pond. This pond is about 20 miles NW of Belfast,
and is a little closer than Plymouth, which is, we assume under deep snow.
The challenge is to find a pond which has frozen AFTER the arrival of that foot of snow.
So I loaded the gear and headed upcountry:
Howe Hill Road Swamp: 2" ice, 2"slush, 7" snow. Dangerous
Mansfield Pond, near Alfred lake: the same
Alfred Lake sighted from afar: 2/3 open water. presumed dangerous
Lake St. George: 1.5" ice with tiny amount of snow. cracks leaking water spiderwebbing the surface of the lake. Two good
nights of cold temps and this could be a great playground. It might even be worth looking at Friday morning, though it's
a long shot.
Unity Pond: First I checked the north boat launch area, which is off "Prairie" to the west of the lake, 0.2Miles along the
road after the railroad crossing. A little public park fenced in with a picnic table. 3" of ice near shore. 2" of ice
100 yards off shore. 1/4 " snow on top.
Skated for an hour near shore. very fast ice. muffled zipper cracking on the 2" ice. no sounds from the 3" ice. This
enormous lake could be skatable on Friday, possibly iceboatable on Saturday. (beware: I'm quite an optimist!)
Later I checked our usual boat launch area, which is down a long western road leaving Rt 202 just north of Rt 139.
There, only 2" of ice. I suspect the West side of the lake, being in the lee of West and Northwest winds, froze earlier
than this Eastern side.
Checked Megunticook, which appeared totally frozen over, on the way home, from the barrett's cove boat launch ramp. 1.2"
of ice.
I'll bet we're on the ice somewhere over the weekend.
The Treas.
|
|
| submitted on December 6, 2007 7:41 AM EST |
| Reports/Comments |
lloyd and I are going to check out unity pond today, thursday. report tonight. jory |
|
| submitted on December 4, 2007 10:33 AM EST |
| Reports/Comments |
Tuesday Dec 4th. We have had about a foot of heavy snow, this might sink Plymouth ice to start over again. It might vae drifted
up there. Clary Pond was reported yesterday to be slush floating on water. Did it get snow on top? Will it freeze into good
snow ice? Will we get more snow (it hasn't really stopped yet)? Possibility of snow showers all week. Not really cold until
end of week. Stay tuned; Lloyd |
|
| submitted on December 4, 2007 10:29 AM EST |
| Reports/Comments |
Tuesday Dec 4th.
|
|
| submitted on December 3, 2007 8:13 AM EST |
| Reports/Comments |
We all agreed it was a perfect season opener, errr, well.... almost perfect. We could only use about 1/4 of the Pond, since
there was brash ice and open water in the middle; but we still had quite a large plate to play on, and that was quite smooth,
black ice.
ahhhhhh.....the first ice of the season.......
Bruce Brown and Fred Kercheis both came with new homebuilt iceboats, 4 skimbatters batted around--Dickie, Jory, Bill Buccoltz,
Jim (McDonald?)--; and Lloyd tried skimbatting, helped tune up the new iceboats and actually got to watch one of the open
holes freeze up as he relaxed in front of it for an hour.
It was a wonderful, light air, but enough air, sunny and then cloudy, lunch at the village store, hang out, talk about everything,
beginning to a great season.
Now we'll see what weather events bring us. I'm sure Dickie will add some photos.
See you soon, Jory
|
|
| submitted on November 30, 2007 8:29 PM EST |
| Reports/Comments |
I Headed out to local ponds to check for ice this morning:
Local Swamp on Howe Hill Rd. ----open water
Mansfield Pond (near Alfred lake) ---open water
this is a stunning pond off RT 235 just E. of alfred lake rd. altitude
363 ft. used for swimming by the hope residents. let's keep track of
this one!
Alfred Lake--open water
Crystal Pond, near Washington Pond--open water
Travel Pond, on north side of Rt. 17, right on the road. 1/2 frozen. bashed ice near shore. blunt side of axe went thru.
exactly 2 inches of ice. what did lloyd say about blunt-end penetration? was that good or bad? walked out on ice 15 feet.
no sounds or cracks. hit ice with blunt end. instantly, I was crotch-deep in water as the crack zipped right between my
two feet, and down I went....hmmm.... must be that 'warm ice' they talked about.
Clarey Lake,--open wavey water
Three corner pond--same as Travel Pond
Darmiscotta Lake--open water
grassy pond---open water
Soooo, I checked myself into our local rink and warmed up the old skating muscles. $5 for two hours. beats taking those
cold baths...
Standby for sunday on plymouth.....jory
|
|
| submitted on November 30, 2007 6:52 AM EST |
| Reports/Comments |
Dickie, Lloyd and I drove up thru slight rain and 40 degree temps to Plymouth Pond on Thursday, Nov 29. The road turned icey
as we crested the last hill and dropped down to the pond. There is obviously a weather change just in that area. The pond
was open water in the middle, and we parked at the landing.
There, we began bashing with our axes and found firm ice 20 feet wide along the shore, and then 2" unstable ice in a
big inviting sheet stretching out to open water in the middle. Lloyd and I enjoyed skating the edge, and dickie set up his
skimbat just for a photo shoot on the thicker ice margin.
A wind carried the skimbat out on the thin ice and Lloyd dared skating out on the thin ice to retrieve it, saying that
he heard lots of zipper cracks around his skates.
We concluded it would be still unsafe on Friday, marginal on Saturday, BUT VERY POSSIBLY USABLE ON SUNDAY.
I myself was particularly frustrated and skated back an forth just on the ice junction, but the others explained to me
the phenomenon of "warm ice" which is not as strong as new black ice, but has been thru warm and cold cycles and has its crystals
all wonky.
So I deferred to wiser minds, and we all tail-dragged home thru increasing rain, reminding ourselves that Nov 29 is still
early. |
|
| submitted on November 28, 2007 8:08 PM EST |
| Reports/Comments |
Nov 28
Dickie, Lloyd, and I are leaving for Plymouth Pond from Camden at 9AM, probably being at the landing there about 1015AM.
Anyone want to join us? Weather is not promising--it's terrible actually--but we're DETERMINED to check things out.....chop,
skate, maybe skimbat.
We'll post a report tomorrow night when we get back.... if we get back.....if we haven't moved to Plymouth permanently.
Another report, from Steve Lamb, says that there's 3.5" of black ice (probably 'orgasmic' grade using Wayne Fortier's grading
system) on "East Branch Pond" , which I think is on page 42-3 of the gazetter, but a pretty long drive from here.
sooo, the early ice is here. but gotta 'chercher la glace'... and mainly we gotta travel in pairs, at least, and check everything
carefully. This early ice, it seems, is especially dangerous to break through, since there may not be thick ice nearby.
the treas. |
|
| submitted on November 27, 2007 3:05 PM EST |
| Reports/Comments |
lloyd and Jory are heading to Plymouth Pond on Thursday, Nov 29. We'll post our report later that day. Jory |
|
| submitted on November 13, 2007 5:36 PM EST |
| Reports/Comments |
November 13, 2007
Temperatures this month are right on average, now in 20's at night making ice on puddles, very exciting. So we should be
looking for ice on Plymouth Pond in early December. We have had it as early as Thanksgiving. Sharpen those runners.
Lloyd
|
|
| submitted on April 3, 2007 10:24 PM EST |
| Reports/Comments |
Saw flowers just after visiting Ted Livingston today. Fat lady was spotted with trowel in hand across the street. |
|
| submitted on April 3, 2007 7:44 PM EST |
| Reports/Comments |
I heard the fat lady is on thin ice!! |
|
| submitted on April 3, 2007 7:31 PM EST |
| Reports/Comments |
bla bla bla from jory on tuesday |
|
| submitted on April 3, 2007 6:09 PM EST |
| Reports/Comments |
the ice was fabuluous today,maljal;jwl;jwel'j |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|