Monday, January 21, 2013

Shanty Rides and Ice Volcanoes

I guess sensible is a relative term.  

Aaron and his friend Allan have been working on building an ice shanty for the last year.  It's mobile, fully enclosed, has trap floor boards for jigging and has a wood stove.  I was home the day they decided to take it out onto Lake Fanny Hooe, so I went with them.

Here is a video of our journey.


They didn't catch any fish, but they sure had fun!

Since then I've gotten to go for my first snowshoe of the winter!  Finally!  I would say that, although the snowshoes weren't necessary for the snow, the cleats on them helped with the ice!  My adventurer friend Steve and I went out on the Double Lakeshore Loop.  But instead of taking the trail, we hiked the Superior shore from the Harbor Haus.

What did we see forming along the way?  Ice volcanoes!  These babies form as ice builds up along the shore.  As the waves get rougher, the splashes start to hollow them out in a swirling fashion.  Soon the ice chunk has a twisted cylinder inside for the wave to splash into, up and out of the top.  A fascinating phenomenon that I hope to capture for you... if they are still there!

But I really have to be brave to get out there.  Here is the forecast for today and into the week for 49918.



Brrrrrrr!  Hopefully we'll at least get some of the predicted snow out of the deal.

It sure keeps snowing!  I never realized how in tune snowmobilers stay with snow reports.  This last weekend was CrAzY with snowmobilers!  Every place from here, at least to Lac La Belle was booked for the weekend.  Awesome for the businesses, and terrific for my tip jar!

Hmm, now you've got me curious.  I'm going to check on those ice volcanoes.

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