Newfound Lake.

[Matt Steinberg]

Jamie and I set out with no expectations to scout Newfound Lake. We drove to Wellington Beach State Park and parked at the eastern end of the road so we could get on the ice east of the headland near the beach. We had a difficult time getting on the ice. There was a bit of a moat and weak ice beyond it. We walked around through the woods and along the shore to the south and finally found a  spot where we could safely get on the ice. Initially there was some pancake ice and the old plates from previous breakups frozen into place. We stayed south of the significant boundary of the pack ice and followed close to the shore first crossing over these uneven plates and then finally reaching a series of smooth lanes that were stepped with small rises in the plate boundaries. We came to a pressure ridge with some open water that was crossable with some care and exploration.

 Once we crossed this it got very good as we were on a large plate of black ice full of air bubbles and etched crystal boundaries, quite beautiful and smooth. We followed the western shore towards the dam where we cross onto bumpy white ice that ultimately became sandwich ice that was unsupportable in many spots. We picked our way back up the other side of the island and crossed some very bumpy ice back onto the black plate where we probably skated a mile and half or more of continuous smooth ice. We reached the pressure ridge and circled back toward the shore. All together we skated about 10 miles on what was about a 6 mile loop. On the way out we looked at Wellington Beach and that looks like a better access point. It appears that you may be able to head north and potentially follow the western shore for a long way. It is definitely worth more exploration during tomorrow mornings cold temps.

Matt

[Cathleen Morrow]

Anyone skate Willoughby today? Thoughts re tomorrow? Cathy 

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[Ellen Gershun]

Two of us went up to Willoughby this afternoon. The north end is snow covered. The south end is slushy, which you can walk over to get to the ice plate. But the ice is very thick, heavy orange peel. Not worth a drive in my opinion.

We opted to go x-country skiing instead.

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