Turning to Ice

December 12, 2009
Moreau Lake


Today turned out to be a bright and sunny day, with some messy weather being forecast for tomorrow.
I didn’t hesitate to change my plans, and decide that today was the day to take a long walk at Moreau Lake. We’d gotten eight inches of snow just a few days ago, but snowshoes weren’t needed. Most of the way, my path was packed down from previous walkers.

I stopped first at Head Cove, which was just beginning to freeze over.


The ice told of a beaver’s swim to shore …


.. where he left webbed-paw prints in the snow.


I continued around the lake. It was cold but not windy, and so the more bearable.
The Big Lake was wide open, while the Back Bay was covered with a grey layer of ice.
Here you can see both in a panoramic view. There's a little causeway separating the two.

There are beavers in the Bay, too. Next to the lodge, a stash of tender branches poked up above the ice.


As the sun sank toward the horizon, the Bay ice began to whoop. (Dave calls it “the song of the ice-whales.”) It’s eerie and comical at the same time.


Circling back along the Swimming Beach, I saw hundreds of Canada geese along the Sandbar ...


... enjoying the last bit of sun for the day.


I met just one other walker today, and his companion.
(I don’t believe that stuff about people getting to look like their pets, do you?)


The Big Lake is open, but about to freeze, any day now.

I’m fascinated lately by the transition from water to ice. At times the line between “liquid” and “solid” becomes blurred, as if there is another state of matter between those two.


Before leaving, I took a long look, savoring the view of open water.