Ice update
So I drove up today (Friday) due to the storm yesterday. The conditions at Sheps have continued to improve. I measured 6-7 inches 75 feet or so out from the barge access ramp. There was about 12 inches out by the black nav marker visible from the shore there. I pretty confident the ice in and around that access point is overall in pretty good shape now.
But...
I loaded up and rode over to Cattle Landing over the lake. Small drifts but also some slushy spots - not uncommon when we have the weight of the snow plus the wind pushing on the ice and bring up some surface water. Over near the Cattle Landing docks where I cut holes last week, there was a good 5 inches of ice now -- some is weaker, snow ice, however, but overall better than last week. I crossed through Cattle Landing but pulled up just past Dolly Island where it looked a little questionable. Cut several holes around there and found 3-5 inches of black ice with water and frozen slush on top. One hole had just over 2" of black ice with water on top of slush. That's all I needed to see -- backed up, turned around and went back to Sheps.
Given how thin the ice was in the area around Cattle Landing and how unprotected that area is from the wind, I was quite concerned that Some of it may have started to break up again. Or at least plates could be moving around creating dangerous gaps in the ice -- I've seen that before through there. Please be very careful if venturing through there.
I'll try again next weekend, weather permitting....
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