Ice thickness

[XCR-700]

Anyone have any recommendations for getting to the lake from the south side?

If possible I would prefer to find a place to park the truck/trailer around Weirs/Gilford or possibly Alton/West Alton or even Meredith.

I know the south side of the lake much better than the north side, so if possible I would rather start out on that side.

Thanks to all for you comments.

George

[Ryan]

I believe you can park in the movie theater parking lot in Gilford across from the airport.
From there you can go multiple directions on the trails, or out to Winni.
You are across the street from the gas station, which has maps.

I also believe parking is available at Weirs beach. Not sure about the conditions of the rail.

[DRH]

Originally Posted by XCR-700

Anyone have any recommendations for getting to the lake from the south side?

If possible I would prefer to find a place to park the truck/trailer around Weirs/Gilford or possibly Alton/West Alton or even Meredith.

I know the south side of the lake much better than the north side, so if possible I would rather start out on that side.

Thanks to all for you comments.

George

George - You can access the lake at Alton Bay using the public boat ramp next to Shibley's restaurant. There's limited parking for your truck & trailer across the road next to Pop's Clamshell.

[NHDOLFAN]

I would check Ellacoya State Park. There is more parking and easy access to the lake.

[Mink Islander]

Got on at the Cattle Landing docks this AM around 8:00 -- (a little more than a mile beyond the turn for Shep Brown's Boat basin) on Meredith Neck Road. Ample parking there and easy safe access to the lake on the south side of Bear Island. You can probably get on at Sheps too -- from the water, follow the road past the showroom to where the barges are. Usually can drive right on there. I didn't go by there today, however, since I'm on foot, so don't know the conditions.

The hill at Cattle Landing is a bit steep down to the lake but it has plenty of snow cover right now. 7+ inches of mostly black ice through the narrows. Stay to the North (Bear Island) side to avoid the thin spots near shore due to ice eaters around mainland docks in that area. In front of Mink we have 8+ inches. Ample snow cover.

A few sled tracks between Mark and Bear. Saw a sled over by Mark Island around 11:30.

I think the winter season is officially underway!

Beautiful quiet (but chilly) day.

[NHDOLFAN]

I would like to venture out to rattlesnake from Wolfeboro Bay. If anyone has updates as to theice thickness I would appreciate it. I know the Bay is solid but always weary of the Broads.

[Island-Ho]

You can access the southern side of the lake easily from the Gilford public docks. There are no parking restrictions there this time of year.

[Webbsatwinni]

We are planing on venturing out to Rattlesnake tomorrow. Is it just me or is the lack of bob houses visable on the cams and indication that the ice isn't safe yet?

With this weeks temps, I would think that there wouldn't be an issue. But I thought I would toss it out to the forum and see what others think before we head out.

[DRH]

Originally Posted by Webbsatwinni

We are planing on venturing out to Rattlesnake tomorrow. Is it just me or is the lack of bob houses visable on the cams and indication that the ice isn't safe yet?

With this weeks temps, I would think that there wouldn't be an issue. But I thought I would toss it out to the forum and see what others think before we head out.

I went out with our son today and we found conditions to be pretty poor. The high winds this past week scoured much of the snow off the ice, creating 1) many bare spots of sheer ice, 2) many snow moguls making riding somewhat rough, and 3) a snow surface (what snow remains) that is so hard that the snowmobile tracks couldn't pick up enough to keep the engines cool.

We first went from Minge Cove around the southeast end of Rattlesnake. As we headed northwest past Rattlesnake Guy's & Gal's place (which faces Parker Island), we encountered a huge area of large ice shards sticking up almost horizontally from the surface of the lake. There were thousands of them, many of which stick up over 12". Once we had slightly entered that area we were unable to continue forward and had to turn around and back-track out of there. It appears that the surface of the lake had frozen to a depth of about 2" of clear, solid ice, and then the high winds broke up large sections of it into "shards" and blew them southeast where they piled up and were forced together, causing them to ride over-and-under each other so many of them were forced into near vertical positions where they re-froze. I haven't seen anything quite like that before. I don think a vehicle of any kind could navigate that area at this time. We saw those shards of ice over a fairly large section of the lake in that area.

I don't know if the northwestern end of Rattlesnake has those conditions or not, and it could be a totally different situation there. I can tell you that what little snow remains on the ice is so hardened by the wind and bitterly cold temps. that we couldn't keep our machines cool today and we decided to come back after a relatively short time out there.

However, there is a snowstorm forecast for tonight and tomorrow that could totally change conditions for the better.

All should beware the sharp vertical ice shards near the southeast end of Rattlesnake, however!

[Webbsatwinni]

Thanks DRH, we may rethink.

[DRH]

It's snowing hard here at the lake now. At 9:45 a.m. we have about 3" of fluffy new snow on the ground. Temp. is 10 degs. with no wind.

The poor snowmobiling conditions we encountered on the lake yesterday, specifically the overheating problem due to the hard-packed snow surface, will almost certainly be resolved with this new snow. The NWS is calling for up to 9" total accumulation today in NH.

11:30 A.M. UPDATE: We now have 6" of snow and extremely low visibility. The NWS has increased it's expected snowfall estimate and is now predicting up to 14" for this area.

[hilltopper]

Just shy of 6" in Meredith now with heavy snow continuing. If we get wrap around snow instead of the storm simply pulling out, 10" to 12" isn't out of the question. Snowmobiling should be top notch after this!

Update: 1:40 PM. 9.5" and counting.

[fatlazyless]

...drilled three holes yesterday w/ my 4" handcranker, and the ice thickness was 9". 9" and 10", about 100 yards out just east of buoy #3, in something like 25' of water...saw about 25 snowmobiles and a couple atv's....and zero cars or trucks

[Mink Islander]

at Mink Island. Light fluffy stuff.

[hazelnut]

My brother in law and I purchased a pair of sleds on Saturday afternoon at HK Powersports in Laconia. He bought a Yamaha and I bought a Polaris. Anyway we took delivery on the spot, (Good People at HK by the way). We took off from Laconia headed across Paugus bay picked up the railroad track up near the channel, headed through the Weirs and hopped back on the lake by Akwa Marina and went out across by Eagle around the tip of Meredith Neck and between the neck and Bear Island then cut in to the Patrician Shores area to his house. Later on that evening we went into Center Harbour took the trails over to Moultonboro Neck alll the way out to Ambrose area allllll the way down through Moultonboro bay all the way through the Graveyard out to Cow Island. We visited some friends out on the Island then headed back. This time we took ice to the Long Island bridge and crossed over the town beach headed past Braun bay along towards Black Cat Island and then across to Patrician Shores. SO, I would say the ice is pretty solid based on my experiences this weekend. The conditions were AWFUL though. VERY bumpy like moguls on a ski hill.

Today was a VERY different story.

The lake is covered in a beautiful light fluffy powder. The only challenge was seeing through all the snow blowing up over the windshield, ha ha ha. It was like riding in a snow cocoon. During the height of the snowstorm I was out on the lake trying to find Center Harbor. It took me two tries. Once I did we headed up over the Red Hill trail from Center Harbour over to Meredith. Fueled up at Cumberland Farms and headed back over the hill to Center Harbour. Later on I took the Moultonboro Neck trail over to Ambrose cove again then looped back and backtracked over the trail back to Canter Harbor. I'm tired and sore but it was SOOOOO worth it.

[Treerider]

Took a ride at 4 pm today....too much powder, snow so light the skis sank to the bottom, and the powder over the hood!!!

[Webbsatwinni]

We decided to come up with the predictions of snow, yesterday afternoon the viability was poor but the ride was fine. We stopped frequently to check the ice and we wore our picks around our neck.

The snow was a little deep for our sleds (only because the snow was coming over the hood) but other than that, we had no issues getting to Rattlesnake.

We spent the night and the first sunrise of 09 from the lake was worth it!

I took some good shots of the broads side of Rattlesnake and will post them when we get home.

[murph]

Hazelnut who do you know in Patrician Shores? I have a place there and go up almost every weekend to go riding.

[hazelnut]

Hey murph,

My sister and her husband are actually renting in Sands of Brookhurst. I said Patrician Shores because more people have probably heard of it than the other.

I'll probably see you around this winter then.

[XCR-700]

Originally Posted by Webbsatwinni

I took some good shots of the broads side of Rattlesnake and will post them when we get home.

The photos are GREAT!!!

Thanks - GH

(this one is THE BEST!!!)

[Webbsatwinni]

XCR

It is now my background at work to help the daydreaming.

BTW, nice boat, what year is it? I have been looking for a Glastron for some time and have not found a clean one to play with.

[BoulderBronco]

Originally Posted by XCR-700

The photos are GREAT!!!

Thanks - GH

(this one is THE BEST!!!)

Man that looks fun. But how safe is it out there? Did you check the ice? The broads are obviously the thinnest part usually so I personally would not want to go out there without knowing how much ice there was.