A Crack Runs Through New Ice

Lake Helena is one of the first large bodies of water to form solid ice across its surface in the winter.  The ice may seal-in the lake in either November or December and not open again until March or April, dependent upon the severity of winter at both ends.

Lake ice might come and go at first—advancing and receding with lowering and rising temperatures.  Winds and the undulations of waves may also work to keep the surface open.  Hauser Lake, immediately below my house, is a case in point.  Though Lake Helena has now been locked in ice for well over a week, Hauser Lake remains open and flexing by day with waves that release wisps of steam.  Each morning, I wake to fog; the scarves of steam having gathered into a whole at my house in the predawn hours.  Winter’s northwind regularly stirs Hauser Lake, insisting that it remains open for several weeks beyond the formation of ice on Lake Helena. 

By the end of January, however, the ice on both lakes will easily reach a depth of 1½ feet—thick enough to support a freight train.  The daytime surface of the ice near the lake homes might fill with children on ice-skates, sleds, and the always-chasing dogs.  The once watery arms and bays will sprout ice-fishermen who might remain there, lanterned in bluish palls of  light, long after dark.  ATVs, iceboats, and even pickup trucks will race across the bright and solid surface of the lakes in perfectly straight lines.

For now, though, the ice is thin and crossed only by cracks. 

The photograph posted today is one I snapped at a fishing access on Lake Helena about a week ago.

--Mitchell Hegman