Ice gone, water high....

Little could we have know that after a late ice out last season and a full court press to get camp up and running, that just one short year later we would be going through the same fire drill. For some reason however, this year seemed just that much more difficult.

We were fortunate to get some east winds overnight on Sunday that shifted the ice off the near shore of the big lake allowing us a clear path to transport guests for the first time over the water and into camp to kick off the 2014 season early Monday morning. By end of the day Tuesday the ice was completely gone. I have posted a few pictures on our Facebook page of the flight in and as time permits will post more from opening week and the high adventure to get to camp and get it open.

We were very fortunate to have only minor damage around camp after such a brutal winter. The stove pipe cap on Cabin 1 blew off, the downspouts on cabins 1 & 2 were down and the gutter on the front of Cabin 3 was down. The beavers took a tree down on the deck of Cabin 1 breaking the deck railing, and took another tree down on a section of floating dock down on the lower lawn where they are stored for the winter, fortunately no damage there.

The real news as we progress into spring here is the high water levels. I can't remember a time during the ten years we have owned the camp that the water has been this high, and certainly never close to this level at the start of camp. If you are coming up in the next few weeks, be sure to arrive at the landing with your rubber boots or similar footwear on (or at least handy) as the permanent portion of the roadside dock is about flush with the water level.

I will try to get another blog done again soon to update everyone on the opening week of fishing, but if I don't then certainly I will get a report on the website.

Opening Day-2014

Is going to be a pretty quiet one around here. Unfortunately, Mother Nature forgot to look at her calendar and failed to live up to her part of the deal by having the lake ice free by this morning. In fact, quite the opposite, as there is still quite a bit of ice floating on the lake, but we finally have a favorable seven day forecast and after last night no more nights below freezing. So we do expect things to start moving fast now.

We helicoptered into camp again this year on Thursday hoping to see the north end of the lake with some black ice about ready to go out. Instead we flew over a lot of silvery, white ice that is just now starting to turn black. We have yet to be able to get our docks in the water as there is just too much ice still in front of camp floating around to risk losing them. Rest assured when the bell rings we will be ready with docks, boats, and warm, clean cabins.

Since I have limited internet accessibility right now, I am not able to post any pictures or videos of the conditions and our flight in, but will do so in a week or so.

We will stay in touch.

Update...May12

I'm updating from my iPad in a hotel room. Sound like last years blog about this time? Well it looks and feels like it to me that's for sure. It's still really too soon, unfortunately, to be able to predict ice out with certainty. While we did make great progress over the weekend with abundant sunshine and temps in the mid to upper 60's, that weather has moved on. The next three days are calling for chances of rain (that's not a bad thing), but temperatures back in the 40's and lows into the 30's.

Last year we watched the big part of Wabaskang Lake go out almost before our very eyes in a matter of hours, so it can happen under the right conditions. We are all hopeful those conditions present themselves this week in time to be ice free by Saturday. We will try to update again soon.