So much for the ice being thick enough!

[MossRoad]

And then there was the odd time the lake would freeze over on a still night giving a glass smooth surface. When it reached thick enough lotsa fun practicing.

The roads didn't see salt or sand either. Made sure you never parked nose down and at times had to get out and push at the stop sign.

My father in law and I once went to a lake about 22 years ago that froze completely smooth AND clear. That was creepy. It was 8" of completely clear ice with no snow on it, as it was so smooth, any new snow would not stick, but just blow away. And, it was a very shallow lake, only about 4'-5' average, so the fish could see you and wouldn't come closer than 4-5'. You could see everything on the bottom. Rocks. Weeds. Cans, bottles, sticks, fish. It about a 80-100 acre lake. We finally made our way down to an area with lily pads sticking through the ice that caught snow snow and we caught some really nice perch. But, it was about 22 below 0F, so we only stayed out an hour or so because he was getting cold. But what a great thing to see once in your life. :thumbsup:

 

[bcp]

Skating on clear ice.

Bruce

 

[MinnesotaEric]

Here in Minnesota, we always wait at least two weeks after the last report of a car going through the ice... Another true story - we had to pass an ordinance here in the City of Prior Lake to regulate parking on the ice because some of the hot fishing spots were getting too crowded and a bunch of cars and trucks parked too close together were enough to sink the ice even though it was theoretically "thick enough" to drive on. You need both sufficient strength to spread the load over a wide enough area, AND that area has to encompass enough volume of ice to provide the necessary buoyancy. Ice is 91% as dense as water, so each cubic foot of ice only gets you about 5 lbs of buoyancy. Each 5000 lb vehicle is going to need its own 1000 square foot area of ice a foot thick to stay afloat.

Shucks two days ago I dropped a tractor wheel through the ice trying to nab a deer carcass that somebody had winged during the hunting season that ran over to my property and then expired trying to make onto my point. I'm tired of my two dogs trying to naw on the thing and it will make a stink bomb come spring.