LateIce

On the heals of the Tonka Ride, I'm trying to play catch up so this post is a day after the last.

A late season lake ice dive on Calhoun. 

This video [ areyouguyssknubadivin? ] is from my good buddy Hydro. It will take about 3 minutes but it's high speed and fun to watch. It's the usual crew, Trinity, Popo, Hydro, Scubafreek and me (arcFlash). Its an average day on the ice, this video compresses maybe an hour or two into 3 minutes. Please watch.

Again I find myself out on the ice with people on shore asking if we need help. They say silly things like , "Are you cold?" and all I can say is, "No, is your dog walking you?" My point being that we are jumping in and out of the water and laughing an carrying on like little kids. How could people misunderstand play and real world human drama. We are 200 feet from shore and making no effort to get off the ice. 

The ice hole is chopped and hand cut so it's a little rough on the edges. We make minimum effort.

Joe and I use my Otter sled (he he he, Otter) to float gear to and from shore. 

It has enough capacity that Hydro takes a ride while I stabilize the stern and giggle. Trinity pulls us to shore using the ice lines.

Beach head landing after the pull.

The ice is still 15 inches thick on this small lake. We are barely able to jump enough to break off a think chunk to use as an ice boat. It's rare that we can get an ice block that holds a person.

Left: I push the raft. Right: I can't explain that.

Hydro on his surf-boat.

I use dive fins so I can push the ice and have more control in the water. Hydro goes without fins and spends more time on the ice. We specialize in ice play. he he he.

There is so much ice slush that you can't see through it. After an hour of breaking ice it's all slush.

Trinity finds this bone on the last dive about 30 feet down. Last time he found something like this the University carbon dated it to 64,000 years ago and part of an extinct bison. I don't remember the details so don't quote me but it's close enough. I found a bottle that was laying on the bottom for over 100 years and it looked new and 200 year old shipwrecks are easy to find so a few thousand years isn't too difficult and part of the Time Machine that is scuba.

We go late into the year and play on the ice and find an old bone. Both indicate the end. The sun is too high for winter to last. The ice will melt like Frosty in the Greenhouse. The bone will only indicate that we are all doomed. Some of us leave behind evidence of our time on earth and others just a small pool of water that will dry up and be lost in time.

The winter wind will return after a short spell and bring Frosty back to life. Snow will once again pile up on the sands of time. Someday, someplace, someone will find evidence that our bones once played in the summer sun.

I'm sorry that's kind of dark but on that sober message; the end of the day/post is upon us. Live Well.

notICE

It's hard to pass up rotten ice diving. It's more fun to play in and on than dive under. This deep into the ice diving season I've seen about all the ice diving I care to but being creative with soft ice is fun.

My regular crew has been jumping ice every weekend since the lakes skinned over in December. I've made it out many times but I've had other distractions. I've been diving ice since 2003, I think, so with 10 seasons of ice and maybe 150 ice dives I don't mind missing a few here and there. 

The one thing I always make time for is Ice In and Ice Out. Last year it warmed so fast the ice pulled away from shore and was gone before the next weekend. 

This year is great. The ice is crap but it's not melting in the cold. I expect to go out next weekend and play on it again.

We cut the hole as usual but the ice is so poor it melts out and gets lumpy within an hour or so. We measure it at 16 inches but it can barely hold the weight of the gear sled. I estimate that at 400 pounds. The sled becomes a boat for 20 feet while we ferry it from shore to ice strong enough to hold the 400 odd pounds. It takes 3 guys with grimacing looks to push it up onto the better ice and return it to shore without swamping it.

It's an hour or so later and we are mostly just playing in the water and ice. We chop at the ice and it candles into long thin spears. I'll show a picture later but for now that's what's filling in most of the hole. You may be wondering what happened to my sunglasses. Well, it's a short story. I put my head under and the ice broke the frame and the lens popped out. One lens is still better than nothing so I make due.

Joe and I have a good time playing in the hole while Trinity and Popo try and get some serious diving done. Joe and I don't stop Popo so the yellow line is going to a diver while Terry tends and Robert is the rescue diver if needed. Sure we goof off a lot but we take the divers' needs seriously and if they throw my tank into the hole, I'd be after Popo in a minute or less with Robert and Terry tending and Joe backing me up.

Sometimes, everyone is in the hole and we are splashing around like children. That's not so bad. I've said it before but if you cut a hole in a frozen lake and you need to take turns playing in it, you have the best friends. 

 I can't get enough so I just hang out and Robert goes for a dive. PoPo reviews some maps for a new dive site and Joe just hangs out messing about with smashing chunks of ice.

Ok, about now you may wonder why I'm still sitting in the hole. It's weightless. Standing on the ice for hours is tiresome. The water is 36 degrees and the air about the same. So I don't get cold and weightless is better.

When ice melts it gets porous more than it gets thinner. When it freezes it gets thicker but melting it gets weaker but not much thinner. The below photo shows ice from below and how it's getting spongy. In winter this would be as smooth as glass but now it's cut deeply with holes.

Last bit is a video of what it's like to dive in and around this ice hole. The video is about 4:45 so its a little long but I cut as much out as I could. If you find something dull jump forward 20 seconds and something will happen. Enjoy and I'll put up a pot luck post soon that has some Arrowhead video and other good bits that don't have enough content to stand on their own.

We expect the ice to weaken and allow for a larger swimming pool to play with so you're going to get one more of these, but this is the last post on ice diving for the year that I expect. I have a bike ride Saturday and then more ice on Sunday so we'll see if either is worth a show and tell. 

I owe you pictures of candled ice. 

Good bye.

unPacked

Packed, Unpacked, Repacked... I've had this packrafting trip on my brain all winter. The river doesn't freeze easily so many days during the winter large tracks of water open up through downtown Saint Paul. I have this idea that I can ride the 12 miles to the put in just up stream from Saint Paul and then raft all the way to my house, some 11 miles. The speed of the river and a small tail wind make the water trek about 4 hours maybe 5 (so I pack a stove and lunch) with an hour for the 12 miles that's an easy 6 hour adventure. As you may know more then 6 hours and it starts getting boring. <he he he> I can't keep a straight face, it doesn't get ugly until a day trip goes into night.

I pack the gear and try to get out 3 weeks ago but it's too windy. I ride about 7 miles and when I get a good look at the river its a wash with foam and spray. The wind had to be over 20 as it's funneled down the river valley. The wife is with the dog at a park that's not very far away. Hoping I can catch her I swing by and throw my backpack with all the gear into her car and then ride home. Without the ~20 pound pack the ride is a lot of fun. Attempt #1, Failed.

Next week I go ice diving with some buddies and then plan to go packraft the next day but as luck would have it the weather was nasty and I pace around the house trying to figure out if I should try and ultimately give up and chop ice in my driveway. Attempt #2, Quit.

Sunday was the day I would get to unPack the gear I loaded 3 weeks ago. The weather sucked but I was going to try. I rode 60 miles the day before so I know the studded tires would get me to the start and I'd just do what I could from there. I refuse to fail for a third straight time.

I leave the house about noon and ride into the wind so I expect it to be at my back and help me make good time but the temps are about 17 degrees so it's far from nice out. An hour later and I'm standing on rotten shelf ice starring into an unpleasant head wind and I need to get exited to play on the water. 

Packrafts don't go into the wind well. Actually they don't like wind at all so I know this is going to suck for at least part of the time until I can get out of the wind and spray.

I inflate the raft, suit up in my dry gear and strap the bike on the bow. The launch is fast but I crash through the rotten ice and before I know whats going on I'm knee deep in ice water so I dive into the boat, back flip style. The boat is tough but it's still inflated with a soft floor and 25 pounds of bike on the bow so I need to load myself softly and in a panic, I flop onto it like a little kid diving onto a hotel bed.

A few minutes of thrashing around getting my feet under the skirt and my, mostly empty, backpack and drybag (polartech top, hat, and jacket) under and into the boat. I seal most of it but leave a small opening on my left side because I don't want to be tied in.

My paddle ices up withing a few minutes; it's like trying to paddle a wet bar of soap and the waves break over the bow from time to time so it's a mix of ice and water on the boats deck. It's about now the dry suit pays for itself. If it wasn't for the security of the dry suit and pfd, this would be very dumb. As it is, I'm warm, dry and in little danger even if I have to swim to shore I'd still take the time to take photos for the blog. 

The real reason I go kayaking is to see what lies along the shore. The stone arch bridge isn't as obvious from land. I know this because I've ridden over it many times and didn't realize it's this cool.

I'm just getting into the good stuff so padding into the wind is paying off and I'm out of the larger waves.

I paddle into a modest wind that if I don't paddle is countered by the current or slightly overpowered and I go upstream. With firm paddling I make solid progress and can still take pictures but I don't have any time to relax and take it in. I'm running the numbers, Do I bail, How can I get out of the wind, will I get into currents, what do I do if an ice flow hits me, will I see a barge.... Sure, I'm safe in my suit but lets not get stupid.

Below right: This is a storm water drain and the steel flaps keep flood waters from lifting man hole covers and flooding streets.

The tugboat is from "www.PortableBarge.com". Seriously there is a dot com for everything.

Below Left: I was surprised to see the tour boats. This was one of three tied up to the port of Saint Paul.
Below Right: Approaching Raspberry Island and the Boat Club.

The core of my trip is the next 1000 yards. I take a lot of pictures and figure I should start naming my routes, SPAM for Special Packraft Adventurer Map. This will be, SPAM #1 - Saint Paul.

The Union Pacific Vertical-lift Rail Bridge is so rotten the footings (built in 1913) are all broken and cables are used to hold parts together and I think they still use it. I want to get up close and see it before they replace it or remove it. This whole trip was so I could see this one artifact.

The crest you see on the Robert Street Bridge says,"ANNO DOMINI 1925" for the year it was built.

The way the sticks get strained out of the river is so cool. It makes me think of cleaning pasta out of a colander.

I pass under the bridges I wanted to and as the Robert street bridge comes and goes the wind picks up and it's blowing straight at me. The next 3 miles, should be, featureless and private land so if I have to take out I may have to explain to security that I am requesting passage as a distressed mariner or something like that. In reality they have to allow me to land if the water is unsafe but beyond that I don't know.

So I turn around and allow the strong wind to blow me about 300 yards back to Raspberry Island for a take out on the sand spit. Earlier this year I found that the East end of the island has a long shallow beach so I know the landing will be easy and it is.

I break down and pack up everything on a nice flat sheet of hard snow and ice. That's a good thing along a river full of trash, rocks, and glass. The gap I left in the skirt because I didn't want to be tied in allowed a lot of water in and soaked my backpack so it's a little frozen on the way home. Next time everything goes in a drybag.

Back on the bike (see the ice?) and I have to ride much farther home then planned but I got to raft under most of the Saint Paul bridges including the old train bridge so I'll come back when its warm and do the entire 11 miles of river and maybe camp out on one of the wildly overground islands. 

That is the end of the story and the last thing I want to say is you've just been SPAMed.