Across the Lake

Wed. 11 February:  Lower Rideau Lake

Approaching Lower Rideau Lake

We walked across a lake today. 

Lower Rideau Lake is perhaps two kilometres across at its widest point, and about six kilometres long, and connects to the much larger Big Rideau Lake at the Rideau Ferry bridge.  We made a loop of about five kilometres out onto the lake and back to the shoreline near the yacht club.

Out in the middle of the lake is a sort of community.  There are dozens of assorted shacks and trailers which are towed out along the ice road to form an ice fishing “village”.  Each shack or vehicle is given an identification number so that the owner can be fined if they don’t get the building off the ice before the springtime deadline.  Ice fishing shacks can cost their owners a lot of money if they have to be salvaged from the bottom of the lake.

There was no danger of our seeing any open water today.  The ice was so thick that trucks towing trailers could safely drive out onto the lake – one was maneuvering his trailer as we watched.  It was another cold morning, luckily with the merest hint of a breeze.  We followed the ice road across the lake, towards a distant island.  Soon the shoreline receded to the far horizon as we strode out along the ice. 

On our return back down the lake, we chose a different route, closer to the shoreline, making tracks across the crusty snow with our snow shoes.  We reached the shore at a public beach which is apparently an idyllic swimming area in the summer. 

As we strolled back down the road we had a fleeting glance of some waxwings flitting across the bare trees.  Winter was still very much in charge.  That springtime deadline for the ice fishers seemed a very long way into the future.

Note:  single-click on the first picture above to scroll through the photos separately

Statistics:

Total Distance:         5.0 km (‘shoe) + 1.0 km (hike) = 6.0 km

Height Gain:             Nil

Time on Trail:          1 hr. 47 mins.

Start:                        9.55 am

Furthest pt.:            10.47 am

Ret. to house:         11.42 am

Temp:            Minus 13 to Minus 11 C

Weather:       Sun, some cloud moving in.  Hardly a breeze.

On the ice

Ice road leads to ice fishing shacks

Ice road junction

Ice fishing community

Looks a lot like a Rideau Trail sign!

This tiny shack even had curtains

Looking back up the lake to the island

Out on the lake

Great swimming area in summer

Clouds starting to build