The Smoke Rise and Kinnelon Blog: Frozen Lake Kinnelon

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Frozen Lake Kinnelon - January 2009

Yes, it's a bit strange to be looking back on photos from January and of frozen Lake Kinnelon when it's early April and the forsythia are seconds away [depending on the level of sunshine we can expect tomorrow] from bursting. However, it does put things into perspective - don't you think?

These photos come from two outings on Lake Kinnelon. One took place on January 11, 2009 when I had just gotten back from a trip to Dallas and both daughter and husband urged me to take a quick walk to experience the unimaginable: a frozen lake!

We took off from the Crossway boat ramp and followed the tracks below to an ice fishing campout complete with TV, dogs, and kids.

We didn't go very far. This was but an initiation.

The following weekend, on January 24, 2009, I got talked into a much more ambitious lake walk... From the starting point below, at the Crossway boat ramp, all the way to St. Hubert's Chapel and back.

The idea of walking to St. Hubert's held great appeal. After all, per my early post titled St. Hubert's Chapel Visit, and

"Rough stones were gathered from the slopes surrounding the lake, and during the winter, massive horse drawn sleds were used to transport them across the frozen lake to the remote island. "

... the chapel had to have been built during the cold harsh winters when the lake was frozen.

Here, then, was an opportunity to experience the chapel and the lake as Francis Kinney and his contemporaries did.

Now, I will be honest. Very honest. I found walking across the lake extremely unnerving. I did it, but I don't think you have ever seen anyone walking more gingerly than I did. My husband and daughter marched confidently ahead of me, laughing at my discomfiture. I kept going, but the booming of the ice and general 'talking' of the surface underfoot tensed my neck muscles and had me thinking that each step would be my last. Some sections were hard and solid feeling. Others were wet and overly crunchy and irrational looking.

Nonetheless, I made it. Phew!

And the experience was unlike any other.

Later on, we learned from Bjorn Walberg that the booming sounds are 'good' sounds [as this post about frozen lake ice cracks supports]. When the ice is too thin you don't hear them. However, Bjorn also shared the fact that he fell into a lake in Norway, with skis on after assuring his wife that the ice was safe.... and he was laughing while he told the story, apparently the height of Norwegian humor!

Check out this post titled A Blog Of Ice with Tibetan and Norwegian inspired ice music... Bjorn, this one goes out to you.

I've posted the photos to Flickr: Frozen Lake Kinnelon NJ.