The high level mark on McGee Creek

On Sat March 4 I photographed the ice level under the bridge:

The question is how deep would the water have been if I had been able to measure the depth when the Creek had been so covered with ice?

So on Sun April 2 I measured the various levels of concrete under the bridge, that water level, and the depth of water at my "standard" position = 36cm.

The ice appeared at this marke

r:

The difference between the "45"cm ice mark and the "86"cm mark is 41cm, and the depth under the bridge is 36cm so the depth of the Creek to form the layer of ice on Sat Mar 4 must have been 77cm.
I can now determine the depth from the water level on the side of the bridge - at least until the stream dry up.

W O B

Loch Ness Monster and other Haunters of Couchiching - from Fri Mar 11

I noticed while preparing the impressions from this past Friday, a recurrence of a theme from the Friday before: marine creatures in my fantacy:

Loch Ness Monster:

And its jaws!

about to devour winter?

And there on the marge of the lake I saw another strange sight -

getting ready to take the plunge?

Release the prisoner:

Strange the effect this had on me. There is a very faint trace of colour and I wondered why? Why this leaf - still in good shape after 5-6 months of wind, rain, sleet and snow. And I thought about a visit I made to a forest, thee Forest, more than 40 years ago:

As the sun slowly set in the West, on another "winter"  ... and a new year about to begin.

W O B

snow slush water spawn fish in Spring wells up hope eternal! wow wob you need a cold shower

Snow sucks.
It is not an acceptable excuse for a Canadian who is late for ice fishing. I mean it is not like you were being swept into a black hole and were rescued by aliens - and had to spend the night there rather than in your tent on Couch:

This truck was stuck for more than the 90 minutes I was out. And it would dig deeper before it could continue. It was well off the highway:

I must admit to being curious. So I skied along the Tudhope shoreline. It was easy to see what has happened:

Close to shore - where the truck was - the snow was quite deep and fluffy, while further out it had an icy crust. What was not so easy to see and at first glance completely unexpected was these dark patches:

The dark is water - liquid - when there has not been an hour above ZERO C in 6 weeks.

The water is ankle deep so 10cm.

WHY?

This phenomena occurs close to shore, more than 200m from any building and every year that I have skied here - so from Feb 2011.

There has been a suggestion made that it cracks here in the ice due to pressure of the water underneath expanding prior to freezing.

I have another explanation: artesian springs. And the reason for this suggestion can be seen in May.

And to anchor to shore: May 12 2014 -

And Tue Feb 17:

The idea being that suckers spawn in clear cold water fresh from underground springs. They are not rare here. There was one in Scout Valley that was part of a geocache. wob