Really strange feeling. I had a claim to inspect yesterday on Madeline Island, WI. I had to drive my car over the lake 2 miles! An inland lake is one thing but Lake Superior freaks me out!

awesome...
I would be all over that...
Go Ice racing....its hilarious

Rich

Some of those cracks would freak me out to. My parents used to tell me that people would drive across the Hudson River in winter (upstate N.Y.) to save driving to the nearest bridge. I'm usually not in that big of a hurry.

Don't see that too often over here in Warshington.

I think I would drive many many miles looking for a bridge.

that sounds like fun!!!

I was listening to a captain of an ocean going ship that was in port in Duluth. He described crossing Lake Superior like crossing the ocean only the wave rythms are more abrupt and the pattern is closer. The lake is so big it's rare for it to freeze over completely.

That's nutz!

Ice Road Trucker..... no.....errrr....ICE ROAD TEENER!!!

You took an e30?

95 525I Touring

That's impressive... In Portland, OR, we had 10 inches of snow earlier this winter and most of the roads were never plowed. In Duluth someone plows the lake!

Pretty neat Rick. Most of my relatives live in Washburn or Ashland Wisconsin which is not far from Madelin Island. Have gone there lots during the summer months as a kid.

Ya, I've taken the ferry over during the summer on several occasions. You must have bee to the Bayfield Apple Festival a time or two.

I was in Northern WI a few weeks ago. It was the first time I've ever been on a frozen lake too. It was definitely something different from what we see in NC.

So much for gl.....oh wait


That's pretty scary, how'd you like to be the first one or the last one accross?

I doubt the entire lake was frozen over, but the 2 miles to the island sure were! In the Admin building for the ferry boats they have some old black and white pics of the old boats used, the old trucks hauling 100's of pounds of lumber to the island, and some really trippy old air boats. These were scow hulled contraptions with airplane props on the back that would slid over the ice, but still float over any open water, used for emergency travel to the island when boats/cars would not be able to travel. The had to use the trucks to haul lumber because the boats at that time couldn't handle the wt of the truck and the cargo, so most all summer building had to be planned such that the majority of materials had to come over in the winter.

We had our honeymoon up at Lutzen, my skiing wife and I, and took a couple pics of us on the shore of the lake, with ice as far as you could see. Shortly after that, I was sent to AL for a month and 1/2, and I brought that pic w/me. The folks down there couldn't believe that was a lake, let alone one of the great lakes, with no water in sight. Sure, they all had ice cubes in their freezer, but to comprehend a lake frozen out that far, some had a hard time believing that.

That's pretty freaky Rick!!

So true, when windsurfing Superior it's really deceiving as the waves come in in sets like ocean waves but the timing is different, there is no grace period when the waves release and the next wave appears. There is always an undertow and sometimes the waves break up on you and you get slammed by the next one.

The only near death experiance i've had windsurfing was on Superior. And i've sail the Oregon coast in 40 knot winds.

Rick,

I know it's been cold up there--how thick do you think the ice was?

I drove across the St Croix from Stillwater to Hudson back in the mid-90s--ice was more than 14" at that time--brother-in-law (from NC) almost

Stay warm,

I love Bayfield!! Camped just N or town in my westy on the shore... Rode the Mtn bike a bunch in Chequamegon forest, Good times.

I also have been on the ice like that, but on a bike. I raced and won the first ever "International Ice" Mountain Bike race touted as the first race to go from one country to the next and back. That was over at Drummond Island MI to Canada and back, those cracks are scary on a Mtn Bike as they will swallow your wheel

Neat stuff.

Ferg

Lake Superior is the only lake in Minnesota/Wisconsin that doesn't freeze over. I still have an ice house with my brothers on the Dead Sea... er, Mille Lacs. I would be freaked to drive on Lake Superior because I know in the back of my mind there are ships navigating it at the same time I am driving on it, but right now the ice on Mille Lacs if about 3 feet thick.

Nice pics Rick. Reminds me of why I stayed in California when I got here. I am all thawed out! 65 degrees yesterday!

If I had to guess I'd say it was at least a foot. It's creepy when you can see through it though and there's big cracks, air bubbles and pockets in it....

That strikes me as a really bad idea. I suppose that if everyone else is doing it I'd do it too, like a damned lemming in a 4th grade science movie.

Ya, Mille Lacs is shallow. It freezes thick. But Mille Lacs is friggin Big too. With the curve of the earth it looks like an ocean. I've driven around Mille Lacs lots last summer. There was a big wind storm there on the east shore last year.

when Sue was working in teh U.P. in MI we went way out on teh ice. there were spots where the ice was clear as glass. we could see teh ripples in teh sand on teh bottom of the lake. they were racing "ice boats" its a sail rig with ice skate shoes. they had some guys going over 50 mph under sail power and ice shanties 2 miles out. there was an entire party town out htere.

Mille Lacs is a great windsurfing lake we used to do reaches across it back and forth,

Robbie Nash once called it his favorite lake to surf on.

When i was a young kid there was a trading post there, Indians who live on the reservation land lived there. This was a peak into the past that i will never forget. Some still wore there traditional dress lived in teepees and birch bark huts and had drying racks of fish and meat hanging on them. If i knew then what i know now, i wish i walked up into there camp and visited with them.
Instead our parents told us not to interact with them because quite a few would come begging.
The trading post had a black bear that you could hand an Orange crush to through the cage and the bear would sit up and guzzle it.

Sorry for the memory lane trip, now back to driving on solid lakes.