Cabin in the woods - Day 2

The north woods were cooler today than yesterday ( 7°F ) But with low wind, and a beautiful sky we decided it was a perfect day for a little more skiing.

Little did we know, our Murder Cabin was perched on the shore of Attempted Murder Lake!

As we skied along under the bright blue sky we had high confidence the lake was safe. It's January after all and temps have been below freezing for a long time. What's more - we followed the occasional snowed over vehicle tracks where we could see them. Being almost twice as heavy as FG, I went first.

After we'd crossed the lake to a little peninsula with a steep cliff I noticed what looked like an old fishing hole ice cutout with a perfectly square depression in the snow surrounding it. The 4 wheeler tracks we were following went just past it. It was typical of someone who put a fishing shanty on the lake and decided to move it. But as I got closer a tiny bubble of air came up through the hole and popped on the surface. "That's unusual" I thought as I slowed to a stop at least 20 feet from it. The shanty would have been moved more than a day ago (blurry edges on the square) and the ice cutout usually freezes over in a matter of a few hours in these temps. It should just look like clear water, not be clear water.

The instant I stopped, my right foot sank a little more than it should have and water started coming over my skis. I was literally on thin ice. I tried scootching backwards but my ski ends were making holes in the ice (beneath the snow) behind me. "I guess we can't trust the four-wheeler tracks. This is both interesting and kind of sucks."

Stopping had saved me from going through quickly, but it was just a matter of time before my skis broke through the slush they were on into the very cold, possibly deep water below. I tried lifting my wet ski to set a course that took me close to shore, as the ski came out of the snow, some of it and the slush came along for the ride, freezing to the bottom instantly in the cold temps. The same thing was about to, or had already happened to the ski I was standing on. Essentially I was now equipped with two very long, awkward snowshoes... and yet they were the only things holding me up. If I popped them off and tried to walk, my feed would go straight through the slush into the water; this far away from civilization I'd either be guaranteed hypothermia, or as-likely be fished out fo the lake come springtime (FG is much smaller than I. She'd have had to go to shore for help - a long ski and a phone call, because mobiles don't work up here).

I probably only needed to make it 15 feet or so to be safe, at about 90 degrees from my direction of travel. Both skis were slightly under water at this point. I decided on the reaction-mass-shuffle -plod, because I was about to go swimming. It basically meant pushing down just slightly with one foot while trying to keep the tip of the ski angled up above the snow while lifting the other enough to be able to move sideways or forward.

20 seconds of that later I was back on snow and ice that didn't crack with each movement, and my skis had a solid coating of ice and slush from the tips to the end. A short, very memorable experience.

The most obnoxious part is, there's not much to look at. You'd think based on the tracks and temperature the area is safe.

So yeah. Attempted Murder Lake.

Once we cleaned the ice off my skis and plotted a route back to the cabin we did another mile or two along the near shore. A friendlier, more solid, less murdery place. For which I'm very grateful.

Our skis, setup as a warning to all who would follow the more dangerous path.

Otherwise the day's been fun, relaxing and thoroughly enjoyable... (we celebrated my non-death with hot chocolate and some games)