Dolmen Project (Year Twelve) Confessions of a “Guerilla Artist”: Harrington Beach Ice

Day 3 (2/23/14)

On the Ice

It was time for us to take our almost yearly outing to Harrington beach for our winter walk or ski along the shore line. I say almost yearly because there have been a couple of years that we haven’t made it. There have also been years where it wasn't that much different than in the summer. This was not one of those years. With our unseasonably cold winter the lake has taken on a whole new look. It looks like a cross between a moonscape and a scene from frozen. As it has been for the last three Sundays the sky was completely blue and clear. The temperature was a balmy 22 degrees when we went out with a slight wind that made it perfect for a winters hike. The shoreline was obscured by mini mountains of ice and snow punctuated with the occasional ice volcano. Due to rains earlier in the week the walking was treacherous. The mounds had a slick covering of ice over the surface which made climbing around on them interesting. As long as you kept an eye on where you were going you could pick your way through troughs between the mounds were some snow had collected. As long as you didn't accidentally step into a crevice all was well. We each managed to find areas where suddenly one leg would disappear into the depths. Fortunately there was never water at the bottom or if there was our leg didn't make it that far. For obvious reasons we were often warned about taking a dog out on to the ice. The biggest danger to dogs are the ice volcanoes or blow holes. On a rough windy day you can see the water shooting up through them like spouting whales. On a day like today you can peer down in to them. Some of the older ones are frozen over on the bottom. It would take a braver than me to crawl down into some of the larger ones. Eileen managed to get some nice pictures of icicles down inside of one. It is always a treat to see these formations and just about the time you think you have seen it all you find something new. The edge where the ice meets the water can have especially unique formations. After hours of walking and looking we decided to call it a day but were glad that we got out to check it out.