Coureur des Biere wrote:

SOOOOOOOOO excited to see this thread starting! lol my favourite/most hated time of the year: watching paint dry...I mean ice melt on government satellite images.

I feel like the lack of snow on the lakes is a good sign as we don't need the wind/rain to melt/blow it away before the sun can do its work and warm the water up. Also, the long range forecast (which in my mind is an oxymoron but I digress haha) looks a lot nicer then last year so the gut feeling is a decent mid/3rd week of April ice out.

Does anyone know of any ice depth measurements out there yet?

Cheers!

I've been tempted to punch some holes in a few of the northern lakes in the park, but I'm not sure if I'm aloud to use my gas auger to do it? I also have an 8" hand auger with a drill bit attachment but I'm not sure that one will reach the water without buying another extension.
 

ATVenture wrote:

I'm not sure if I'm aloud to use my gas auger to do it? 

That's actually a really good question, as a policy nerd I'm curious if there's any rule on the books about gas-powered ice augers in the park. For people like you curious about ice thickness, or for the rare occasion that fishable ice extends outside the sanctuary season. My guess is that there's no rule against it, and it would be odd for anyone to complain if you were doing it on a lake that allows motorboats, but I'll see what I can dig up. Of course if you really wanted to play it safe you could test a lake just outside the park.

Just to loop back to ATVenture's question about gas augers, here's the only rule about them I was able to find, from Section 21(2) of Ontario Regulation 347/07:
"From April 1 to Thanksgiving, no person shall possess a chain saw, power saw, power ice auger, gasoline generator or similar device in an area operated for interior camping in Algonquin Provincial Park."

So basically, if it's before April 1, go for it. If after, you'd have to contend with the esoteric question of what an "area operated for interior camping" means... is that an interior campsite? A lake on which there are interior campsites? Any place not within a campground, day-use facility or road right-of-way? Strangely it's not in the definitions section of the regulation, though several similar terms are.
 

Last edited by DanPM (3/27/2017 7:32 am)

Hi all,

We were in Peterborough last week, drove up to Kingscote Lake yesterday. Ice is well out of the shore, probably only 50% of the lake is covered.

Looks really good, I'd say it's a good chance for ice out next week, if only in the south part of the park.

Almost there!
Marko

We were up at the cottage yesterday and measured 18' of good clear ice. That's more than we had all winter. I'm expecting the lake to still be safe to walk on next weekend and it's iffy whether or not the ice will be out for Easter weekend. Algonquin usually holds out at least another week beyond our lake.

Well I just booked the 24th and 25th off to make it a 4 day weekend. 

But there is always a backup plan. ;-)
 

Thanks for the update AT. 

Not to be a pessimist but looking at the satellite images from Sunday, the Petawawa isn't even open yet and there is no sign of open water on Nipissing either. Based on those benchmarks I would normally say that we were at least a couple of weeks away from the lakes opening up in Algonquin. I'm less sure how that compares to what you are seeing in person. It used to be that we would only get in person updates from along Hwy 60 and they were usually telling us all to calm down and that the black we were seeing the satellite photos wasn't actually open water like we were all hoping. ;-)

https://coastwatch.glerl.noaa.gov/modis/modis.php?region=g&page=1&template=sub&image=a1.17092.1812.CIS_Great_Lakes.143.250m.jpg
 

Thanks for the update DanPM. I was wondering when they'd get that off the ground. Already they're telling us to brace for disappointment, nothing new there. But I find it more than a little off-putting that they're claiming ice is tight to shore on ALL Algonquin lakes. We've already seen postings on this thread that contradict that statement -- including one taken weeks back by ATVenture showing ice retreated several meters from shore on Kioshkokwi. But of course admitting that would go off-message; better to 'exaggerate' so there's no questioning this:
"Ontario Parks, the organization that manages Algonquin Park, may also announce a “delayed opening” of all or some Park facilities including the backcountry should conditions be unsafe and not navigable."

Uh huh. Looks like the boondoggling continues (thanks again for that word, Peek!). Glad I don't have anything booked yet.
 

Where the ice is tight to shore its for the most part so rotten you can't walk out on it..

Yes that's open water in the middle of the lake from where the water flows under One Mile Bridge... there is a stretch of over a KM of wide open water. I took this photo early yesterday mornung before the sun came out, shortly after the sun came out around noon all the white on the lake dissapeared into water, making it appear much darker.

Last edited by ATVenture (4/06/2017 8:54 am)