Algonquin Adventures / So when does the ice-out prediction conversation start???

**Posted by ATVenture** 4/09/2017 4:37 pm

Campsite just East of One Mile Bridge on the North Shore. This is the second of the two sites. The firepit on the closest site was full of hot coals, so someone had a fire there earlier today.

Watching the Geese after a cold swim..

They are predicting a low of 11 degrees tonight with a high of 15 tomorrow and tons of rain. I suspect Kiosk will be 100% ice free by the 20th for sure.

Last edited by ATVenture (4/09/2017 5:15 pm)

**Posted by PhillyPhilster** 4/10/2017 7:02 am

great pictures ATVenture!

**Posted by ATVenture** 4/10/2017 2:41 pm

Was out there again today.. the open water goes out at least 5 feet further from the beach today,but between the land and solid ice there is floating chunks which my dogs were sitting on while floating around the shore, it was absolutely hilarious to watch but I forgot my camera memory card at home.
It was +23 and sunny when we got there, but when we left it was +11 and a torential down pour of warm rain.. perfect for melting snow/ice.. While we were gone a few small lakes on the side of the highway lost their ice (dark black on the drive in, open water 2 hours later on the way home).
Oh and yesterday there was no way I could drive my car through the campground, but we lost at least 6 inches of snow in 24 hours, and now its no problem!

Last edited by ATVenture (4/10/2017 2:46 pm)

**Posted by Coureur des Biere** 4/10/2017 9:06 pm

Thanks for the updates AT! Always nice to have some first hand reports from people on the ground.

I do think that Ice out for the opener is going to be close but knowing how the park has handled the opener the last 4 years (as Peek has mentioned before) I think it's more likely they will start letting us in on Friday April 28th as there BOONDOGGLING seems to suggest they like to open it to the public on Fridays.

But I really hope I am wrong on this one and its earlier for all those with vacation plans for the opener.

**Posted by Craiger05** 4/11/2017 8:41 am

It's OFFICIAL, the ice finally went out of my backyard rink west of Ottawa yesterday! Peak thickness was 9" in early Feb. Strong winds combined with the +23C temps finally broke the remaining ice cover. Technically there is still some ice chunks floating around, but you could safely navigate a toy boat from one end to the other, so it counts =)

Oh man do I need to start packing gear or something, the anticipation/cabin fever is clearly getting to me!!!
Here's hoping things start to really accelerate, and we're all in the park soon!!!

**Posted by RobW** 4/11/2017 12:42 pm

Craiger05 wrote:
It's OFFICIAL, the ice finally went out of my backyard rink west of Ottawa yesterday! Peak thickness was 9" in early Feb. Strong winds combined with the +23C temps finally broke the remaining ice cover. Technically there is still some ice chunks floating around, but you could safely navigate a toy boat from one end to the other, so it counts =)

If you have 9" of water, why don't you have a canoe in there already????

**Posted by ATVenture** 4/11/2017 3:01 pm

Callander Bay on Lake Nipissing will be ice free by the weekend. If I'm around there tomorrow I'll bring my camera and take a few pictures. When I went by today the ice was so dark it was hard to tell where the open water ended and the ice begun.

Very strange this year, usually Nipissing goes later than Opeongo!

**Posted by breed85** 4/12/2017 6:12 am

I was feeling pretty good about ice out... but this AO twitter post has kind of bummed me out.

https://twitter.com/algonquinoutfit/status/851933311928807425

Last edited by breed85 (4/12/2017 6:13 am)

**Posted by ATVenture** 4/12/2017 7:01 am

breed85 wrote:
I was feeling pretty good about ice out... but this AO twitter post has kind of bummed me out.

https://twitter.com/algonquinoutfit/status/851933311928807425

Crazy! I cannot get over how big of a difference 100km can make!

**Posted by Craiger05** 4/12/2017 7:08 am

The elevation difference never ceases to amaze me in terms of the impact it has. Source Lake is 100m+ higher than say Sand Lake at Kearney, or the reservoir at South River . . .

Agreed on Lake Nipissing though ATVenture, saw that on the MODIS image and was really surprised!

**Posted by ATVenture** 4/12/2017 7:26 am

Craiger05 wrote:
The elevation difference never ceases to amaze me in terms of the impact it has. Source Lake is 100m+ higher than say Sand Lake at Kearney, or the reservoir at South River . . .

Agreed on Lake Nipissing though ATVenture, saw that on the MODIS image and was really surprised!

I guess that's why its called the "Algonquin Highlands" Lmao!
I'll be back at Kiosk on the weekend, so I'll update with more photos then.

http://www.youtube.com/user/kayakcamper · **Posted by Uppa** 4/12/2017 7:40 am

breed85 wrote:
I was feeling pretty good about ice out... but this AO twitter post has kind of bummed me out.

https://twitter.com/algonquinoutfit/status/851933311928807425

Ugggggh. For the first time I'm getting nervous about my May 4th booking.

**Posted by RobW** 4/12/2017 8:08 am

breed85 wrote:
I was feeling pretty good about ice out... but this AO twitter post has kind of bummed me out.

https://twitter.com/algonquinoutfit/status/851933311928807425

That's about how much our cottage lake had 2 weeks ago an hour south of the park. That lake is still ice covered today (confirmed via webcam) and I'm really not expecting it to be open by the time we get up there on Friday. It might be open by the time we leave on Monday.

http://www.youtube.com/user/kayakcamper · **Posted by Uppa** 4/12/2017 9:49 am

RobW wrote:
That's about how much our cottage lake had 2 weeks ago an hour south of the park. That lake is still ice covered today (confirmed via webcam) and I'm really not expecting it to be open by the time we get up there on Friday. It might be open by the time we leave on Monday.

You're bumming me out Rob.

**Posted by Tripper** 4/12/2017 11:48 am

Just got back from the Park. Things are still very winter like there, especially with intermittent snow showers today. Snow still up to knees in spots and lots of ice. Not much has moved in the last week. Even small ponds and lakes, such as Mew, Eos, Ring-neck Pond, Eucali, are still ice covered.

Smoke, Canoe and LTR still lots of ice with very little movement away from shore. Tea hasn't progressed much past the campground but there is a stretch of open water coming from Bonita. The only spots on Smoke where there is open water is where Smoke Creek is or where the two culverts on the highway drain into the lake and those are small spots right now.

Spring Lake in Dwight is still ice covered and from my experience once it is free Canoe Lake is about 5-7 days behind. Cann Lake in Huntsville just went out today. Last year it went out on the 20th and ice out in the Park was around May 1st or 2nd.

From the pictures below of LTR it looks like there is more open water at the campground beach but in reality the water is a lot higher than it was last week so just looks like more. There is more open water though by the marsh and airfield.

Sorry if I bummed you out even more Uppa.

Mew Lake

Lake of Two Rivers

Canoe Lake

Canoe Lake

Tea Lake

http://www.youtube.com/user/kayakcamper · **Posted by Uppa** 4/12/2017 12:18 pm

Tripper wrote:
Just got back from the Park. Things are still very winter like there ....

Sorry if I bummed you out even more Uppa.

Seeing even a tiny little bit of open water gives me hope, although there's clearly a long way to go. A lot can happen in three weeks, but the long range forecast doesn't show anything all that promising.

**Posted by ATVenture** 4/13/2017 7:05 am

Uppa wrote:
Tripper wrote:
Just got back from the Park. Things are still very winter like there ....

Sorry if I bummed you out even more Uppa.

Seeing even a tiny little bit of open water gives me hope, although there's clearly a long way to go. A lot can happen in three weeks, but the long range forecast doesn't show anything all that promising.

The lake behind my house (round and about 1km from side to side) sure has gotten dark over the last two days even though the warmest it got was 4 degrees with no sun. I assume the ice will go out either later today or tomorrow sometime... it's open at least 30 feet from shore all around.
I'm not sure about 2016 but in 2015 the ice went out on that lake on April 20 and Opeongo was May 1st.

Last edited by ATVenture (4/13/2017 7:12 am)