Think again
First Crossing Of The Year With A Little More Explantion
by Jason St. Onge
There has been a lot of questions lately about how the ice-bridge works, if it’s ready, etc…I hope this clears some of that up.
Let me first say that the ice is not safe, it will never be safe and should be treated as something that changes by the hour, because it does. It is nothing like an inland lake that once you see fishing shanties on it, it’s good to go for the winter. The area of Lake Huron that is crossed is almost 200 feet deep in areas.
Today, three locals, including myself, made the 3.2 mile trek across the Straits of Mackinac to St. Ignace.
It’s funny when the names start flying around as we cross the ice. You hear, stupid, crazy, brave, and even lucky. I don’t feel that way at all. We don’t just close our eyes, press the throttle and go. No, that would be stupid and crazy. It is really a matter of physics. A certain amount of ice holds a certain amount of weight. When the thickness of the ice is not what we feel it needs to be to hold us, we turn around and go back. If we feel it is thick enough, we move on. Oddly enough some of the same folks who throw those names around are generally in our tracks within 24 hours, crossing themselves. I’m guessing that for them at least, it’s no longer any of the aforementioned.
How do we know how thick it is? Well, we walk the entire way with steel spears called “spuds” and we check the thickness every 10 to 12 feet by chopping through the ice until we hit water. This is a slow process, which is why it takes over two hours to walk the 3 miles of ice. After you get a ways (say 200 yards) you walk back and bring the snowmobiles up to that point. You never snowmobile where you haven’t walked and checked it. In certain areas, the ice is jagged and pushed up and that makes travel even slower. In other areas it is flat but void of snow like today, which makes it harder to walk.
How do we know when it’s time to go? Well, we don’t just puff up our chest and head out that, would be stupid. We have been watching the weather reports, monitoring the current, and keeping an eye on the winds. We start going out to the beach to check on how the ice is setting up. There is hard ice (black), soft ice, slushy ice, snow-ice. Ideally you want the clear black ice, as it is void of air bubbles unlike the white ice, or the snow ice which is just snow that blew into water and froze.
Two days ago, we made it a ¼ mile off shore before turning back, yesterday, 7/10 of a mile before turning back. Today we were able to go all the way. Certainly we take looks from above and ask friends who have been flying how it looks. However, the only way to check the ice is to chop a hole in it and see how thick it is. When I hear people say that it looks good from the airplane, or looks good from sunset rock, that doesn’t mean anything.
The biggest thing to remember is that is can change instantly. Just today in fact on our return trip, we went over a crack coming back that was 6 inches wide, that crack wasn’t there on the way over. Plenty of times, folks have crossed in the morning only to see the ice blow away or move out with current by the afternoon without warning.
What does all this mean? It’s not a tourist attraction. I don’t care how many miles of trails you have ridden or how many years you have been ice fishing on Houghton Lake. This is the big lake, it is moving and it is dangerous. The ice bridge should not be treated as “something I’ve always wanted to do” once it is in, the only certainty is uncertainty. The locals know who to ask, and how current conditions are treating it. Many tourist come up, see the trees and just head out, having no idea what lies ahead or if a large crack has opened up. The ice bridge is not sanctioned by anybody or any organization.
So then why do it? Freedom from a boat schedule, freedom to travel without worrying if the plane will fly, freedom to come and go at your own whim. Is the risk worth it? To some yes, but there are plenty of Islanders who won’t cross the ice.
Will it be there tomorrow? Not sure, the wind is blowing pretty hard right now, and the current was moving at a decent pace as well, in the same direction as the wind, so yes, by tomorrow morning, a large chunk or even all of it could be gone. The current is an amazing thing out there. I’ve been on the ice while the winds were flat calm and current was moving at 10 mph. I have been on the ice in 25mph winds and current was calm. (You check the current by cutting a hole in the ice, pushing some snow in and watching how fast and which direction it goes. You see this through the clear ice) Speaking of snow, there is a lot forecasted for tonight and into tomorrow, that could certainly wreak havoc on things as it has a tendency to insulate the ice from the cold air.
Well how thick is it? I have not, and will not go on record as to what thickness of ice we found today. As conditions change by the hour, I will never go on record as to how thick the ice is as where I was and where you may go are two entirely different places. I can tell you that the thickness is far from uniform. The thickness can vary by 4 inches in just 50 feet.
I hope this sheds some light on the situation and that anyone who may be heading up here just to “cross the ice-bridge” for a thrill, truly understands that it’s not really a bridge and is certainly not for the inexperienced. Please use caution and contact authorities who could at least tell you if it is still being utilized. Always remember, that once the ice gets bad, or if a section blows out, nobody goes out there and takes down the trees, so from one side or the other, it may look like things are normal, so always check with somebody.
And I cannot stress enough, the ice-bridge is never safe.