To the Lake & Back

Last weekend Michele and I went out to Fish Lake for a quick run. It's only about 5-6 miles one way to the lake so it doesn't take much time. Since we haven't had much snow in the last month it is like a four lane highway going there. No chance of getting lost on the way. Below is a photo journey there and back.

This is were the real journey begins on the other side of Malliq island. This is were there is a long line of Inukshuks on a ridge. You can just see a snowmobile going through the pressure ice. A couple of times on our trip we had to wait for other travellers to get through.

Entering the pressure ice is always the scary part of the trip.

We came out of the first bit of pressure ice with overflow areas on both sides. These are areas that have cracked open and sank far enough for the water to flow out of it. Typically they are very slushy because of the salt in the water.

One of the many cabins in this area. That isn't a power line you see to the side it's a clothesline. No power out here. One of the cabins in this area is were the teenager was shot a couple of weeks ago.

Some folks camping and fishing on Fish Lake.

This fishing hole was hand chiseled into the ice. The ice in this area is five feet thick. With the freshly chipped ice pile we were able to suck on the ice for a refreshing drink.

You can see one of the ice chisels in this photo. It is the long slender pole to the right. The snow forts you see are used to block the sun from reflecting in the hole. That way you can see to the bottom of the lake and when fish go by the bottom. Those aren't packs on the ice it is Inuit laying down and looking in the holes.

We are now on our way back and the next photos are from travelling through the pressure ice.

The Ice in these photos, forced up by the tides and pressure, are the size of houses.

This piece was about 4 meters height (15 feet).

Didn't know why all the tracks divided and went around this area but when travelling in Pressure Ice it's better to keep to the statis quo.

That is a ridge of pressure ice we had just came down. The lines you see aren't tracks they are cracks in the ice. The ridge is about 7 1/2 meters high (30 feet).

Nothing special just a pretty piece of ice.

We are on top of a ridge of pressure ice about to go down. This was a long stretch of pressure ice to go through.

Crack at the top.

And on and on...

Wall of ice caused by the tides in the area.

Hard to see but this is looking at Cape Dorset on Dorset island from Malluq island. A version of this photo now graces the top of the blog.

The entire trip including hanging out at Fish lake was about two hours of time on a Saturday afternoon. Great fun.