Skating to Wolfe Island
Feb. 13th, 2010 06:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bare_bearOh man, today was an EPIC ADVENTURE!
We went skating alright, skating across Lake Ontario (or part of it, at least), up to Wolfe Island. I made it most of the way across on skates, but between my feet killing me, and the ice getting really rough, I ditched the skates for shoes the last 1/4 of the way.
Man, was the ice beautiful. It was soooo clear, you could see the bottom of the lake closer to shore. SCARY AS HELL, but so amazing. Now, of course, this makes coming across all the fricken cracks in the ice adding to that scary as hell part, but after a while, I began to appreciate them, because at least then you were able to tell how thick the ice was. It seemed to vary between 6-10 inches thick, but there were some parts that I swear were much thinner. At one point, my skate got caught in a crack, AND THE ICE CREAKED AND SHIFTED AND I SAW THE CRACK OPEN UP A TINY BIT.
I sort of freaked out, and spent the next half hour skaking like a leaf.
The only other time I was worried was when we came across a recent ice heave, and there was slush and standing water all around it. At first we tried going around it, but eventually just went over it. It was here that I switched from skates to my shoes (which, by the way, has absolutely no grip on them), since my feet were aching. It was slow going after that, but still so much fun.
And then we reached the island right near a convenience store that not only had hot chocolate, but also a liquor store right next door, so we spiked our Baileys with hot chocolate and started walking to the ferry.
Of course, that's when we realized it was 4 km away.
Luckily, one of the girls with us had flirted with an old guy with a truck outside the convenience store, and he happened to be the 2nd truck we tried hitchhiking with! Had a pleasantly cold ride in the back of the truck, enjoying our hot chocolate and laughing at the situation, before hoping a ride across the lake in a ferry (they have turbines going under the water at this point to keep the ice clear).
All in all, a fabulous day!
Of course, I'm sure I'll be cursing it tomorrow when I can't move and my bruised up shin and knee starts complaining loudly, but oh well. :D
We went skating alright, skating across Lake Ontario (or part of it, at least), up to Wolfe Island. I made it most of the way across on skates, but between my feet killing me, and the ice getting really rough, I ditched the skates for shoes the last 1/4 of the way.
Man, was the ice beautiful. It was soooo clear, you could see the bottom of the lake closer to shore. SCARY AS HELL, but so amazing. Now, of course, this makes coming across all the fricken cracks in the ice adding to that scary as hell part, but after a while, I began to appreciate them, because at least then you were able to tell how thick the ice was. It seemed to vary between 6-10 inches thick, but there were some parts that I swear were much thinner. At one point, my skate got caught in a crack, AND THE ICE CREAKED AND SHIFTED AND I SAW THE CRACK OPEN UP A TINY BIT.
I sort of freaked out, and spent the next half hour skaking like a leaf.
The only other time I was worried was when we came across a recent ice heave, and there was slush and standing water all around it. At first we tried going around it, but eventually just went over it. It was here that I switched from skates to my shoes (which, by the way, has absolutely no grip on them), since my feet were aching. It was slow going after that, but still so much fun.
And then we reached the island right near a convenience store that not only had hot chocolate, but also a liquor store right next door, so we spiked our Baileys with hot chocolate and started walking to the ferry.
Of course, that's when we realized it was 4 km away.
Luckily, one of the girls with us had flirted with an old guy with a truck outside the convenience store, and he happened to be the 2nd truck we tried hitchhiking with! Had a pleasantly cold ride in the back of the truck, enjoying our hot chocolate and laughing at the situation, before hoping a ride across the lake in a ferry (they have turbines going under the water at this point to keep the ice clear).
All in all, a fabulous day!
Of course, I'm sure I'll be cursing it tomorrow when I can't move and my bruised up shin and knee starts complaining loudly, but oh well. :D
