Early Spring Continues

It's hard to imagine that the lake could be open in late March, but here is the proof:

After lighting the bread oven fire, I walked down to the landing, and then to our point.  The eye cannot see far, due to the light fog, but from all accounts, no ice remains to the west on Gunflint Lake.  To the east is another story:

I find it interesting that it has not pulled away from shore as much in this direction.  The wind hasn't come up strong, so the ice isn't moving and pushing as much as it does in some years.  Those are the dramatic times in ice-out history. Watching the slabs push up on shore, knocking over young trees and moving rocks is pretty awesome.  It's much quieter this year. 

The overnight temps still remain above freezing.  I noticed my little tulips nosing their way through the ground.  The rhubarb is showing red nubs, the precursor to the long shoots yet to come.  Everywhere there is water running, in the ditches, the culverts and the creeks.  We received some rain in the last couple of days, for which everyone is grateful. The sun is scheduled to return tomorrow, but the temps are not supposed to be as high as they had been. 

As I've mentioned over the last few days, I feel ill-prepared for the speed of Mother Nature as of late.  Obviously, I am not alone in this.

When a creature such as this snowshoe hare depends on its camoflauge to hide from predators, it must come as a shock to be caught so unawares.  Driving down the road recently, it was easy to spot four of these dudes.  Some guests reported seeing more than a dozen.  The first few were a novelty, and then they were popping up everywhere!  These folks also got to see a pack of wolves, and a cow moose with her yearling.  It's good to know that the animals are still out and about. 

While I might rather be skiing the trails right now, the hike I took up to the South Rim on Tuesday was quite nice nonetheless.  Wearing just a sweatshirt over my tee shirt, I actually was getting hot while hiking.  The view was spectacular, and again, I could see evidence of plant life awakening.  It's good to be headed into this new season.