Walking in a Winter Water Land
Tuesday, December 20th, 2011
Guest post by: Brenda Culler
Everyone has a favorite water place. It might be the serenity of a flowing backyard fountain. It might be a silver stream slinking through a woody glade beneath the wooden footpath crossed on a sunrise walk. For others, a steamy shower at the end of another day in paradise does the trick.
For me, it’s Lake Erie. And it doesn’t matter how hot, or cold, it gets.
Finding the WOW factor in the icy solitude starts with a lake vista of the pristine blue sky— absent the summer haze—mingling with opaque whiteness on the horizon. Then, like a whip cracking the silence, ripples of giggles ring into the air as you share with the child in your life the world of a frozen sandscape.
Because aside from flipping out the flops for boots and replacing the string suits for ones with a little more fluff and fuzz, many of your favorite summer beach toys can double-up for buckets of winter fun.
Castles in the snow
It seems that rolling snowballs was much easier when I was a kid. It’s not the bending over, the getting wet knees or the pushing or shoving—that’s all part of the free stress relief session that comes with an outdoor winter workout. It’s the snow. It just doesn’t seem to stick together like it did when I was a kid. So instead of the frustrating task of rolling snow into giant balls, break out the beach bucket, fill it up, flip it over and voila– the beginnings of a snowman, woman, child or castle.
Snow can be packed into just about any container that has a wider mouth than bottom so the snow slips out with ease. My girls and I have used containers of all shapes and sizes to make snow castles along with our traditional sand buckets, peanut butter jars and whatever other plastic containers that we reuse after the inside food product is gone. And if you’re at the shore and there’s no snow– not to worry. You can still make winter castles in the sand.
Fun Cubed
One time, we accidently left our 13-gallon kitchen trash can outside before we left home for a few days. It was near a leaking roof overhang. It caught a lot of water. Then Mother Nature worked her frigid magic lowering the temperature to “really, really, cold” and then snowed on top of the frozen water. When I went to dump the snow out, to our surprise a giant ice cube fell out instead. Who knew it could be so much fun. We stood on it, sat on it. Slid on it. Hit it. Kicked it and just let our imaginations go. The girls tried sculpting it with the aid of sticks. That didn’t work so well so they tried hammers and screwdrivers. Michelangelo needn’t be jealous of their “masterpiece,” but it still was fun.
The same beach buckets used for making snow castles can make cool– but slightly less gigantic—ice cube sculptures. And if you have enough of the smaller containers, you can make a bunch of frozen ice blocks, stack them up in a tower, then have your own carnival game by throwing baseballs, snowballs, or that leftover Halloween pumpkin, to see who can knock it down. It’s easier to make frozen ice sculptures in your own back yard because beach buckets of water will take a few days to freeze and you can’t leave them waiting to freeze in public places.
Ice Mountains and Sand Molehills
Back at the beach—a frozen lake is a fun lake to view. Everyone should take at least one winter trip to see a frozen funland. When Lake Erie freezes, it starts with a thin glaze of ice. The lake is so big, those may be localized patches of ice sheets which creek up and down on the water in a slow motion bob. The more consecutive cold days in a row, the larger the patch of ice and the thicker the ice will become- eventually, getting locked in solid (especially in the Western Basin). But until then, the ‘little’ sheets of ice, which can be bigger than football fields, get pushed by the wind and can slide on top of each other into piles. Under the right conditions, those piles can grow into magical winter mountains 15 feet high or more. Along the shore, the frozen ice sheets and piles push the sand into molehills too which are much safer to climb on. (The ice sheets can be stacked like Jenga blocks, one moves and the mountain falls down).
Walking on (frozen) Water
If you want to venture out in the middle of the lake, walk to an island, or even toss in a line for some ice fishing, remember there is no such thing as 100 percent safe ice! Four inches of new clear ice is the MINIMUM thickness for travel on foot. And just because the ice is 4 inches thick in one spot, does not mean it will be for the entire water body. Lake Erie does not freeze all at once or to the same thickness. The Western Basin may be locked in solid ice a foot thick while there is open water just 300 feet offshore in the Huron area. There are other factors that can also make ice unsafe including freezing and thawing (honeycomb ice) and water flowing under the ice.
Before venturing out on frozen water.
- Check for known thin ice areas with a local resort or bait shop or test the thickness yourself using an ice chisel, ice auger or even a cordless 1/4 inch drill with a long bit. For your first time(s) out on the ice, consider hiring an experienced ice guide so you can be sure to get home safely.
- Wear a life vest under your winter gear, or wear one of the new flotation snowmobile suits.
- Carry a pair of ice picks. They can be homemade or purchased from most well stocked sporting goods stores that cater to winter anglers.
More ice safety tips can be found at: www.ohiodnr.com/tabid/2884/Default.aspx. Typing “Ohio DNR Ice Safety Tips” into a search engine will bring up the Division of Watercraft ice safety page on this topic as one of the first few links!
Winter is a colorful world
Those squirt guns that are so much fun in the summer can become magic wands of winter color. Simply fill them with hot water and a few drops of liquid food coloring. You can turn the piles of snow into what look like giant snowcones in a few minutes. Writing names, hearts and the proverbial peace sign will be sure to happen. If you don’t have squirt guns, squirt bottles and spray bottles work great and they take away some of the temptation of shooting a person with colorful water. A few tips— make sure the water is as hot as you can get it coming out of the faucet. If the squirt bottle is outside too long without being squirted, the water will freeze in the portion of the gun or bottle that does the squirting first. Just take it back inside and let it thaw to get it working again. And if you really want to gross out your friends, make your own yellow snow, then eat it.
Finding Things
Remember those sand molehills? Chances are the winter movement of sand, water and ice along the shore has uncovered some cool rocks and beach glass. Bring along a few empty bags and/or your beach buckets while strolling the shore. Three bags/containers work best—one for trash, one for recyclables, and one for finds. One or two cool rocks, pieces of beach glass, lucky stones (aka fish ears) serve as free souvenirs.
Finding things with your eyes and a camera is also fun. Birds can be spotted in large numbers at times—especially if you go to a Lake Erie public access site near a power plant’s warm-water discharge. Birds flock to these areas as the water usually won’t be frozen. (Note: the ice is not safe to walk on near these areas!) Cameras will catch all the smiles!
Warming it up
A game of winter Frisbee can get you running, warm you up, and be just as fun as in the summer sun.
Your beach blanket can still serve its purpose if you need a minute to rest (only instead of just separating your bottom from the sand, it can be wrapped around you for warmth.)
And a day of exploring the winter beach world wouldn’t be complete without a cooler—or should I say warmer—of food. Coolers that keep stuff cold in the summer can keep stuff warm in the winter. Liquid thermoses work the same. So how cool will you look to your kids if you unpack a beach lunch of hot soup and warm toasted cheese sandwiches followed by steaming hot chocolate and marshmallows! The key to keeping the hot stuff hot is to get the soup and hot chocolate boiling before you put it into the thermos. You can also put the thermoses in a cooler for added warmth. Toasted cheese sandwiches and hot dogs can be made and wrapped individually in tin foil. Then take all the sandwiches and wrap them together in a towel before putting in the cooler. Once stuff is in the cooler, keep the warmth in by not cracking the lid until you are ready for yum!
And don’t forget the sunscreen…
If you are a summer burner, it’s a good idea to put a light coating of sunscreen on your cheeks, nose and any other exposed body part before heading to the winter wonderland. There are a lot of UV rays bouncing off the snow and ice and right back at you. Sunglasses are also a good idea. Cold temps and sun can cause lips to dry, so apply a lip balm before you go out and re-apply while on site if you’re out for a long day.
Now go explore the outdoors. Detailed information and maps of Ohio’s 166 public access sites on Lake Erie can be found here. Take lots of pictures! And if you post them on Facebook, tag “Ohio’s Lake Erie” in them so I can see them!
Category : guest post
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