I live in western Maine and
Can post when my lake ice starts to candle. The sugar season is a flop. Last year ice out April 22. Might be May 1. We’ll see
How thick is the ice right now?
It must be thicker than in most years with temperatures like there have been. So even if the temperature starts rising now, there must be a LOT of ice to melt. That’s why I’m saying no paddling until June.
Don’t really know
Two feet at least
Lakes have been insulated with snow so if the snow melts (and when) light can get in will determine the date. I doubt ice has been much affected by temps with the snow there.
Great video
How come no hiking poles??
I agree
I haven’t done anything remotely resembling an epic trip this winter, but I’ve gone out in some of our wonderful local marshlands/swamplands using snowshoes quite a bunch of times. Winter hiking is a lot like warm-season boating. Both activities let you see places and seasonal moods that you’d never imagine otherwise. In winter I don’t miss boating at all - I’m enjoying the stuff you can only do in winter to much to think about that. And that’s without even coming close to high-level adventures!
You come deal with my driveway
I’m a little tired of having to wear crampons to the mailbox sice Dec 24.
Don’t get me started on the Christmas decorations . The extension cord is solidly frozen under feet of snow. At least hiding eggs for Easter will be easy
Just insert and pat the snow even. Some might get found at the end of May
If that is an offer to
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come and take care of my driveway if I do yours we have a deal! But, you should be careful what you wish for.
Tell me - can we post a link to a youtube video that you can click to view the video? I thought we could do that but now I can't recall how.
Posting links
I’m pretty sure the only problem is the “https” in your link. I bet if you eliminated the “s” (which someone here said stands for “secure connection”), the link will become click-able.
Someone else!
No extension cord but the Christmas decorations that are in planters may be there into April. I lifted the mass yesterday and they are still a frozen block, so I can’t separate the save-for-next-year reusable stuff from the balsam cuttings. I did the decorating the second week of December.
yes - that did it
thanks for the tip.
In MN
It’s looking like a late season again in MN as well. Last year it was mid to late May on the lakes in the northern half of the state. The St. Croix river was early May as I recall, but it was running to high and fast, between 30k and 35K cfs which is too much for me.
Never been to Maine, but…
I can’t imagine anywhere in the world being “the only place you want to paddle”. Sounds like you need to schedule a road trip to explore other areas of the US. No matter where you go, you can find some great paddling spots. Just like surfers and their “endless summer” rhetoric and how they travel around following summer. Skiers do it too. That’s what I’ll be doing when my son gets a little older - old enough to join me.
Ice still here in NJ
All lakes are still frozen, with the exception of Round Valley Reservoir which is frozen in the bays and open deeper waters are ice free. Passaic River has been open from upstream of the Dundee dam. Have tentative plans to go paddling today in the Passaic.
Who is this for?
Can’t see anyone above that would be the source of your quote.
That said, we paddle elsewhere plus Maine, but it is hard to deny the sheer amount of good paddling (all types) to be had in Maine. It just takes a bunch of driving to get to a lot of it.
For up to date information
given by folks actually there, the State maintains an ice out date page.
Its updated daily as each lake opens. Check for your waterbody here
http://www.maine.gov/dacf/parks/archive/programs/boating/ice_out.html
Last update was in April… so you can conclude indeed that currently nothing is open.
i hate assuming
but the original post inferred (unless I misunderstood) that the paddling season would be shortened because of the bitterly cold winter causing a lengthier freeze. All I was saying was to get around that, you have to open your travel options.
Makes sense
I figured that was your assumption. It also makes sense that many people do most of their paddling close to home. I myself paddle several hundred miles a year within 100 miles of home (mostly within 60 miles), and typically am able to take only about four to five days per year of paddling-related vacation time, which perhaps is the reason I don’t assume traveling is a logical solution to the “problem” for any certain individual (I put “problem” in quotes because I myself am not bothered by a shortened paddling season at all, as already noted).
Hadn’t thought of that
But it could be sheer time and luxury to travel. Much of the best paddling in Maine is a heck of a drive. That means to get out of Maine as well as to get into it. We go to midcoast each year for some amount of time, and it is a once-there-stay-put kind of vacation. I regularly have offers to play (music) back around home while we are there, but it is just too long a haul to come back for a pickup concert.
Not disagreeing with the paddling-thing,
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there is a lot of water around, and as GBG mentioned..and I can attest to..."close to home" is at the top of the list, wherever you are, but don't know about the skiing-thing, you don't often see that many good skiers saving up their paychecks to go to Iowa, Nebraska, Oklahoma...etc...to get their pow fixes...mmulvey.;-) ...although give the climate a little time...farmland needs water..
*AND after all the driving, Celia, one still has to put up with the stupid fees.