Ice cutting

We put up 83 cakes of ice on Friday. Each cake was 15" x 15" x 30" and weighed around 150 pounds each. Not bad for our first annual ice cutting event. We planned on two days, but had it done in one.

We'll see in the summer how well we really did!

Trail Conditions

The trail from here to NE Carry is in very good shape considering the traffic it's been getting. Groomed parts of it yesterday, cleaned up turns/curves, and put some signs back up that a moose decided to dine on. Packed powder until today. Temperature is hovering around 30F and a light drizzle. Hopefully we don't see too much rain.

The Lobster Trip road is plowed, but there is plenty of snow on the sides of the road. Groomed a 4' wide trail on each shoulder of the road. As soon as they are done hauling wood, we"ll widen the size of the trail.

Ice Harvest 2010

If you follow the webcam you've noticed us snow blowing the lake. It's not for ice skating, it's for ice cutting. We will be putting up ice for next summer in our ice house in the barn. So in August when it's 85F we can enjoy some of our homemade root beer with ice out of the lake.

Over the last 2 weeks we've been keeping an eye on the ice, drilling, and cutting it up. Right now it's the right thickness and ready to cut. It's 15" thick now and the ice cakes will be 15"x 15"x30" when finished. We'll need around 100 cakes to fill the ice house.

So keep watching, we'll take photos and post some video to youtube. The first annual Chesuncook Lake Ice Harvest begins!

Chesuncook to Caucomgomoc Dam

More trails, 28.25 miles round trip

Chesuncook Village to the Trains & Tramway

From here to there. 22 miles each way.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=106507245598943280745.00047d4952ea997ed4a0f&ll=46.193616,-69.374542&spn=0.296595,0.727158&t=h&z=11

NE Carry to Chesuncook Village Trail

It's official. The trail from NE Carry to Chesuncook Village is 24.5 miles and for the most part is groomed. Parts of the trail are on plowed roads for the next 3-4 weeks. We will be grooming the south side of those roads while the loggers are working in the area.

TRUCKS/VEHICLES AND EQUIPMENT HAVE THE RIGHT OF WAY! SNOWMOBILES 15 MPH IN THESE AREAS.

Here is a description of the trail:

From the Moosehead Loop just 1 mile SE of Raymond's Store North East Carry the trail heads
1. East on the HALFWAY BROOK RD.
2. North on the BURBANK/#1 RD.
3. West on the LOBSTER TRIP RD to the POULIN RD.
4. West on the POULIN RD across the GOLDEN RD.
5. North on the PINE STREAM ROAD to Chesuncook Village.

We will be grooming and signing this trail today and tomorrow. The Landowner has given us permission to use these roads while they are logging. THEY HAVE THE R.O.W. Stay on the marked trail and keep alert and travel no faster than 15mph in these areas of multiple use.

Sunny and crisp

-14F this morning. The house was cracking when the sun hit it. With no wind every time the sun shines on a building,and south side of trees you hear them crack and expand from the heat after a bitter cold night. Not a cloud in the sky last night and stars where bright and just about on the ground.

The lake ice is around 14" and looks like there are number of cracks this morning not to mention a pressure ridge that is different this year, there is one right in the middle of the lake running north - south. Generally the pressure ridge out front runs east- west. If you look at the web cam you'll see steam rising from the lake in some spots. That's where the ice has cracked and water comes to the surface, and with these low tempurtures it appears as steam.

Trail grooming begins.

Groomed from the Lake House to the Golden Road yesterday. Great run. The trail setup perfect from the packing down we did last week, without the drag. Some place had 3-4' of snow, you don't realize it until you get off trail. We were putting trail signs up and wished we had packed some snow shoes, "didn't look that deep"!

Weather, trails, fishing

Didn't get the wallop of snow that was forecasted, but we did pick up 8-10' of fluff and now it sleeting. That crust of sleet is keeping the snow in place, if not the 10-20 mph wind would be blowing everywhere. This brings our total of snow on the ground to around 18" deep, with drifts up to 3' deep.

Should be able to groom in the next day or two. Fishing has been slow, we'll try it again today. Ice thickness is 10-12" good clear ice.