My nonna used to terrify me with a story of falling through thin ice on a Massachusetts’s pond. Despite growing up on figure skates, I won’t skate across a lake unless it’s been below zero for 3 weeks or more. I’m definitely risk adverse when it comes to ice.

Pea Soup and Deep Cracks

Saturday’s fog and ice on Cross Lake in Pine City was ethereal and amazing–thick, too. We spent the whole day shoveling, exploring, sluicing, and drying off. Once the snow melted, I found sea weed suspended in ice, intricate waves of cracks, and a few deep cracks. With 8 inches of ice, I felt pretty safe.