Dick Herfindahl, Woods & Water

As you already should have noticed the lakes and ponds are starting to get a thin layer of ice on them. Please be aware that the ice is not yet safe for human traffic of any kind. I know there will be those adventurous, careless few who will try to venture out for that first ice catch. You need to ask yourself if there is any fish worth risking your life? Hopefully that answer would be no.

I have mentioned before of my venturing out onto the slough north of town in early winter in search of the next big adventure. This was only after I knew that the ice was plenty thick enough to hold me. Even then there were all the cattails and bull rushes that were sticking up through the ice. Getting close to them could mean an instant boot full of water because the ice never really seemed to freeze around them.

I can still remember the feeling you got when walking on ice so clear and thin that you could see the water flowing beneath it. There was sort of a sinking feeling (pun intended) that you got the very moment the ice started to creak and crackle and soon began to sag beneath your feet. The moment you realized that things were about to go bad there was that split second of panic just before the natural reflex of trying to get to a safer spot on the ice took over. This is not a good feeling but as kids on a “crick” we never considered it life-threatening, just more of an adventure ending disaster. Once the boots were full of water and the pant legs were beginning to resemble two pieces of blue plywood it was time to head home.

Just thinking about the time spent trying to thaw out and all the pain that came with it when you started to warm up gives me the goose bumps. That was never a pleasant time, and as I neared home with my frozen pant legs crackling in the cold winter air I dreaded the thought of thawing out by the heat register knowing full well that pain was ahead. Even though my mother would do her best to assure me that it wouldn’t last forever I had a sneaking suspicion that she was probably asking herself: “Will he ever learn?” For some reason it seemed like every time was more painful than the last. I guess I wasn’t such a fast learner when it came to staying dry outdoors in the winter.

I think that like most kids I was oblivious to the cold and wet as long as I was doing something. But as soon as there was a lull in the action and reality started to sink in, I knew the fun was over and it was time to head for home.

As far as the answer to the question when is ice safe? There really is no sure answer. You can’t judge the strength of ice just by its appearance, age, thickness, temperature or whether or not the ice is covered with snow. Strength is based on all these factors — plus the depth of water under the ice, size of the water body, water chemistry and currents, the distribution of the load on the ice and local climatic conditions.

With this in mind the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has offered the following guidelines about ice thickness for new, clear ice only.

2 inches or less: Not enough to hold any weight

4 inches: Ice fishing or other activities on foot

5 inches: Snowmobile or ATV

8 to 12 inches: Car or small pickup

12 to 15 inches: Medium truck

Remember that these thicknesses are merely guidelines for new, clear, solid ice. Many factors other than thickness can cause ice to be unsafe.

Checking ice thickness

No matter what you are going to do once you get on the ice, like fishing, snowmobiling, skating or even ice boating, it’s a good idea to contact a local bait shop or resort on the lake about ice conditions. It’s also important to do some checking yourself once you get there. Several factors affect the relative safety of ice, such as temperature, snow cover and currents. But a very important factor is the actual ice thickness. There are various ways to check the thickness of the ice according to the DNR. The first is the old hand chisel, which only requires a minimum monetary investment but a fair amount of work. Then there is the ice auger, which most ice fishermen now have. Another way of checking is the cordless drill. It only requires a wood bit of about 8 inches and will cut through the ice with relative ease. You will need a tape measure to check the actual thickness.

All of these methods are useful ways of checking the ice thickness but the DNR reminds us that you still need to remember that ice is seldom the same thickness over a single body of water. It can be 2-feet thick in one place and 1-inch thick a few yards away due to currents, springs, rotting vegetation or school of rough fish. You need to check the ice at least every 150 feet, especially early in the season or any situation where the thickness varies widely.

White ice, sometimes called snow ice, is only about one half as strong as new clear ice so the above thicknesses should be doubled. Vehicles weighing about one ton such as cars, pickups or SUVs should be parked at least 50 feet apart and moved every two hours to prevent sinking. It’s not a bad idea to make a hole next to the car. If water starts to overflow the top of the hole, the ice is sinking and it’s time to move the vehicle.

Until next time, stay off the thin ice and above all enjoy the great outdoors.

Remember our brothers and sisters who are proudly serving our country so that we can enjoy the freedoms that we have today.

Dick Herfindahl’s outdoors column appears in Friday’s Tribune.