Wednesday -- January 10, 2018
Water Level at Little Falls: ICE     Water Temperature: 32

I must say that it has been an interesting week down here on the Island, A.K.A.,frozen tundra. It is so rare that we have this much ice on the river that it is hard to get used to. There is no river barrier around the Island now, and since people can just walk over here, it's like we're an extension of the Park. We haven't heard the sound of the ferry bell for ages, which is strange, and now I have to actually lock my front door.

This past Sunday was crazy. It was like the entire river was one big ice-skating rink with people coming and going in all directions. There were people on the ferry-landing stairs putting on their skates. There was a family camped out on the side of the ferry where they piled their coolers and packs. There was even a hockey game going on out in the middle of the river just down from Rupperts Island! Some brave souls courageously skated over to Virginia and others ventured down close to the dam.

That's when the police helicopter showed up, flying extremely low and barking out warnings to everyone. Party poopers. The police couldn't stop the fun and on Monday there was a person mountain biking across the river and yesterday there was an adrenaline junkie attempting to kite-skate. Sadly the incredibly perfect conditions that we had on Sunday couldn't last (the ice was so clear that schools of fish could be seen swimming below the surface.) and the smooth, black ice has turned to slush.

It was a little weird though, having all of these non-members strolling around on the Island, but what are you gonna do? Most people were very respectful and chill, and you can't blame them for being curious. Some people wanted to bring their dog into the clubhouse so Mary made a very polite, "Members Only" sign.

This deep freeze hasn't been all fun and games and I've had to stay on my toes to keep the pipes from freezing and to be ready for the possibility of crushing ice flows and flooding ice dams. When blocks of ice that are eight inches thick come rolling down the river at five miles an hour, it's no joke.

I moved all of the boats and life rings away from the shore in case of flooding. The two mini docks that are stuck in the ice will be at the mercy of the ice since I can't move them now.

My main concern is the ferry, and not only the ferry but the ropes and cables that support the ferry. Before the river froze I made sure to have the safety chains out of the water. That way I can detach them from the ferry and secure them safely on shore. I was afraid that if the chains were locked in an ice flow it could potentially bring down the overhead cable and even the support poles on the shore. I added another tether to the ferry and tied it tight to a tree, never under estimate the power of the river and it's ice flows. My motto this week is prepare for the worst, hope for the best.

The worst part about the river freezing is that we can no longer enjoy observing the abundance of winter water fowl that we had here last month. We still have our little buddies at the feeders, but gone are the small flocks of scaups, buffle heads and hooded merganzers. Even our resident geese have been forced to find open water somewhere else.

Sunday -- January 14, 2018
Water Level at Little Falls: 4.05     Water Temperature: 34

It may seem a little crazy but I let myself get stranded on the Island on Thursday night and I haven't been to the mainland for over two days. Coming and going on the Island can be a potentially dangerous issue when the river begins to freeze, and also when the river begins to thaw out again. We were able to walk to the Island last Sunday but with the forecast of warm weather and rain, walking on the ice would not be an option, and it was going to be a while before the ice was clear enough to run the ferry again. I had to make a choice, get stranded on the Island while I could still make the crossing, or get stranded off the Island and wait until I could canoe over. I have seen first-hand just how damaging and destructive ice flows can be, so, since I am such a dedicated caretaker, I sat on the Island, ready to jump in case of an ice-related emergency, like the ferry being crushed by ice. Also, since I would be worrying about what might happen while I was gone, getting trapped on the Island seemed better than being trapped off of the Island.

Thankfully, I did not run out of provisions and thankfully, the ice did a gradual melt and there were no major ice flows to worry about, whew! It was also a treat to be here for the awesome fog event. The air was so warm that it made the icy river look like a giant smoldering fire.

So here we are, one week after being able to walk across the river to Virginia, and the river is the highest it has been in months, muddy brown, and completely thawed out!

Watching the river has been a preoccupation of mine this week, not unlike most weeks, and when I heard that White's Ferry was running while our ferry was trapped in six inches of ice, I had to drive up there and take a look. I was expecting to see a narrow path through the frozen river for the ferry to pass through, but when I arrived there on last Thursday I saw a river that was completely ice-free! Seeing all of that open water in the bright sunshine made me a little concerned about our little ferry downstream. I didn't get it, how did the river ice disappear? Maybe the power plant upstream was warming up the river. Even stranger, I thought, was to hear that today, White's Ferry is closed because of ice and our ferry will be open.

Monday MLK Day -- January 15, 2018
Water Level at Little Falls: 3.74     Water Temperature: 32

Whites Ferry is closed again today because of ice, and our ferry is also closed today because of ice. All is as it should be.

The initial clearing of the ice took place on Saturday, and on Sunday the river was high and muddy but not Icy. Today is a totally different matter. Today the channel between the mainland and the Island is chuck full of giant pieces of ice that have congealed into one huge ice dam. While the rest of the river seems to be flowing fine, the channel has an inch of solid ice from beyond the top of the Island, all the way down past where the Island ends.

I really wasn't expecting the river to refreeze so quickly. I thought that the rising waters from the rain would keep the ice from reforming so I wasn't worried when I left for the night last evening. But, once again, the river has shown me that I need to learn to expect the unexpected. I arrived at the ferry landing this morning and my plans for an easy ferry ride were dashed. When I jumped onto the ferry it didn't budge and I realized that I might not be going home today.

I was about to climb back up the hill when I remembered an old trick that I used before. One time I used a bunch of members to stand on one end of the ferry so that I would be able to pop a wheelie, so to speak, and that way get on top of the ice where we could break it with the weight of the ferry. Well, today there were no members around and dancing with the ferry over dangerous ice was not something that I would ask a stranger to do. Again I was about to give up but instead I moved all of the roofing shingles and cinder blocks that I use to balance the ferry and put them at the back of the ferry. This counterweight got the front of the ferry above the ice and with the addition of my 135 pounds I was able to get the bow high enough, and up onto the ice. I was a little nervous leaving the safety of the mainland behind but I slowly and methodically heaved the ferry forward toward the Island, making ice-breaking noises the whole way. It took me almost an hour to push through the one hundred and fifty feet of ice, but I made it home safely. Thankfully there was little wind and no frostbite temperatures.

Wednesday -- January 18, 2018
Water Level at Little Falls: 4.07     Water Temperature: 32

The ferry is open. The ice in the channel is slowly melting and it looks like I'll be able to run the ferry today, unless a big slab of ice happens to break free and block the way again.
The cool thing is that as soon as the channel cleared up, two male hooded merganzers arrived and I watched as one of them ate a small fish that it had just caught in the cold murky waters. The way that they survive out there in the winter is just incredible.

Thursday -- January 18, 2018
Water Level at Little Falls: 3.89     Water Temperature: 32

The ferry is closed again today because of ice.

Friday -- January 19, 2018
Water Level at Little Falls: 3.6     Water Temperature: 32

The ferry is closed. For the second day in a row I woke up to find the ferry trapped in the ice. The weather forecast looks pretty good so I think the ferry may be running tomorrow but no promises. There is still a lot of ice in the channel between the Island and the mainland.

Sunday -- January 28, 2018
Water Level at Little Falls: 3.7     Water Temperature: 40

The river is ice-free and back to normal now but we have a thick fog above the water today. I guess the air is pretty warm.

A big "thank you" to Joe Cecil, our canoe supervisor, who has been working hard trying to organizing and reassigning the canoe racks. It's such a relief to finally get some of these boats sorted out. The good news is that we now have a few racks that are open and available for Club members to rent and store their boats. The bad news is that many of our long-time active members are no longer using the club and have given up on using their canoes and kayaks.

Many of these former members have offered to donate their boats to the Club so if you are looking to get a canoe or kayak, talk to me first. We have so many Club canoes and other canoes that were donated that I'm thinking of trying to sell them so that maybe we can purchase a paddle board.