I knew when I stepped outside to shovel the snow earlier this morning that it was going to be a great day for lake swimming. I was expecting the air temperature to be in the 12F range per the overnight forecast. Much to my delight, it was a quite tolerable 24F with no wind at all!
Nick and Mike were already at Tower Beach surveying the swim site. The ice floes and slush layers had drifted away from the shoreline, so we had a narrow swim lane if we went parallel to the shore. We made it to about the 1/4 mile mark before we ran into some impenetrable ice layers. By then, the ice had also moved in towards the shore. So we had to do some zigzagging on the way back to avoid the rougher patches.
Overall, it was a very easy swim other than the occasional ice obstacles. And once again, we were perfectly comfortable in the water with the exception of our fingertips. And even these didn’t get cold until the halfway point.
Happy Groundhog Day (and belated Xmas)!
Winter road
The scene at Tower Beach
At the halfway point
Nick and Mike in the slush!
Playing with the icicles
Happy to be done!
This morning’s video compilation (with a Xmas-like feel)