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Signs of Spring

4/17/26 – Over the course of the last seven days it seems spring, and eventually paddling season, is on it’s way! To catch you up here are some of the milestones met since our last update…

Sunday: Notable rain started off the party and resulted in quite a bit of water on-top of the ice.

Water flowing off the lake toward shore.
360° on Sawbill Lake Sunday afternoon.

Monday: The rain and fog lifted, which allowed the sun to get in on the melting party.

Tuesday: Back to drizzle and fog. First robin sighting of the season.

Scene from the canoe unloading area near the landing Tuesday afternoon.

Wednesday: Pretty much all the ice has melted off the Sawbill Trail (all winter it is more of an ice road than a gravel road). First geese of the season heard and then spotted in a calm area of the Sawbill Creek. Patches of ground now exposed here and there, although the majority still snow covered.

Mediocre picture of geese chilling in the Sawbill Creek courtesy of a phone/binocular combo.

Thursday: Water has now drained into and off of the ice. My test hole revealed about 29″ of ice from top to bottom, with some pretty notable layers. The top 12″ was more like dense slush/honeycombed ice that supported my weight, flowed by a pocket of water amounting to about an inch, and then 16″ of solid ice.

Tools of the trade.

The forecast over the next few days looks comparatively much cooler, but good progress has been made none the less! -Jessica