5/8/11 – Sawbill Lake is ice free as of late afternoon today.

5/7/11 – Sawbill Lake is still iced over, but it is too thin and honeycombed to measure. I thought it would go out today, but now it looks like tomorrow. We found out yesterday the Kawishiwi Lake is ice free when we dropped off the first canoeing group of the season there. – Bill

Homer and Roy inspect the Sawbill Lake ice sheet.

As soon as there is open water near shore, Homer has to open the swimming season.

5/5/11 – A couple of warm days have made a big difference in the ice thickness on Sawbill Lake. We went from 15″ to 9″ in two days. Rain is forecast for today, followed by another warm, sunny day tomorrow, which should do the job.
Here is this week’s West End News from WTIP-FM, Cook County Community Radio. – Bill

You know ice-out is getting close when Andy has to stay in the canoe to drill the hole.

5/2/11 – One step forward and two steps back. Freezing temperatures overnight have stiffened up the ice on Sawbill Lake. If it were just a little smoother we could go ice skating. As I write this, it is 28 degrees, the north wind is howling, it’s snowing and the birds are lustily singing their territorial spring songs. – Bill

15″ of ice on Sawbill Lake. The first two inches are frozen solid again, then 10″ of slush and 3″ of solid ice at the bottom.

This scene is just as cold and bleak as it looks with a steady 20 mph north wind. But, as this picture was taken, there was someone camping in the Sawbill Lake campground with a canoe on their car and the Forest Service was working to get the campground water system functioning – both sure signs of spring.

4/30/11 – Here is the latest West End News from Cook County Community Radio WTIP-FM.

4/29/11 – Today we had to use a canoe to get out onto the Sawbill Lake ice sheet. Even 17′ from shore there is 6 – 8″ of slush on top of the ice. A little farther out though, I could stand on the top and drill a hole. – Bill

16.5″ of ice left. Only about the bottom 4″ is solid though. The upper foot is quite honeycombed.

The view looking north up Sawbill Lake. Pretty slow paddling conditions.

The landing is pretty clear.

4/24/11 – The ice on Sawbill Lake measured 19.5″ today. The first 14″ is pretty flimsy, so I expect we’ll make some fast progress toward liquidity now. – Bill

The official measurement.

Luke, Phoebe and Roy take an exuberant hike on the lake.

The first rainbow of the season.

4/23/11 – This is the winter that just won’t quit. It is hard to believe that we will be canoeing in just a couple of weeks! – Bill

Sawbill store and outfitting building seems to be solidly in winter’s embrace. Four inches of fresh snow this morning.

This is the view from the driveway in front of the store toward the Sawbill Lake canoe landing at 7 A. M. this morning.

4/20/11 – We measured the ice on Sawbill Lake at 22″ last night. The ice “floated up” last week. Floating up is the phenomenon that typically occurs a couple of weeks before the ice melts completely. At a certain point the ice becomes porous enough that it changes its specific density and spontaneously rises up about 12 – 18″. This happens when the edges have thawed enough to release the ice sheet.
This year, it floated up right at the end of big warm spell. Since then it has turned quite cold and snowed again, so the water around the edges has refrozen and the main ice sheet has firmed up.
Things can change very fast at this time of year, which makes predicting ice behavior very difficult. – Bill

Our second crew member of the season, Luke Opel, mans the auger as we test the ice thickness on Sawbill Lake. This is Luke’s second season on the Sawbill crew. He hails from Apple Valley, Minnesota.

4/17/11 – 5″ of snow on the ground this morning. The temperature didn’t get above freezing yesterday. Don’t worry, spring will come! – Bill
This week’s Cook County West End News from WTIP-FM North Shore Community radio.