Excited to see Dark Ice

For me, the real sign of spring in the Lakes Area is when the ice goes off the lakes.  Oh sure, the snow is gone, and sunshine has some real warmth to it.  The grass is even green in places, but an ice covered lake is usually the last remnant of winter here.

In this region of Minnesota I think the average ice out date is somewhere around April 18th.  This year's winter seemed long so it's really no surprise that there is still several inches of ice on most of the large lakes. 

Now this week it gets exciting...

The ice is getting darker.

You see, this ice-out stuff goes through stages.

• First we get a couple warm days and most of the snow on top of the ice disappears.  (This is my favorite time to get in as much ice fishing as possible as the pan fish really start biting again.)
• The next few warm days and the ice will melt along the shore. 
• Then you start to see large areas of open water near inlets & outlets.
  But the real real exciting change...

The ice goes dark.

 You know it won't be long now.  OK.  Maybe this isn't the most exciting thing for everyone.  I think it's cool, (no pun intended).  The ice is no longer boring white, but a dark, deep, slate-grey.  It really is a hard color to describe.  Perhaps it is more of a feeling.  The end is near.  One good rain or a windy day and the cracks appear; growing larger each day until the end of winter is nothing but slush along the shoreline.

This week the ice went dark.

Goodbye winter.