Final day 2011

Road is plowed from mill hill to top of maple hill. The rest of the road has about 8 inches of snow. Heavy coating of snow on the trees. Heavy slush on the lake under the snow. The skating rink is 'giganticus'.

Apparently Elephant Lake Lodge has or is becoming a childrens camp. Not presently in operation. No snowmachines seen on lake. Some distance from the shore, the ice is 4 inches thick.

Nice

9 am. No turtles in sight.

White holiday

About 2 inches of snow last night. Lake is froze to the far shore, but probably too thin for walking.

Black and white cat

The black and white cat is still roaming around the island. Unfortunately it won't approach people and when food is left out for it, the racoons pounce on the food. Racoon population seems to be very high this winter.

Ice last 2 years

This date on the last two years we had a skating rink south of the causeway. In fact in 2009 the ice was 7 inches thick. A skim ice has appear across the lake again, but far from a skating rink.

Muddy road

Only a few areas of slush, and several muddy areas.

Lake

The lake has a thin layer of ice extending to the far shore. About 8 inches of snow on the road past mill hill.

Deep Snow

At 10 am there is 6 inches of snow on the road. Municipality has plowed the road to the top of mill hill, but not the parking area east of the road. Patrick Chan still unable to skate on the ice north of the causeway. Fox and wolf tracks along the road. Racoons and chipmunks not observed in the area. Deer tracks lacking; it seems that they 'yard up' in another area during most of the winter, but still lots of moose tracks.

Skim ice

Calm winds and cold temperatures have extended the skim ice out from shore. Chipmunks still active. No boat activity on the lake.

Snow time

The first snow of the fall is here. The mill hill can become icy. Hunting season for deer with guns ends this week. Up to now, only 2 deer shot on our road, but the Bear Club has at least 3. No moose shot in our area. Ministry has been around collecting brain samples for chronic wasting disease. Two house cats in the area. One is black and white and has been around the cottages on the island. The other is a beautiful cinnamon colour with yellow eyes seen around Tusk Road. Many racoons, make sure all your possible entrance to your cottage are sealed. I have been informed that a cottage in our association has been sold and a vacant lot north of the causeway, not part of our association, is for sale.

Goodbye leaves

The wind and rain over the past 3 days have ended the colourful fall.

This year our association did not have the road erosion as in the past. Photo shown of our past problems.

Power out

Power out at 5:30 am and restored at 6:30 am.

Broken dam, signs

The culvert at the south end of the new road survived a torrent of water that had to be at least 6 feet over the regular height of the water. The water flowed over the road. Fortunately the culvert was large and supported by a solid foundation of big rocks. A beaver dam on the southern side of the road probably broke as has happened in the past.

New signs warn about the 'wicked curve' on Africa Trail and the 'turtle flats' on the causeway.

Apparently the last power outage was due to a car knocking out a transformer on Elephant Lake Road.

Blackberry season is almost over. As are the deer flies!

Power outage

Power out at 2:06 pm and restored 6:50 pm. Reason unknown. 4100 services affected.

Retry photos!

Computer hates me. Photos better?

Heavy rain

A little after midnight the power went out during a terrific rainstorm, the worst in 4 summers. Power restored at 11 am. The road is in great condition, except for small parts of the new road that washed out. The regular washout areas are in very good condition.

Road work July 19, 2011

Lots of work on the road. Two inches of heavy rain July 18 had very little effect on the road. The drainage has been solved in difficult areas of the road. More rain and lots of traffic will be excellent for the road. But speed will increase on the road and blind corners are more of a problem. Try to look through folliage at corners to anticipate oncoming traffic.

Road work July 7

The contractor has been working on various parts of the road, removing many 'pointers', which are orange coloured rocks.

Bear Alert

At 9:50 pm Thursday July 7, a bear was found going through the garbage at a cottage on the south side of the island. There have been numerous sightings of a large bear and 1 and 3 cubs around the Maple Hill area. Please try to keep your garbage from being an attractant.

Year of the turtle

This year there has been an incredible number of snapping turtles burying eggs along the side and sometimes in the middle of the road. Painted turtles are also in abundance. If you can, try to avoid these 'turtle holes' with your vehicle.

Please don't touch grating

Some well intentioned person removed the grating from the beaver culvert north of Tusk Trail on Sunday June 12. This allowed the beaver(s) to pack mud, branches, grass, etc for at least 5 feet into the culvert and stop all water flow.
The cleanup required wading into the soft mud with hipwaders and a long hoe and pulling out debris. Unfortunatly there are some large branches wedged in the culvert which have found a home.
"No good deed goes unpunished." Removing the grating does not improve water flow.

Beaver Fever

The beavers north of Tusk Trail are indeed industrious. They plug the culvert at night and during the day. There is a shovel on the east side of the road. A quick push with the shovel will allow the water to pass. Any extra help is welcome.
The culvert just south of the mill, before the mill hill is also having problems with beavers. But, as you saw in another posting, if this gets plugged and there is a heavy rain, then the overflow eats the road and stops traffic. There is no shovel there at present. By the way, the west side of the road is great for catching minnows as several fishermen have discovered.

Red trilliums and blackflies

Red trilliums opened up Sat. May. 7. Blackflies appeared in noticable numbers Sun. May 8. Road is dry and very passable. Watch the ruts on the enchanted forest hill.

Crush

Luckily no one was on the road when this monster maple decided to block passage. If you have a cottage you probably need a chainsaw.

Road is in fairly good shape, only a few soft areas that are passable.

Leeks

Leeks are starting to appear in sun exposed and well drained areas.

Windy

Strong winds all day. Several trees down on road but no trees seen on cottages.

Trilliums are almost ready to blossom. Most frost out of the ground.

Spring chronology: racoons, chipmunks, mice, ants, trilliums, leeks, blackflies, dragonflies, mosquitoes.

Double yuk

More frost coming out of the ground after the warm weekend. The incline in the 'enchanted forest' is difficult even for an ATV.

Parts of the 'flats' near maple hill, east of the hill have deep ruts, some of them filling with 'quicksand'. With 3 days of rain projected, the animals may start lining up in twos.

A soft area

The incline from the causeway onto the island is a bit soft. The area is still draining and hidden from direct sunlight. Strong winds last night knocked down a number of trees. Hydro lines on the island look fine.

Red trilliums were out April 19 last year. Nothing so far.

Blackflies

On April 20, 2010, the first blackflies joined our association. This year they need snowshoes to walk through 1 1/2" of snow.

Frost leaving

The frost is continuing to come out of the ground, allowing better drainage on the road. The "flats" between the north end of new road and maple hill has a few soft areas.

Culvert

For some reason the enlarged photo was cut when published. Trying again.

Culvert out

The culvert dividing Cardiff and Dysart municipalities was washed out in the early morning. By 1:30 pm the Highlands East workers had corrected the problem. They do great work.

The frost is coming out of the ground and Africa Trail from Clarke Rd is becoming more of a problem and getting stuck is a distinct possibility as tires can sink farther into the ground.

Most local producers of maple syrup have pulled their spigots.

Lake is open

What a day makes when wind is added. Sarah Palin can't see Elephant Lake Lodge from her house, but our association can.

Lake

Edge melting.

Road update

A culvert just before the beaver pond, south of the new road, has caved. An axel breaker.

The road south of the new road has always been a great mud hole. So far it has been pleasant.

The 'flats' between the north end of the new road and maple hill have some interesting pot holes developing.

Who needs mud?

The new road that was ditched and raised two falls ago is in great shape. No signs of difficulty.

The beginning of the 'Enchanted Forest' from the southern start of Africa trail to Guest Rd has some difficulties! Mud!

Lake is still delayed getting some open water.

Flow of maple sap is so strong that the tops of the trees are "popping" under the pressure, frightening night creatures.