Sad and disturbing

This picture and the following message came from a cottager on the southern part of the lake.  In addition to theft, nasty vandalism is present in our area.  Keep vigilant. Please.

I just thought I would share some pictures of my dock. It made it through
the winter and ice just fine. Trouble is someone decided to take a chainsaw
to it just before the ice broke up. Pure vandalism for no good reason. 
When the police came to do the report, the officer mentioned that barbeques
are going missing all over. From 2 burner colmen to large outdoor kitchens. 
Feel free to post any or all of these pictures and if anyone knows anything
it would be appreciated. Maybe someone in east bay saw or heard something.

Strong culvert

The biggest of the culverts in our area of responsibility is just north of the start of the new road.  It carries a large amount of water from a lake in the southwest.  This lake has a beaver dam which can affect the volume of water.  The water has overflowed the road by about 2 feet at least on one occasion but the culvert is well constructed and was unaffected.

Thanks to wolves, the beavers have not been a recent problem. But, there has been some erosion of material around the outlet of the culvert which is working its way back towards the road.  It will require some large boulders to slow down the erosion.  Not an immediate problem, but it will require attention in the next few years.

Mushy

The lower 1/3 of maple hill, just before Africa Trail starts is very soft.  Caution if you come in.  Water is still flowing under the surface.

Smart metres

Hydro One came in today.  Fortunately the ground is frozen and he was able to come down maple hill.  Who knows if he'll get back up!

Anyways, apparently all our cottages have smart metres, but the one he replaced was "not so smart".
A new one was installed.

The smart metres transmit their signal through the air to some sort of repeater.  Last fall a contractor for Hydro One came in.  He had a detector in his vehicle and recommended that one particular metre be replaced due to a weak signal.  Thus the trip today.

The installer says that going into Hydroone.com will allow you to get a password and inspect your consumption.  Maybe someone can try that.

Keeps eroding

The lower 1/3 of maple hill keeps eroding.  Water got under the road and just keeps flowing under the surface.

Map

Lake open

Bottom of maple hill, just before start of Africa Trail, seriously eroded.  Water unable to go through culvert since it is too high, went under the culvert and undercut the road.  Water can be seen at the end of the culvert going under the culvert.

Lake is open.

Lake 'n mud

Road at 1040 Guest is like quicksand.  Be careful if you come in.  Lake ready to breakup.

Leeks

The leeks are up.  Too small for eating.

Not boat ready yet

Today a Hydro One pickup truck tried to make it to the island to install a smart meter.  It seems that we are all on smart meters, but one was not working properly.  But, the truck turned around at the 'blowout' on maple hill.
    Unfortunately the truck 'chewed' up the road pretty good.  Now is a difficult time to come in since the frost is still coming out of the road.  These ruts have a tendency to persist.
    Turkeys are mating.

Washout

Culvert problem

     The left side of the photo is north and the right side is south.  Notice that there is no water flowing out of the south end of the culvert (can you spot the end of the culvert?)
     All the water flowing down the north side ditch ends up, not going through the culvert, but reverses itself and pushes up through the middle of the road and heads north again.  The magic diversion.  Really.
   

More of road showing

Gravel appearing.

Hello mud!

This is the shot at mill hill pointing north.  The East Bay people cleared the road all winter and now they are seeing the frost come out of the ground much earlier than cottagers north of Tusk Trail.

Lots of snow still on Clarke Rd, but some patches of mud showing.  Snowmobiles still on the lake.

Road condition

The coming week will be the most difficult of the year since the road transforms from snowmobile friendly to ATV friendly, and back again!

Snowmobile traffic on Clarke Rd heading to the 'riffles' on Baptiste Lake.  The snowmobiles run over open water.  A waiting boat and staff haul out machines that don't make it. Machines are heavily covered with duct tape to prevent water from hitting the belt, which could lead to instant sinking.