May 2005. The ice-out dates are posted on the corner of our Camp Van Vac kitchen blackboard and go back to 1977. This year ice-out was April 18. In only three years out of the last 28 years was it this early.
1986 -- April 18 | 1987 -- April 15 | 1998 -- April 14
As the ice went out, it was pushed by strong west winds that drove big chunks of ice up onto the point. The ice didn't move our docks because the small ones had already been shoved in several feet by a pressure ridge some time during the winter. After two warm weeks, we've been enjoying snow daily for several days. Intrepid work weekenders kept on stacking wood through the intermittent snow squalls on May Day.

Sad news from The Wolf Center: A death in the pack: our dear Nyssa is gone.