I had waited for awhile for optimum weather conditions to do this hike. And optimal they were today: the snow was hard-packed, the temperature was reasonable and the sun was in full force.
I started out from the Mandy Lake Parking spot today and proceeded to so something I’d never done before: walk directly over the nearby frozen pond. In other, warmer, seasons one has to take the trails that skirt around the edge of the pond, but today it was the express route, of course with that initial doubt about the thickness of the ice and the quiet fear of just breaking through.
But the ice was solid, as were most of the trail because the snow on them had been packed down by snowmobiles. It was like walking on a city sidewalk really. And with microspikes attached to my boots, there was no chance of slipping and sliding on the ice or the trails.
It was a memorable day because, as it turned out, most of the walking was on pond or lake ice, places you can’t go and shortcuts you can’t take in other seasons.
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