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This was neat because of its mystery. I could imagine cities under-water, giant fish or hidden treasures. Cold water was clear and in the fall when the water temperature would cool you could see deep into the water with all its under-water worlds which was neat too. Most all of the year opaque water covered the lake bottom. With the ice much of the bottom was suddenly instantly available. Thin ice often meant that you could see straight through to the bottom sometimes in very deep places. And because of this transparency, it could sometimes be like skating in air.
Through the winter and into late December, January and February the ice would continue to thicken maybe eighteen to 24 inches. Most of the time it was covered with snow up to several feet and could not be skated upon. Sometimes the wind blowing from the north and west would clean patches of ice pushing the snow into drifts and leave places to skate.
You could skate full speed and dive into a snow drift. But this was about it. These patches were usually really not that big and so were not much fun to skate on. The neatest thing about thick ice was the booming. The ice boom was when thick ice cracked from expansion and contraction making an eerie howl of a sound right across the lake.This was especially neat at night in the cold air. The sound would be brittle and if it was a good year and we were able to skate on thick ice without snow, the ice boom was an enjoyable experience.
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