Not Much Has Changed
The unseasonably warm weather the past week has led us to not much change in our ice conditions. We still have areas of slush and the thickness of the ice has not changed very much.
It has warm enough to not add thickness but not warm enough to melt a whole lot of snow. Add to that the presence of the slush leads us to still recommend tracked travel on most areas of the lake with the possible exception of Stump Lake. Pick Up travel is possible on stump.
Plowed Trails
The areas with plowed trails that we are aware of is a pretty short list. Woodland Resort has a system of trails our on Creel and leading to Rocky Point and Military Point and a little ways down the Camp Grafton shoreline. The heavy snow and warm conditions however have deteriorated trails to some extent and we recommend that you proceed on them with caution and please don’t drill holes right on the trails or too close to them as this will lead to a lot of water on the ice.
The casino has a few trails out but these too have not faired too well with the weather conditions.
There is a limited trail our of the Acorn Ridge landing but it is not a trail network and is basically just a path our onto the ice.
Bright Light At The End Of The Tunnel
There is always a silver lining, and that silver lining for us is as of today we plunged into an arctic air mass and below zero temperatures through early next week should alleviate some of the slush issues and harden up that snow pack. We are hoping it hardens it enough for us to get back to using trucks again. For the time being we will still be using our snowmobiles and 4-wheelers with tracks. We strongly recommend if you are planning an outing on Devils Lake that you bring a tracked vehicle with you. Some good friends were out with a Sno Bear recently and got it so stuck in slush they spent 3 hours and a call to a tow truck to get it off. We want to try to help prevent you from having the same experience.
Good Luck!
So what is the current ice depth? And do you anticipate any growth through the month of February?
Most areas are right around 20-22 inches, I think with this cold snap we are going to gain some. I think the big thing is tightening up that slush. Slush is the biggest issue plaguing us right now. As long as you have access to tracks, if the slush freezes up we should be good for February and much of March barring an epic warm up.