Outdoor Enthusiast: Perkins Pond Ice-Out April 22, 2015

Sunday, April 26, 2015

Perkins Pond Ice-Out April 22, 2015

Perkins Pond Protective Association (PPPA)

On March 1, 2015 Perkins Pond had 18 plus inches of ice. The ice was insulated with hard packed snow from snowmobiles and XC skiers and what was left of the ten feet of winter snow. Would the winter ever end? Would the ice ever melt?

Gary, President of the Perkins Protective Association, in collaboration with Dundee, came up with the idea of getting Perkins Ponders thinking toward spring and gathering money for the Association’s water monitoring efforts with a Perkins Pond Ice-Out Contest.

Gary sent a March 18 email to all home-owners registered with the Association announcing the Perkins Pond Ice-Out Contest. All submissions had to be in by March 26, 2015.

Dundee was asked to set the criteria for ice-out. Steve was asked to monitor ice-out, along with Gary.

Ice-out is deemed to have occurred when a boat can freely navigate from the point separating the coves at the south end of the Pond known as “Cady Point” to the point at the north end of the Pond Marking the entrance to the outlet known as “Chickadee Point.”

On April 17, there was some open water around the north edges of the Pond, and Dundee, Gary and Steve slid their canoe and two kayaks into the open water and proceeded to Chickadee Point (next to the outlet by the large beaver lodge). Their efforts to paddle south to Cady Point (the peninsula at the south end of the Pond) were quickly stifled by the thick ice.

To inform those Perkins Ponders interested in the ice-out progress, Ann and Robert generously let us show their web link of their live web cams viewing from the north end of the Pond to the south end. This allowed those with Internet access to 24 hours a day viewing of the ice-out evolution.

On Apr 18^th Steve paddled from Chickadee point to the public landing when he could go no further due to the ice.

On Sunday April 19^th, Dundee, Gary, Mike D., Gerry and Steve attempted to paddle from Chickadee Point to Cady Point but were prevented by the thick sheet of the ice.

From April 20 – 21 Gary and Dundee continued monitoring ice out from Chickadee Point to Cady Point.

On April 22 in the late afternoon Gary took pictures of ice out on Perkins Pond.

Throughout iceout Mike G. had his live web cam viewing from South to North. Further, Mike G. condensed the April 20 - 22 video of ice out in a 90 second video which you will see on the video here. This is a fascinating 90 seconds view of the last three days of ice on Perkins Pond.

As an added benefit to ice-out, on April 19^th the monitors spotted an eagle landing on an ice flow in front of Mike D.’s house. Steve managed to film the eagle – and this exciting occasion is included in the video.

Enjoy the below video of the ice-out monitoring from April 17 to April 22.

PERKINS POND ICE-OUT CONTEST

OFFICIAL RULES AND REGULATIONS FOR PPPA ICE-OUT CONTEST

ICE-OUT IS DEEMED TO HAVE OCCURRED WHEN A BOAT CAN FREELY NAVIGATE FROM THE POINT SEPARATING THE TWO COVES AT THE SOUTH END OF THE POND, KNOWN AS “CADY POINT”, TO THE POINT AT THE NORTH END OF THE POND MARKING THE ENTRANCE TO THE OUTLET, KNOWN AS “CHICKADEE POINT”.

THE CONTEST WILL BE A TRADITIONAL 50/50 FORMAT WITH THE WINNER RECEIVING 1/2 OF THE “KITTY” AND THE OTHER 1/2 GOING TO THE PERKINS POND PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION’S GENERAL FUND TO ASSIST IN ASSOCIATION ANNUAL ACTIVITIES.

THE WINNER WILL BE THE PERSON WITH THE PREDICTION THAT IS CLOSEST TO THE EXACT DAY OF ICE-OUT.

IN THE EVENT MORE THAN ONE PERSON PREDICTS THE EXACT DATE OF ICE-OUT, THE 50/50 KITTY WILL BE SPLIT EVENLY BETWEEN THE WINNERS.

DUNDEE WILL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR DETERMINING WHEN THE CRITERIA HAS BEEN MET FOR OFFICIAL ICE-OUT.

STEVE WILL ACT AS MODERATOR TO ENSURE THE CRITERIA FOR ICE-OUT HAS BEEN MET.

YOU MUST BE AT LEAST 18 YEARS OF AGE TO PARTICIPATE IN THE CONTEST.

ALL ENTRIES MUST BE RECEIVED NO LATER THAN MIDNIGHT ON MARCH 25^TH, 2015.

ENTRIES ARE $5.00 EACH WITH A LIMIT OF 10 ENTRIES PER PERSON.

BELOW IS A LOG OF RECENT ICE-OUT DATES AS RECORDED BY DUNDEE AND LINDA.

Perkins Pond ice out dates
From Dundee and Linda

	March	April
1993		18
1994		20
1995	29
1996		12
1997		10
1998		19
1999		7
2000	28
2001		28
2002		1
2003		21
2004		13
2005		12
2006	31
2007		23
2008		20
2009		5
2010		1
2011		20
2012	18
2013		10
2014		19
2015		22