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The Ice Walk

PA

I have been including my Ice Walk information in my other posts. Today someone posted a question about ice safety. As this is an importnt item, I thought I would post an item dealing exclusively with the event.

Here is the note that was posted on the site today.

Hey,

I see that a lot of people want to attend the Ice Walker event. I don’t want to be a bummer, but I am not sure that the ice will be thick enough to hold a large group on this saturday. I spoke with a fisherman last week and he told me that the ice is about 6 inches thick at some places between Edgewater drive and the Island. He metionned that he would not even try to cross from Grande-Digue. I would like to attend the event can anyone reassure me about the ice thickness?

****************************************

And here is the response I put on the cache page.

Safety is our main concern.

As hosts of this event, it is not our goal to convince people to cross the ice. Rather, we want to make sure that everyone has as much information as possible in order to make a decision about crossing to either of the islands. We therefore try to keep up to date on conditions and we pass that information on by our updates. Also, we welcome all comments regarding the ice conditions.

Shediac Island

We ventured to Edgewater area today and spoke to a couple of people. A gentleman informed us that he has walked over to the island a few times this year. He has been going over for the last 25 years. He says that he always heads straight across but that there would be no problem heading towards Skull Island. He noted that there have been snowmobiles and ATV’s on the bay for quite some time. I mentioned that I had walked over there last week, and we discussed the conditions on the island. We agreed that snowshoes may not be helpful because of the lack of snow.

We have been mentioning the crossing from Edgewater rather than from our place. This afternoon from our window we spotted a truck in the middle of the bay between our place and the island.

Cocagne Island.

Yesterday, incepit and Rev Slippery went over to Cocagne Island. Incepit informed me that the ice seemed very solid and that an ATV had recently been on the island. Early tomorrow morning Belladan and I will be heading over to the island to check the caches on the north section prior to the predicted snow storm. On Thursday we hope to check the caches on the south section.

If heading to Cocagne Island, we highly recommend leaving from the waypoint provided (Surette St)and heading for the central section of the island and then proceeding to the north or south sections.

And one final point about safety, when crossing ice, it is always better to be a little spead out. If an individual has a problem, the others will be Ok and will be able to help

28 thoughts on “The Ice Walk”

  • Based on your updates, Pa, I’m not worried. Sounds a lot more sturdy than it did two years ago! 🙂

    Definitely looking forward to the event. Very excited for this one.

  • Pa and I made it to the Northern part of Cocagne Island this morning. All caches were found and maintained. The ice conditions are good, with ATV and snowmobile tracks noticed along the way. As far as thickness goes; Well Pa never fell through and he’s quite a bit heavier than me. I always let him lead the way by 10 or 12 paces. (just kidding).

    Note to Belladan from PA:

    Did you know I am able to edit posts. I was sooooo tempted to fix this one, but didnt.

    • Err, What I meant to say is that I’m so much heavier than Pa and would never let Pa take the lead.

  • At 270 pounds, I have the feeling that if I show up, people are going to say, “No, that’s okay, I insist, you first.”

  • With the amount of snow falling now (20cm predicted here in Fredericton), looks like snowshoes will be a must for caching on Saturday.

    Curious: are service roads in the Shediac region passable by car in the winter? I am asking about the Looney Toon series.

    • Forestfauna, Looney toons should be fine as there are a few people that live at the end year-round…

    • Yep Looney toons will be OK. The road is plowed and is actually very wide, with lots of room to park if you do it by vehicle.

      The road with the SM series from 1 to 10 (18 caches) is not as good but it is also plowed and the snow will actually make it more drivable.

      • We did a couple of Looney toons today. The road is plowed and wide and sanded. But you will definitely need boots to get the caches as the snow is over a foot deep. All the caches are very close to the road and are winter friendly

  • I had not checked the caches on Cocagne Island and today a storm was predicted. Our pal Belladan was aware of my concern and called last night and said he would pick me up at 7 am this morning, so we could do the caches on the north section before the storm got bad.

    So we spent a few hours checking and fixing the caches on the north part of the island. The snow started and the wind blew a bit but we enjoyed our trek. We didnt need snowshoes today as we walked across the ice and as we walked along an ATV track down the center of the island. but Ma and I may need them when we go back tomorrow to check the rest of the caches.

    You just gotta love geocaching for the adventures and for the friends you make.

    BTW I hid another cache over there. Hope it gets approved in time, otherwise, I will give out the coords

  • This is what I have been telling people who have emailed me about the snow

    ***********************************

    We got 30 cms, but it was also windy so not sure if needed to cross the bay and on the island. Sorry I cannot be more helpful at this time. MA and I may do a maintenance run on Cocagne island tomorrow and we may bring our snowshoes, so we may be more able to answer your question on Saturday morning.

    PAul

  • Pikpik ia interested in going to Cocagne island and is wondering if anyone else intends on going there.

  • My daughter Isabele and I just got back from Shediac Island. We parked at Edgewater and walked approximatly 20 meters onto the bay when we decided that snowshoes would be required. I did notice boot prints in our snowshoe track on the way back so you may be able to cross to the island by boot but snowshoes or cross country skies will work better once on the island. From Edgwater we headed to view of Grande Digue Church(GCN3C1) and completed the northern loop maintaining caches along the way. From the Sneaky Thorny Old Man cache to the North West cache, I decided to back track and cut across but that brought us through heavy brush. It may have been easier to follow the coast around the North West tip. From the North West cache, we bushwhacked (easy going) our way back to the Quiet Spot/Endroit Paisible cache (GC10MR8) which brought us back to the same trail that we came in on. Lots of deer tracks and even a couple areas noticed where they beded down. From coast to coast, it took us 22 minutes to cross the bay. The only open water noticed was in an area known as La Batture. This is where the current from Shediac River and the current that runs between the island and the mainland converge. If you follow our tracks, you will be well, well south from the open water. As mentioned on the cache page, When leaving from Edgewater, head for Skull Island or View of Grande-Digue Church. This will give easier access to the North South trail that runs down the middle of the island. 28 dgrees below this morning with the wind chill but with the sun in our face, we were never cold. I guess the hardest part of our morning adventure was getting a 19 year old out of bed early on a day she has no courses. Brings it all back to a thread posted here a while back about those special times of Geocaching with your kids. Even if she is no longer a kid :).

    • Great post Dan. Thanks for the info.

      We have five pairs of snowshoes that people can borrow if hey want to use them.

    • Big thanks Dan. I put my snowshoes in my car that’s waiting for me at the airport. Glad to know I’ll need them.

  • And of course everyone is welcome at our place after their caching. We will have hot drinks, chili and fricot and snacks.

  • Who’s planning on hiking the big island? We certainly are, but would prefer to hike with others too! We’ll be getting to Ma and Pa’s a little before 9.

  • I’m planning to do Shediac Island and looking for company. Herr Minnz has a bum ankle so will be drinking coffee at Ma & Pa’s. We plan to arrive at their place by 8:45.

  • Chatelaine, NBGamer22 and I will be there about the same time, Shediac Island is on the radar. Definitely leaving from Edgewater, should be a blast!

  • I have about half the lower end and ONE lone wolf “North West” at the top of Shediac Island to get… see you in the AM…

  • We’ll be at Pa’s shortly before 9 as well and plan to do Skull Island and some of the main one, We’ll continue as long as the kids last but we didn’t bring our snowshoes, lack of space…..

  • Once again, Thank you to MA and PA for being incredible hosts. The caching was great, the food was fantastic, the company was enjoyable.

  • If anyone has photos to share, I would like to use them for a slide show/video of the event that I will put together. The video will then be posted on Youtube for all to enjoy.

    If you have pix that you’d like to share, please send them to:
    monctoncableguy@hotmail.com

    Thanks all!

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