Freedom Trax the freedom to explore

ice formations on Lake Michigan.

When Lake Michigan freezes, it doens’t freeze flat.  The crashing waves splash and build ice up into hills, caves and other interesting formations.  When the wind is coming from the west, an ice tsunami is pushed into the already formed ice on the shoreline, pushing the ice higther. This is a place you wouldn’t go in a wheelchair.  Abled bodied people have difficulting walking on the ice and you see people fall often.

This is on Lake Michigan. Where Esther is

The weather wasn’t as nice on Saturday, when we went out on the lake with Freedom Trax, as it was the previous weekend.  The next day, a Bomb Cyclone hit the state and the tempertures raised as winds gusted into the 60s.  So we got out there just in time.

The beach sand had been drifted into small dunes, some covering the snow fence that was set up to block it.  In other places the ice infused sand was whipped up into sand moguls. Once we arrived at the lakes edge, a small ridge had formed that I had to pick the right spot to cross.  This is a place you don’t want to go alone.  There were several times that I thought I was stuck, but was able to rock my upper body and move Freedom Trax back and forth to get free.  I joked with Esther that she was my canary in a coal mine.  She would fall through the ice before me and then I’d know not to go there. The tracks distribute the weight over a large area. Esther even rode on the back on my Freedom Trax when we had to cross some smooth, slick ice that she was afraid she might slip and fall walking on it.   I was able to get about 100 yards into Lake Michigan.   We had a lot of fun and got to experience something that doesn’t happen every year, the ice formations of Lake Michigan.