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Originally Posted by Gatto Nero
We ventured over to the shoal to check out the pile up of ice and as we got about 3' from it we heard an enormous crack. I'm guessing we had stepped on a spot that had ridden up the rock, leaving no water underneath as a foundation.
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You've discovered the odd ways the ice behaves around Black Cat Shoals. I think you were probably fine, since it's been cracking and booming a lot lately during the thickening process. Don't lose that fear you mentioned though. The outermost part is a bedrock ledge that rises gently from the west and touches the surface with the top of a 12-foot underwater cliff facing east. That thing is a trap in all seasons. I've unofficially named it "Mousetrap Ledge." (come over some Saturday afternoon this summer and we'll see boats hit it...)
In winter there is typically a rift in the ice that forms between the ledge and the south tip of the island. It behaves like a geological fault line - creating "mountains" in some seasons, and looking more like the San Andreas in other seasons. Come spring, the rift opens into a lead, then the shoals, and then ice-out is usually within two weeks. In the warm winters we've had lately (example- 2002), the water around Mousetrap never froze, and the remainder of the shoals was only iced-over on the coldest days.
In a normal winter it's just as you say - the ice gets pushed up into hollow mountains with a watery crevasse hidden underneath. Fun fun fun!
When you walked past Black Cat's bridge, how was the ice underneath? I keep forgetting to stop on the bridge and check. If it's frozen its a *very* good sign for the rest of the ice in the area.