Crystal Clear Lake

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This article was published 06/12/2015 (3062 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

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RIDING MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK — Lauryn Kuzyk will never forget the day she played hooky to go skating with the fishes.

The 16-year-old from Dauphin skipped town Monday with her sister, Sam, 19, to make the 45-minute drive to Riding Mountain National Park so they could go skating on what is arguably the most perfect outdoor rink in the world.

For now.

Thanks to a combination of cool, calm nights and an absence of snow, Clear Lake has frozen over into an almost-perfect giant sheet of ice. The best part is you can see the sand, rocks and even fish below.

Winter weather, with temperatures around the freezing mark and little-to-no-wind, has resulted in the rare glass-like ice.

“This is my first time skating,” Lauryn said. “It’s cool. It’s better than I thought it would be.”

After seeing a postcard picture of the lake on social media over the weekend, the sisters figured they better experience it while they could.

They both admit to being slightly freaked out by the sounds that emanate from beneath their blades. As the ice expands and contracts, it sounds as if whales and dolphins — freshwater ones, of course — are trying to communicate with each other.

And when they hear the ice crack beneath their skates, a sound that can carry on for hundreds of metres?

“I skate back towards shore really quick,” Sam said with a laugh.

Richard Dupuis, visitor experience manager at Riding Mountain National Park, said the ice is 10 to 15 centimetres thick, more than enough to support skaters.

Indeed, the traffic on Clear Lake is reminiscent of the Duck Pond at Assiniboine Park, with workers spending their lunch hours taking a few turns and families arriving for some “winter” fun after school and on the weekend.

Some people are trying to keep it a secret while others are telling all of their friends to come try it,” Dupuis said.

The best ice is found on the northern part of the lake near the Aspen picnic area.

When Cal Vanderschuit skated on the lake for the first time a week ago, he and a couple of friends followed a jackfish around the lake.

“It would scurry away and we’d follow him. It would be pretty weird for them having us above and it might be loud with our skates on the ice,” he said.

Mike Tarleton went “fishing” with his brother, Will, and a few buddies when they went to play some shinny a few days ago. They were amazed when they stopped and looked straight down.

“We saw northern pikes. You can see the sand and rocks below you 10 or 20 feet down. It was pretty crazy. You trip yourself out. It feels like you’re flying,” he said.

The glass-like surface of the lake is a rarity.

“It takes perfect conditions, no wind so it freezes flat and no snow,” he said.

This little piece of heaven won’t be around forever, however. Dupuis said once some wet snow starts to fall in the area, you’d need a Zamboni to smooth it all out. And, well, the park doesn’t have that kind of equipment.

“Wet snow ruins it all. This is the time to take advantage of it. I’m hoping for a brown Christmas,” he said.

geoff.kirbyson@freepress.mb.ca