Ottertail Lake, Ottertail Village, MN The lake froze yesterday afternoon & evening... the entire lake, from 6 observation points appears all clear ice, with a trace to 1/2" powder snow. This is a big shallow lake, Mini Winnie, if you would. Expect several pans large enough to hold the regatta... I figured this was EPIC ICE, and could stop right there.
Battle Lake (West), Battle Lake, MN and you just have to love the name... The entire bay was soft at noon yesterday... Today locked in and frozen, the shallow west bay was clear smooth black ice, the stuff that dreams are made of. Again, SIMPLY EPIC ICE!!! BIG, SMOOTH, FAST
Miltona Lake, Alexandria, MN Exactly the same,with a 1/2" dusting of powder snow. We sailed a NA's here.
Osakis Lake, Osakis, MN Same as Miltona... a little snow over what appears to be a perfect sheet of ice.
Buffalo Lake, Buffalo, MN Much the same as Miltona...
Summary: What a boring drive , perfect lake after perfect lake. We have very attractive options for locating the western challenge regatta. Addional information will be forthcoming.
It's gonna be EPIC!!!
it's battle lake
the call has been made.
battle on battle lake!
Outstanding!
Sounds like it'll be a great weekend!
A favor: when you decide on the location, please post the best route from the south-west (ex. the best way around the Twin Cities, esp. during rush-hour).
Cheers,
Geoff S.
US-5156
twin cities routing
There's no rush to our rush hour. It's just one long linear parking lot.
For what it's worth, if you're ever heading toward Christina or the other lakes Northwest of the cities, and you want to avoid the downtown traffic, take 694 North (about five miles or so in from the WI/MN border). It's similar to the Beltline in Madison. It spits you out the Northwest corner of the cities when it picks up I-94 again.
Many thanks!
I think we took 694 North last year. Wasn't bad at all (slow, but polite! - at least relative to the traffic I grew up with on the east-coast...).
I just wanted to make sure there wasn't any construction or the like. I had a bad experience a few years ago getting caught in a horrible detour off 494 (I think that was the road...).
494 is always under
494 is always under construction, and awlays rush hour esp. around 35 & 494 on a saturday.
DN 5050