Snow-covered Warner Pond
photo taken today, Feb. 24, 2007
We've just discovered Warner Pond here in West Concord!
Actually, we knew it was here. We went kayaking on it last summer.
What we've discovered, is Warner Pond in the winter!
Since we moved here we had yet to venture over there in the winter time.
About a month ago, friend Charlie gave us the word that the pond was solid enough to go on, and that he'd walked out to one of the islands. We had to trust him on this, because he'd previously told us the story that in his day, it was his Dad, all 300 pounds of him, who, at the start of skating season, walked out onto Warner to "test" it for all of the neighborhood kids. Twenty to thirty kids stood at the edge of the pond waiting to see if Ol' Man Windheim remained standing on the ice as he walked a certain distance...if he did, he'd turn around and declare the pond safe for skating. All the kids would cheer and slap their skates on for hours and hours of outdoor skating pleasure! I guess he never fell in. We figured that that kind of authority must run in that family...so, we trusted Charlie's word on how safe the ice was this winter.
What a treat for us to go walking on it with solid ice that's about 10 inches thick. It's like you enter another world! Vast areas of snow-cover. No tracks in the snow. Dead quiet except for the crunch of snow under our feet. Small birds flitting from bushes on the island to trees on the mainland. You just feel like you're hiking somewhere in the Adirondacks, even with the traffic on Rte. 2 right there within earshot! We walked all around the pond, up onto the tree covered bigger island (Boy Scout Island?). We watched as kids in snowsuits and mittens climbed up the big hill that's on that island carrying their coasters and saucers with them, then slid down and shot across the snow-cleared ice below. They'd cheer in delight at whoever went the furthest -
"A new World Record!"
People cleared off different areas of the pond for family skate areas, ice hockey games, and ice fishing holes. One small area right by the main parking lot was cleared with a loop-de-loop type figure eight attached to the outer skating area. From there people seemed to prefer to head to the right towards Route 2 and skated through the snow to another couple of cleared off areas that were a pretty good haul to get out to. Parents and kids alike skated the afternoon away...packing in snacks and thermoses of warm goodies. Some folding chairs sat available for anyone who needed a sit-down break.
On the other side of the island some HS boys had a four-wheeler with a tow rope attached. The driver would head straight for awhile, then turn really quickly and sharply, which would whip around the kids who were sitting on a saucer attached to the tow-rope. Every now and then one of them would go flying off of the saucer and just keep sliding away on the ice. Great fun!
We've been back a couple of times since. We've had some recent snow, so all of the areas haven't been shoveled clear yet. The lighting is quite beautiful any time of day. Today Ace hiked through the farm fields that are at the far end of the pond, then followed a path up a hill where there's a stand of large, old Red Pine trees.
I'm going to have to take a hike to that "other world" soon!
Warner Pond in the summer
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