"You know I'm such a fool for you
You got me wrapped around your finger
Do you have to let it linger?
Do you have to, do you have to, do you have to let it linger?"
                                        The Cranberries

Sometimes, after a cold, dark winter, when Eklutna Lake’s ice starts to melt, it goes fast. For that we can thank the valley breezes.

On May 11 I could see from the Twin Peaks Trail that both the lower and upper ends of Eklutna Lake were ice free. So I decided to stroll about a mile along the north shore to observe the rapidly melting edge. By the time I arrived, about 45 minutes later, a half-mile-long lobe of ice had disappeared. The ice pack was no longer solid. Under the influence of a brisk down-valley breeze, the ice was moving at about half a mile per hour, with a pleasant tinkling sound like thousands of tiny bells. Yet the edge appeared to be retreating in the opposite direction, up the lake.

Everyone’s heard the tale about the rats who followed the Pied Piper. I suppose one might say the breeze was the Pied Piper while the aggregated chunks of rotten ice were the rats, except that it was the glistening ice making the music. The chunks appeared to be in a hurry, jostling one another to get ahead. You can’t expect ice to understand its fate. Unbeknownst to the tinkling bits of ice, the breeze was quietly shoving the whole icy mass into the ever so slightly warmer, shallow end of the lake where it was disappearing as fast as it arrived.

By the next morning the ice was gone.

Eklutna Lake is the largest lake in the Municipality of Anchorage.  It’s relatively deep, having been gouged and re-gouged by successive glaciers.  It also sits at a relatively high elevation, so it’s one of the last lakes to thaw every spring. 

In fact, Eklutna Lake typically retains its icy lid longer than a well-known river in interior Alaska.  The Nenana Ice Classic’s tripod has tipped over sooner than Eklutna Lake’s ice has melted in nine of the last 11 years.  Only in 2015 and 2016 did the Nenana’s river ice outlast Eklutna’s lake ice, by one and two days, respectively.

I’ve been keeping track of the lake’s seasonal mood shifts every year since 2011.  In that time, the lake has completely frozen between November 26 and January 4 (average date is December 15) and it has completely thawed between April 21 and June 1 (average date is May 9).  I don’t always catch it on the exact day the water turns from a solid to a liquid or vise versa.  So these dates may be plus or minus a day or two.

That’s close enough to predict that the lake will be locked in ice for four to five months every year. It seems longer, but that’s because winter is well underway each year before the lake is cold enough to freeze.

I know it’s spring because I’ve checked off butterflies, bumblebees, dragonflies and, of course, mosquitoes.  However, I can’t really get into the swing of spring until the ice releases its tenacious grip on the valley’s namesake.  Before long we’ll be planting our vegetables outdoors and lounging on the beach.