• Time: Late late Winter - Early Spring.
• Location: East shore Lake Petenwell, Adams County, Wisconsin.
• Weather: Sunny. High clouds. Cool but not cold.  Warm enough but not hot. Light wind from ENE.
• Lake Petenwell: Just under 15 miles long. 2 to 4 mile wide. A big lake / impoundment of the Petenwell Dam project on the mighty Wisconsin River.  Lake trends diagonally SSW to NNE.  Wide end to the south - narrow end to the north.
• Terrain: Mostly remote wooded and thick brushy shoreline. Narrow pinched isolated sand beaches. Beaches exposed by winter draw - down.  Slab ice over sand in protective coves between land points.  Thick rotting ice offshore.  Some open water.  Melting fast.  A good heavy wind should set big sections of ice moving.
• The Plan: Drive to Lake Petenwell. Spot scout the shoreline.  Find an ice shove. Park the car and try to walk to it.  Simple plans.  Not complicated.  Should be interesting & fun day hike and easy walking.

Lake Petenwell isn't exactly a hikers destination.  But, the Petenwell area is suitably wild and reasonably accessible.

Drive & Work my way down the east coast.  Stop often.  Use the binoculars - scan the horizon, ice and shorelines - look for ice-shove.  Easy spotting & scouting - just step out the car and look. 

Halfway down the east side, parked the car.  Have to walk about 100 yards to the last promising looking bit of shoreline.  Wind out of the NE and light.  Not ideal condition to produce spectacular ice shove on this shore.  Leave the hiking rig - gear / backpack in the car.  Take the binocular / camera bag for quick 5 - minute look - see.  With this wind, if there's ice piling up - it'll probably in the far SW corner - miles away.  Try to spot something.  Then make a decision - keep going or grab the rest of the gear and hike / walk here.  Lock the cardoor for now.

Hundred yards through the wood.  Woods opens to stunning view.  Drawndown exposed sand beach.  Slab ice almost a foot thick on top of sand.  Slab ice to waters edge.  Brash ice and thick rotten ice offshore.  Narrow open water leads running parallel to shore.  Thick rotten ice sheet beyond.  More open water.  More ice to the far horizon / shoreline 2 - 3 miles distant.  Waterfowl / ducks of some kind - unidentifiable in the distance.  More birds all direction / distances in open water.  Mallards.  Unidentifiables.  Canada geese.

Shore line in a half crescent - extends 200 yards N and about 500 yards S.  Ends in thick brush covered points and open water.  Walk to the north point.  Turn around walk to the south point.

Beach is 50% sand - 50% slab ice on sand.  Slab ice with smooth pit and crevasse surface.  Like a miniature glacier - small ponding and tiny rivulets cutting thru the ice and down to the sand.

Halfway to south point.  Looks like the end of the walk - with open water up to thick overgrowth shore - and looks like tough going.

Find a 2 foot long rusty heavy iron spike / pin.  May be a relic from pinery / logging days.  Or from a demolished barn.  Stick pin in sand to retrieve later.

Surprise at south point.  Traversed around point - another draw down exposed beach - another half crescent bay - another 500 yards to the next point - more open water around that point - that looks like the real end of the trail.  Still close enough to retrieve hiking gear from the car.  Not worth the effort if that next point is the end of the hike.  Keep going.

Next point - same story - another half - moon bay - more sand and ice - another point and open water - another five hundred yards further away from the car.  From sailing, I know this shore line - it has to end soon and open up to the widest part at the bottom of the lake.  Getting thirsty.  Walk to the lands end.  Use that as a turn around point - have a drink of trail juice there, have a look around and head back.  Probably should have brought the whole kit.

Next point - longer bay - lands end in sight, 700 yards away - there's my turnaround point.  More sand and ice.  Sandhill crane tracks.  Coyote tracks and crap.  Fox.  Pair of Canadian Geese lands 25 yards away between the ice and beach.  Start agitated honking and squawking after spotting me.  Flap another 10 yards or so and start up again until I get 100 yards away.

Turnaround point - should be open water from here to the dam.  But draw down exposed a sand flat - extending another 3/4 mile into the lake.  Sun getting warm.  Warm and cool breezes - cool breezes make the wet sands smoulder with wispy steam.  Wavy and geometric patterns cover the sand flat.  Fascinating place.  Old stumps.  Inlet to the east - can hear lots of ducks in there.  Should have brought the hiking gear.  This is a day hike - not a 5 minute look see.  Gonna be hungry and thirsty before this is over.

Scan the south horizon.  Thin uneven white line - looks like a pressure ridge - some large block ice - over 2 mile away.  Powerhouse a tiny square on the horizon.  Lots of birds dotting the ice and open water.  Not much else moving.

Wander around the sand flat.  Tricky in spots - had to backtrack to avoid sinking in.  Around to the mouth of the inlet.  Lots of birds - pushed back further in when spotted. 

More wandering.  Saving rest of trail juice for final push back to the car - getting thirsty and hungry.  Should have brought the rest of the gear.

Airplane wreckage.  Pieces scattered across the sand flat.  Can't see them unless you're on top of them.  Whatever happened - happened long ago.  Wreck has obviouly been underwater and out here for some time.

Getting hungry.  Ate a banana earlier.  Finish last of the trail juice - not enough.  Going to be a long thirsty walk back.  Should have ... .

Strong afternoon sun.  Air dry & warm.  Made it back to the first half moon bay.  Turned back around - didn't see the iron spike on the way.  Retrieve spike.  Legs getting rubbery from walking in sand.  Dehydrated and a little loopy.  Dehydration headache. Really thirsty.  Should have ... .

Did some good walking today -  8-9 miles.  Jug of trail juice still cold - even after sitting in the car 5-6 hours.  Dandy of a dehydration head ache.  Avoidable.  Next time, follow your own advice  - and take your hiking gear along!  - Tom