Ron S and I hit Spring Lake at 9am this morning, the air temp was still a crisp 40F and there was frost on the cabin roof as we pulled in. We had intended to go round the lake once, but Ron felt inspired to do it twice so we managed eight and a half miles before lunch, not a bad effort for so early in the season. I got to try out the new PFD which worked well, and also the deck mounted bladder for drinking. This afternoon I worked on a novel spray skirt mounting system for my GPS, more on that when I get my camera out again.
Spring lake was very peaceful, there was one fishing kayak out and a pontoon kayak was out laying the navigation markers to highlight the rock hazards at the west end. About a quarter of the docks were in the water now, but very few kayaks were afloat.
After our paddle we had a quick cup of coffee while basking in the sunshine on the deck. I cant wait to get the cabin opened up for the season.
We are in the process of buying a cabin on Spring Lake, this of course provides many opurtunities for geeking out and researching the area. This morning I found the DNR site which details everything from water depth to water quality, as well as a great series of maps.
Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Site for Spring Lake
Minnesota DNR Lake Finder site
Lake Water Quality Data Summary
Total Phosphorus Mean: 112 ppb (parts per billion)
Total Phosphorus Standard Error: 6 ppb
Total Phosphorus # of Observations: 79
Chlorophyll-a Mean: 60.2 ppb
Chlorophyll-a Standard Error: 3.6 ppb
Chlorophyll-a # of Observations: 121
Secchi Disk Mean: 1 meters
Secchi Disk Standard Error: 0.1 meters
Secchi Disk # of Observations: 101
Alkalinity Mean: ppm (parts per million)
Color Mean: Platinum-cobalt Units
Carlson Trophic Status for Total Phosphorus: 72
Carlson Trophic Status for Chlorophyll-a: 71
Carlson Trophic Status for Secchi Disk: 60
Overall Trophic Status: H
