Pre-Peak

Last week was filled with Fall. There was the first frost, more color in the trees, and morning lows that whispered to us that Winter is coming. Under all that colorful foliage and cold were many tasks to be completed before the coming Snowpocalypse.

At the start of the week, there was some color in the trees, but it was less than 10%.

Then came the cold. On more than one morning there was frost on the sunflowers.

The cold seemed to push the reds and oranges into the leaves.

By week's end, the color in the hills was close to 50%.

The lake gave up a lot of heat on those cold mornings.

Despite the flattest water of the year, nobody skied either.

Sunsets have been well worth the price of admission. Some were sort of boring and then suddenly lit up like an electrical discharge.

Others were more peaceful and sublime as they decorated the sky over the un-swam, un-skied lake.

The lake temperature, coupled with the calendar, spelled the end of the 2022 Rafto! season. As the playing surface was towed to land, we realized that this year's season will be most remembered for its lack of any actual games of Rafto!.

In addition to rafts, docks, and piers, it was a good time (plenty of sun, flat water, no desire to ski) to pull the boat.

There's no small amount of ennui that permeates the pulling of boats. The edge was taken off this year by a largely injury free trailering and good tree color.

At the end of the week, there were still a few boats on the lake. This could be due to a resurgent desire to ski, other tasks taking precedent, or a lower lake level making de-lifting the boat a challenge best left for next week.

Over all the boat pulling, raft removal, and un-swimming, at least one eagle floated above Lucerne.

Last week was not all Autumnally focused. The nets were still up in Crandon! This forced a few to tennis until exhausted. It turns out that that takes fewer games than you would think.

On Saturday at the Mole Lake Casino, the Lake Metonga Association held its first Weeds and Walleye banquet in 3 years. Hundreds packed the main ballroom to bid on auction items, buffet, and see the always entertaining slideshow.

Yeti's Drive-In was open during the weekend!

We were told that after this weekend they would be closed until Spring. Our guess is that the Yeti and his gnome pal will go off and hunt Hodag or something. Does anyone else find it unsettling that a drive-in called Yeti's is closed during the cold months?

There's still enough green in the trees to suppress any calls of peak color last weekend. It'll peak sometime during next week and most likely be post peak by next weekend. The lake level dropped 2.5 inches during September. It'd be a good idea to get that boat off the lift and out of the lake before getting it off the lift becomes an unfathomable problem.

-Nemo: Friend of the Yeti and gnome, foe of the raccoon and squirrel.

Pre-Peak

September 26th through October 2nd, 2022