March 14.
No sooner has the ice of Walden melted than the wind begins to play in dark ripples over the surface of the virgin water. Ice dissolved is the next moment as perfect water as if melted a million years.
What if our moods could dissolve thus completely?
2 P. M. — Thermometer 39. Overcast, with a flurry of snow and a little rain, till 4. 30 P. M.
To Walden and Cliffs.
I am surprised to find Walden almost entirely open. There is only about an acre of ice at the southeast end, north of the Lincoln bound, drifted there, and a little old and firm and snowy in the bottom of the deep south bay. I may say it opens to-morrow.
I have not observed it to open before before the 23d of March. [March 19, 1856, it was twenty-six inches thick! !] But Fair Haven Pond has not yet a channel through it, nor half through, though it is wholly clear, on an average, two or three days before Walden.
However, it is clear enough why Walden has broken up thus early this year. It does not ordinarily freeze till near the end of December (average of twelve observations , December 25th º), while Fair Haven Pond freezes about December 2d. But this past winter our cold weather was mostly confined to December, which was remarkable for its uniform cold, while January and February were very open and pleasant. So that Fair Haven Pond, having more than three weeks the start, and that being almost all the cold weather that we had, froze much the thickest. Walden did not freeze so thick as usual. If we have an average winter up to January, but a particularly warm one afterward, Walden will break up early, not having had any chance to freeze thick.
You must look sharp to see if the pond is wholly clear of ice. Standing on the northerly shore, I did not detect any, but, having ascended the peak, I saw a field of an acre which had drifted to the southeast corner, beside some in the deep south bay. As I stand there, I see some dark ripples already drop and sweep over the surface of the pond, as they will ere long over Ripple Lake and other pools in the wood.
No sooner has the ice of Walden melted than the wind begins to play in dark ripples over the surface of the virgin water. It is affecting to see Nature so tender, however old, and wearing none of the wrinkles of age. Ice dissolved is the next moment as perfect water as if it had been melted a million years.
To see that which was lately so hard and immovable now so soft and impressible! What if our moods could dissolve thus completely? It is like a flush of life in a cheek that was dead. It seems as if it must rejoice in its own newly acquired fluidity, as it affects the beholder with joy.
You must look sharp to see if the pond is wholly clear of ice. Standing on the northerly shore, I did not detect any, but, having ascended the peak, I saw a field of an acre which had drifted to the southeast corner, beside some in the deep south bay. As I stand there, I see some dark ripples already drop and sweep over the surface of the pond, as they will ere long over Ripple Lake and other pools in the wood.
No sooner has the ice of Walden melted than the wind begins to play in dark ripples over the surface of the virgin water. It is affecting to see Nature so tender, however old, and wearing none of the wrinkles of age. Ice dissolved is the next moment as perfect water as if it had been melted a million years.
To see that which was lately so hard and immovable now so soft and impressible! What if our moods could dissolve thus completely? It is like a flush of life in a cheek that was dead. It seems as if it must rejoice in its own newly acquired fluidity, as it affects the beholder with joy.
Often the March winds have no chance to ripple its face at all.
I see on the peak several young English cherry trees six or eight feet high, evidently planted by birds and growing well. I have seen a pretty large one formerly on Fair Haven Hill. If the stone falls in a sprout - land like this they may attain to be sizable trees . These grew nearly a foot last year and look quite healthy . The bird must have brought the stone far to this locality.
Every craftsman looks at his own objects with peculiar eyes. I thought of this on seeing these young cherry trees and remembering how I used to distinguish the erect and lusty shoots when I cultivated a small nursery, for budding. One eye will mark how much the twigs grew last year, another the lichens on the trunk.
Standing on the Cliffs, I see that the young oaks on the plain beneath now look thin-leaved, showing the upright gray stems. The steady March winds have blown off so many leaves.
The Peterboro Hills are covered with snow, though this neighborhood is bare. We thus see winter retiring for some time after she has left us, commonly.
I see that the Indians have got their black ash and made a basket or two, the large kind, — one a bushel basket, the rim of white oak, — and they have hung them on the trees, as if to exhibit their wares. May not that size and style of basket be an Indian invention?
H.. D. Thoreau, Journal, March 14, 1860
I have not observed Walden to open before before the 23d of March. [March 19, 1856, it was twenty-six inches thick! !] See March 14, 1852 ("The ice on Walden has now for some days looked white like snow"); Walden, Chapter 17 (Spring) (" It commonly opens about the first of April, a week or ten days later than Flint's Pond and Fair Haven, beginning to melt on the north side and in the shallower parts where it began to freeze."); Walden.("In 1845 Walden was first completely open
Fair Haven Pond is wholly clear, on an average, two or three days before Walden. See March 26, 1860 ("Fair Haven Pond may be open by the 20th of March, as this year, or not till April 13 as in '56, or twenty-three days later.")
No sooner has the ice of Walden melted than the wind begins to play in dark ripples. See March 20, 1853 ("It is glorious to behold the life and joy of this ribbon of water sparkling in the sun. The wind ... raises a myriad brilliant sparkles on the bare face of the pond, an expression of glee, of youth, of spring, as if it spoke the joy of the fishes within it and of the sands on its shore. It is the contrast between life and death. There is the difference between winter and spring. The bared face of the pond sparkles with joy."); April 9, 1854 ("I am surprised to find Walden completely open. When did it open? According to all accounts, it must have been between the 6th and 9th."); March 31, 1855 ("Yesterday the earth was simple to barrenness, and dead, —bound out. Out-of-doors there was nothing but the wind and the withered grass and the cold though sparkling blue water, and you were driven in upon yourself. Now you would think that there was a sudden awakening in the very crust of the earth, as if flowers were expanding and leaves putting forth... We feel as if we had obtained a new lease of life. Looking from the Cliffs I see that Walden is open to-day first."); April 18, 1856 ("Walden is open entirely to-day for the first time, owing to the rain of yesterday and evening. I have observed its breaking up of different years commencing in ’45, and the average date has been April 4th."); March 29, 1857 ("Walden open, say to-day, though there is still a little ice in the deep southern bay and a very narrow edging along the southern shore."); March 28, 1858 ("Walden is open. When? On the 20th it was pretty solid. C. sees a very little ice in it to-day, but probably it gets entirely free to-night."); March 29, 1859 ("Driving rain and southeast wind, etc. Walden is first clear after to-day.")
See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Ice-out. In Thoreau’s records, March 14th was the ealiest, ice out. April 18th was the latest with the average date April 4th. From 1995 to 2015, in contrast ice out ranged from Jan. 29 in the record-breaking warm winter of 2012 to as late as April 12. The median ice out date over that period was March 21.
I see on the peak several young English cherry trees six or eight feet high, evidently planted by birds and growing well. I have seen a pretty large one formerly on Fair Haven Hill. If the stone falls in a sprout - land like this they may attain to be sizable trees . These grew nearly a foot last year and look quite healthy . The bird must have brought the stone far to this locality.
Every craftsman looks at his own objects with peculiar eyes. I thought of this on seeing these young cherry trees and remembering how I used to distinguish the erect and lusty shoots when I cultivated a small nursery, for budding. One eye will mark how much the twigs grew last year, another the lichens on the trunk.
Standing on the Cliffs, I see that the young oaks on the plain beneath now look thin-leaved, showing the upright gray stems. The steady March winds have blown off so many leaves.
The Peterboro Hills are covered with snow, though this neighborhood is bare. We thus see winter retiring for some time after she has left us, commonly.
I see that the Indians have got their black ash and made a basket or two, the large kind, — one a bushel basket, the rim of white oak, — and they have hung them on the trees, as if to exhibit their wares. May not that size and style of basket be an Indian invention?
H.. D. Thoreau, Journal, March 14, 1860
I have not observed Walden to open before before the 23d of March. [March 19, 1856, it was twenty-six inches thick! !] See March 14, 1852 ("The ice on Walden has now for some days looked white like snow"); Walden, Chapter 17 (Spring) (" It commonly opens about the first of April, a week or ten days later than Flint's Pond and Fair Haven, beginning to melt on the north side and in the shallower parts where it began to freeze."); Walden.("In 1845 Walden was first completely open
- on the 1st of April;
- in '46, the 25th of March;
- in '47, the 8th of April;
- in '51, the 28th of March;
- in '52, the 18th of April;
- in '53, the 23rd of March;
- in '54, about the 7th of April.")
No sooner has the ice of Walden melted than the wind begins to play in dark ripples. See March 20, 1853 ("It is glorious to behold the life and joy of this ribbon of water sparkling in the sun. The wind ... raises a myriad brilliant sparkles on the bare face of the pond, an expression of glee, of youth, of spring, as if it spoke the joy of the fishes within it and of the sands on its shore. It is the contrast between life and death. There is the difference between winter and spring. The bared face of the pond sparkles with joy."); April 9, 1854 ("I am surprised to find Walden completely open. When did it open? According to all accounts, it must have been between the 6th and 9th."); March 31, 1855 ("Yesterday the earth was simple to barrenness, and dead, —bound out. Out-of-doors there was nothing but the wind and the withered grass and the cold though sparkling blue water, and you were driven in upon yourself. Now you would think that there was a sudden awakening in the very crust of the earth, as if flowers were expanding and leaves putting forth... We feel as if we had obtained a new lease of life. Looking from the Cliffs I see that Walden is open to-day first."); April 18, 1856 ("Walden is open entirely to-day for the first time, owing to the rain of yesterday and evening. I have observed its breaking up of different years commencing in ’45, and the average date has been April 4th."); March 29, 1857 ("Walden open, say to-day, though there is still a little ice in the deep southern bay and a very narrow edging along the southern shore."); March 28, 1858 ("Walden is open. When? On the 20th it was pretty solid. C. sees a very little ice in it to-day, but probably it gets entirely free to-night."); March 29, 1859 ("Driving rain and southeast wind, etc. Walden is first clear after to-day.")
See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Ice-out. In Thoreau’s records, March 14th was the ealiest, ice out. April 18th was the latest with the average date April 4th. From 1995 to 2015, in contrast ice out ranged from Jan. 29 in the record-breaking warm winter of 2012 to as late as April 12. The median ice out date over that period was March 21.
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