Winter in Kingston was magical. Even though it was pretty cold, there was so much to do in the snow, so many activities that it left me with many precious memories.
Whether we were tobogganing at Fort Henry or skating at the outdoor rink on Queenston Heights or hiking in the fields behind Assoro Cres/Sicily Dr and the rock cuts there, the cold didn't seem to bother us much.
By far though, the most fun we would have was walking on the frozen water of Deadman's Bay and hiking over the St Lawrence River to Cedar Island and even toward Wolfe Island.
The ice became very thick. One day when we were at Arrowhead Beach, we saw some ice fishermen with their car on the bay. We went up to them and watched as they bore a hole through the ice. It was at least two feet thick.
After a snowfall, we decided to walk to Whisky and Cedar Islands. There was my best friend Chuck, and my three younger brothers, Paul, Dale and Tony. There were probably others but I don't recall anymore. We walked across the bay and then followed the shoreline of Cartwright Point toward our destination. We were planning on going to the Murney Tower on Cedar Island. We might be able to pile the snow up enough to climb onto it...at least that was our plan.
It was all fun and laughter until Tony fell down. He had stepped onto a fishing hole that had formed a thin film of ice on top and then been covered in snow. Luckily, only one leg went into the hole, but now he was soaking wet. Did I mention it was cold out. We were about a mile from home so we had to postpone our trip and get Tony home and into dry clothes.
Another time we got to Cedar Island but became bored and decided we would walk to Wolf Island. Cars would drive there all the time so it had to be safe, right? Along the way we found a fish that had been frozen in the ice, about a foot below us. We spent a while chipping at the ice to see if we could get it out but, we grew bored and moved on.
Then the Wolf Island ferry made it's trip to Wolf Island. At that time, during the winter, it would be led by an ice-breaker to keep the ferry route functioning but it was a few miles away so no big deal. That is until its wake got to us. Several feet of ice seems like a lot for a few kids to walk on but when a mass of water passes in a wave under it, it undulates, snaps and creaks in a most disturbing way. We decided that we really didn't want to go all the way to Wolf Island, too far and there wouldn't be much to do there anyway. We headed home.
We spent a lot of time on the ice in that area, sometimes challenging each other in the fall or spring when it wasn't so thick, to see who could walk out the farthest without breaking through or getting scared. We got lucky, the worst we suffered were some soakers, tame compared to what could have happened had someone fallen all the way through.
What did you and your friends do for fun in the winter? For those of you unfortunate enough to have to endure winter where there is no snow, what did you like to do when you ventured into colder climates?
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