Skates, Hockey Sticks and a Puck

I have absolutely no doubt this scene was played out on countless waterways and lakes in the area. The fact that it took place in the middle of the Admiralty Group made it all the more memorable for us. Leading up to Monday, February 16^th, a rare succession of warm, rain, calm and cold turned the River into a table-top of perfect ice. When Frank J. Zamboni dreamt – he was dreaming of this ice.

My companions on this day were Cole Hood and his father, George (golf course front road), Kevin Lackie (the A-frame in the Wanderers Channel) and Whitney, the puck retrieving retriever. After testing the waters (so to speak) and skating from Hood’s place down to Gananoque and back, we ventured across to the head of Macdonald Island.  From there we cut across to Lackie’s A-frame and then around Towers (Island 14), through Sunset Channel (beside Sagastaweka and Kissimini) and then around Mudlunta Island.  It was good fun to visit some familiar “summer” places along the way.

George later reflected that we experienced the River that day like we never have before and likely never will again. A fair comment indeed. For a place we’ve experienced in so many different ways, it always seems to offer up something new. Skating down the Wanderers and taking 300 ft slapshots – that memory will never get old!

Steve Hornsby, Tremont Island 

West of Gananoque	2nd cut from the head of Macdonald Island	Macdonald Island dock
Wanderers Channel/Lackie A-frame	Mudlunta Island/Britton Cottage	Looking south from Mudlunta Island
Mudlunta Island/Bedford Jones cottage	Foot of Towers Island	Skating down the Wanderers Channel
La Vignette Island	1st cut at the head of Macdonald Island	Whitney the puck retrieving retriever

Steve Hornsby hails from Tremont Island, a summer cottage community in the Admiralty Islands near Gananoque, Ontario.  He apologized for not having his "good camera" with him that day, but never-the-less he captured the moment and for that we are extremely grateful.