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Four weeks after my Christmas Eve walk around Kirk Park I returned to Lake Michigan to see what had changed, and to try out my new camera.

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The extreme cold of the past few weeks increased the ice cover dramatically, and now the lake is covered out to near the horizon.

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The large piles of ice roughly correspond to where the sand bars or shallow regions near the beach appear in the summer.

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I walked out to the first large piles. I am certain the ice would have held me out much farther, but it was difficult walking; slick ice interspersed with patches of snow which might also be deep holes.

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After an hour here I drove up to Grand Haven State Park, where many people (comparatively) were enjoying themselves on the ice.

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The mouth of the channel was apparently the only open patch of water in this area, and therefore there were ducks in abundance.

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You can see the entire set here on Flickr.