Breakup

As the snow melts and the temperatures begin to warm up people here begin to get anxious.  The ducks and geese have returned to the area, and just like everything else the land provides, people here love hunting birds.  But the birds are not the reason for the increased tensions around town.  The reason for the tension is the river.  For a few weeks between winter and spring travel to and from Bethel is strictly by plane.  The ice road is no longer safe to drive even a snowmachine on, but is still covered in ice also eliminating boating as a means of travel.  People flock daily to the river to keep vigil in anticipation of the ice breakup.  One longtime Bethel resident even told me that tradition mandates you should not make any major life decisions within 3 days of the river's breakup.  The longer breakup takes to occur, the more anxiety there is around town.  Some people have literally spent hours just watching the ice, listening to it pop and crack, waiting.  
Every year for I don't know how long, a town wide bet attempts to predict the exact date and time the river will breakup.  This year's pot was over $12,000!  A tripod marker is positioned in the ice.  When the marker moves the bet is over and the breakup has officially begun.  This year breakup was later than most years past.  It officially began May 28th at 7:42 PM.  The following day the town hosted its annual Breakup Bash, a party on the river bank complete with live music and free hot dogs.  We aren't big crowd people (and the Breakup Bash usually draws a big crowd), so rather than joining the party I decided to wait till later that night to go check out the river.  Mark had driven past just before the Bash started and reported there was still plenty of stationary ice.  The river may have moved enough to break the marker, but by all intensive purposes was at a stand still.

After getting the kids to bed I grabbed my camera and headed for the river.  The sun isn't setting until about midnight, so I knew I had plenty of light remaining.  I also knew if I didn't go that night I might not get another chance to take pictures of breakup until next year.  Once the ice starts moving the river is usually cleared in less than 2 days.  

When I first got to the river, I thought I had read the official breakup time wrong, because the river I was looking at was not moving at all and was still covered in ice.  There were even some people out on the ice, chipping it away and loading it into their truck beds.  There were several other people down there too, just watching and waiting for the ice to clear.  I had been snapping pictures for probably about 20 minutes when I was ready to leave.  As I packed up my stuff however I noticed that the popping of the ice suddenly seemed louder and more frenzied.  When I looked out at the river I also noticed that there was water splashing up between the cracks in the ice.  Then, quite suddenly, the whole river surged forward.  Chunks of ice, tree limbs and debris rushed past all of us.  People started cheering and clapping, I think I even saw one lady start crying.  The noise was incredible.  
I didn't stay too long; it was late, and I had to work the next day.  But I am really glad I went when I did.  Most people, even people who have lived in Bethel for years, don't ever get to see anything like that.  By the next day, most of the ice had cleared out.  By the day after that people were putting their boats back in the water.