The Difficult Path Ahead

While walking along the frozen shore, we came upon a rift in the drift ice on Lake Michigan. The ice looks static, but if you visit the beach in winter, you'll realize it's almost always moving, and here is a place where forces pushed the ice apart. If you look closely, you'll notice the right side of the ice rift fits perfectly into the left side. This is sort of like a fault in geology, where the plates are pulling apart. What I found interesting is the path through the dunes to the beach seemed to lead directly to the rift, making the two appear to connect, and lead right to the horizon. Of course this is not the case, but from the top of the dune, the beach below can't be seen, and the rift looks as if it touches the dune. Over time this break in the drift ice will change. It will most likely get wider for a time, then the open spaces will ice over or fill with other drift ice pushed in by the winds over the lake.