The dock was built a little higher than the old dock so it needed a higher ladder to get out of the lake. To meet an immediate need I stuck in a 12′ aluminum extension ladder. It seemed to be about the right height/length.
The aluminum ladder tied to the swim platform
So, when it came time to build a proper wood ladder 12′ seemed to be a good idea. So did angled steps so the ladder wouldn’t be straight up and down.
If it’s too high it would be easy to cut it down and or remove a couple of steps.
The angled steps seemed like a good idea, but it took three attempts to get it put together correctly. Thank goodness for power tools, and deck screws.
Oh yeah, the water is high and getting higher in the coming week and it’s raining today.?
Lake of the Woods water levels are now higher that I’ve ever experienced in 40+ years of lake life. It’s well over our original dock.
Our floating dock section is now riding higher that the fixed section and we normally use a 3 step ladder to get down to the floating dock!. Also in this picture. below the far end has been floated up several inches but still seems to be attached to the underlying crib. I’m sure there will be some repairs needed when the lake goes down.
That right hand end shouldn’t be tilting up like that!
The boat ramp that last year I had to put a skid extension on to get the boat over some rocks because the water was so low is now almost getting ready to float away. The back end is floating and I think the boat on the new roller system is helping to hold it down a bit.
Record precipitation this spring in the basin has lead to record inflows to the Lake of the Woods resulting in very high levels.
The current level of Lake of the Woods is 323.89 m (1062.6 ft), over 95th percentile level for this time of year. The average lake level rose by 10 cm (4 in) over past week. The lake level has risen above the 2014 peak of 323.78 m (1062.29 ft) and is below the record peak since regulation began of 324.31 m (1064.0 ft), set in July of 1950.
