in Thoreau’s Journal:

I find that the ice of Walden has melted or softened so much that I sink an inch or more at every step and hardly any where can I cut out a small cake the water collects so fast in hole. But at last in a harder & dryer place I succeeded— It was now 15 1/2 inches thick….

Photo March 3, 2016, Beede Falls, Sandwich, New Hampshire