March 16 was the date of the Sugar Creek “Ice Falls” trip, rescheduled from February 15. The creek level was too low in February, but proved to be just enough Mar. 16. The creek was right around 4 ft. at launch time, and slowly rose as we paddled to 4.16 ft. This proved to be a good minimum level, as no one had to get out and wade due to shallow water. After having great weather earlier in the week, the 16th actually felt more like February than March with temperatures in the mid to upper 30s, and an off and on light drizzle occasionally mixed with snow flurries. The earlier warmer weather had melted any ice falls, but we saw bald eagles, geese, and great blue herons in their rookery. We flushed a group of 4 whitetail deer, and watched as they ran a short distance and then crossed the creek. Right before trip’s end we paddled through a tricky section of downed trees that had a cable entangled with one of them. The slick steps of the take out caused one group member to lose footing and fall. He was unharmed, but unfortunately his paddle snapped in two. We had a surprising amount of official interest in our trip. We had a conservation officer stop to chat at the put in, another at the take out when we ran the shuttle, and a DNR employee stopped while transferring a boat back at the put in after the trip was over. It is good that they were concerned about unprepared people taking off in poor conditions. They seemed satisfied that we had proper gear and a plan in mind. We mentioned the entangled cable to the DNR employee.