Looking from the lake to the campsite, up towards where I tented - a little mound on the first bit of flat-ground just above the lake level (the little sled is resting at lake level, the tent is in a small gap in the trees up and to the right, as per the closer up photo on the right here.
It was a bit easier to set-up this year, as the snow had had some time to settle, and the ground wasn't rock solid like last year (when everything froze up before the snow, which fell shortly before we arrived, meaning I could neither pound spikes in to the ground, nor use snow-stakes (both of which worked this year). Nice view from tent to lake...
So, things worked well this year. The firewood was pretty damp, meaning it was a struggle to get lit and keep going - but the volume of splitting required kept me busy and gave me some exercise, despite my gimpy knee. There was much sociality around the fire in the evenings. It was warm enough that I didn't need to double bag in the tent this year.
Another pleasantitude was that the ice was a lot better, not ice capped by slush capped by snow like last year, that made the slog so hard. This year we stayed at Observatory, which was easy to get to (and, given the winter we had, gave us the option of access via overland, which we turned out not to need). Unbeknownst to us, they've put in a permit system for camping, so next year we'll need tags. In exchange for which they installed a very nice outhouse in the parking lot.