How to Get Water Out of a Frozen Stream Where the Ice is Several Inches Thick

Two thoughts:

A bit of fallen timber thumped down onto the ice

A boot heel thumped down on the ice

It does seem to me that the ice will be brittle, and if you can pick what looks like a weak point you should be OK. Exactly where you find the weak points – that I am not 100% sure. Maybe a pool a short distance away from a rock is worth a try: the ice might flex but the rock won’t. Pack off for this exercise I suggest, and trekking poles for balance.

Cheers

A small coal chisel and you could use a rock for the hammer?

Wouldn’t a nice, solid tent stake that you already carry work? I know you said the rocks were frozen into the water, but I’m assuming that there are other rocks nearby on land that would not be, that you could use as a hammer. If you don’t think the tent stakes are strong enough for pounding like that, carrying a tenpenny nail should do the trick.

1) Find what looks to be a deep pool, and perhaps dig a hole close to the edge. At some depth, its possible free flowing water will be present.

2) How about whip out the stove and heat up the pot real nice (or your spade), and use that to break into the ice.

Ice screw – that sounds more like it.

dig a hole close to the edge.
I suspect not a chance: the soil will have moisture in it from the creek before it froze, and the moisture in the soil will now be frozen for some depth.

A 20-pound rock thrown into the ice did nothing but dent the surface a little.
That is ICE!

Find a large pool which might be more brittle?
A stove would work, but it would take a lot of fuel.
1 gram of C4?

Else, yeah, go elsewhere.

Cheers

Cordless drill and a drinking straw?  :-)

Seriously, though, what about a plain old ice pick to chip out chunks for melting?

You are already putting the plutonium in your water so I figured you wouldn’t worry about any shielding. And you could carry a light isotope, like PU228. Leave the PU247 for car camping.

A bushcraft hand auger, like this one, might work. It weighs ~11 oz.

My first thought when reading the OP was the Estwing but I wasn’t sure how much it weighed. Are you taking an ice axe anyway? Some have replaceable picks so you could take an extra hardened steel tip. Like the Corsa Nanotech Ice Axe with a claimed weight of 8.8 oz on closeout sale at REI now for $120. Light, but you could pound on the adze with a fat branch.

Pack some mud on top of the detonators first and it will greatly multiply the effect, but get behind something before it goes off.

A heavy, short knife would have less weight penalty than a hatchet or hammer and get you through 3 inches of ice.  I carry a BK2 now in the winter instead of a hatchet. (And always the appropriate size folding saw depending on the hike goals.)

yeah, it’s a 16 oz weight penalty…

Build a fire on the ice