Living in the Moment

I experienced a twinge of sadness when putting the Brew Hut away for the winter yesterday.  Today greeted me with cold, wet and darkness.  While I have some big plans for the Brew Hut next summer and fall, I will need to work at  not becoming complacent, fat and lazy as we enter the gray zone of late October and November.  Julia leaves on her trip to Shanghai, China today. I may have been feeling a little sorry for myself, tending to the home fires and Justin.

Hiking is a great way to shake off the doldrums.  The first step was getting off my butt.  By 11 a.m, I was driving the short distance to Gibraltar Rock Natural Area, one of my go-to-makes-me-happy hikes. Although it rained last night, the trail was in decent shape with a bed of leaves to absorb the needed precipitation.

By the time I looped down to the east parking lot and then back up the old “road” to the top, the sun was shining and the day was looking better.

Black River State Forest, Part 2

Saturday: While the Brew Hut mattress will need an upgrade before camping season next year, I slept well on Friday night and until after 7 a.m on Saturday.  I previously hiked all of the trails available at the Castle Mound campground, so I jumped into the Frontier and drove south on I-94 for about 11 miles, exiting at Millston and ending up at the Pigeon Creek Campground.


Pigeon Creek had no electric hookups or showers, but it did have less road noise.  I would consider staying there in the future.  The sites were a bit smaller, but well-spaced.  There were vault toilets and water pumps.  The sites were $18, compared to $28 with electric at Castle Mound.

The Nature Trail at Pigeon Creek was only 1.5 miles on flat terrain, mostly along the Pigeon Creek Flowage.

When I started the hike, I planned to combine the hike with a longer mountain biking/hiking trail.  The weather was warm, and the sun was shining.  I talked briefly to the lone fisherman on the flowage.  We agreed it was a perfect morning for late October.

On my way to the intersection of the longer mountain bike trail, the rain started to fall.  I decided to turn back.  As I passed the fisherman, we agreed that it had been a perfect morning for October.  He caught 3 nice bluegills, so he was still feeling pretty good about the day, despite the rain.

I’ve hiked in the rain many times, and I will hike in the rain again.  But I decided that a local microbrewery would be a better option.
Sand Creek Brewery, Black River Falls:

The taproom was busy when I arrived mid-afternoon.  I asked about a tour, and was told that one would be given in 30 minutes or so. My favorite Sand Creek beer, Fatty Boomblatty, brewed under the Furthermore label, wasn’t available on tap, so I went with the Turtle Stack SMaSH Golden Ale.  SMaSH beers are bewed with single malt, single hops.  It was a worthy choice–heavier than my Octoberfest lager at the campsite but lighter and less hoppy than the IPA’s that I tend to favor.

Shortly before finishing my beer,  a man in casual attire announced that the tour would be starting in a few minutes outside the doors of the tap room.  I downed my last couple of swallows and waited outside.  To my surprise, no one else was going on the tour, and I was getting a personalized solo tour from the general manager at Sand Creek Brewery.

I told him that I was a homebrewer, and he immediately put me at ease by stating that everyone in the microbrewery business starts off as a homebrewer.  He gave a a great tour and answered all of my questions, including some good gossip about the industry. I bought a t-shirt to remember the visit.

That Saturday evening, back at the Brew Hut, a violent storm storm came through with rain, wind, thunder and lightning.  I didn’t sleep particularly well as I wondered if one of the large trees or branches above the Brew Hut might fall on top of me.  It was cold and wet on Sunday morning.  I watched part of the Packers game against the Saints and left the campground at halftime.

On Monday, I winterized the Brew Hut, emptying the tanks and filling the lines and traps with RV antifreeze.  Unless I can work in another weekend of dry camping  during the late fall, the Brew Hut will awake in the spring.

Black River State Forest

The Black River Forest is 68,000 acres of public land in Jackson County, which is about 2 hours northwest of Madison, WI and two hours southeast of Minne-apolis, MN.  The area is home to wolves, bear, elk, wild turkey and other critters. I headed up there last Thursday night in the Frontier, pulling the Brew Hut.  It’s likely my last trip of the season.

The days are getting much shorter.  I arrived at Castle Mound campground a few minutes after 7 p.m., and it was pitch black.  I was nervous about towing the trailer for the first time in the dark and setting up in the dark also for the first time. Aside from four whitetail deer straddling the entrance road to the campground, I didn’t have any problems.  In fact, thanks to pull-through sites, I didn’t even have to back up the Brew Hut in the dark.

After self-registering and paying my fees through the envelope slot at the closed office, I hiked around in the dark through the campground loops.  There were only a couple of other campers.  Back at the Brew Hut, I unwound with a couple of Spaten Octoberfest lagers, ate some pepper jack cheese & crackers,  and read a few chapters of Game of Thrones.  The campground is fairly close to Hwy 12 and I-94 so there was some truck/road noise, but I slept well, waking up Friday to the sun starting to rise and temps in the 40’s

I decided to warm up with a hike instead of breakfast.  The Castle Mound Nature Trail is about a two-mile hike that includes some ups, some downs, and some very nice views of rock formations and forest.

A steep set of stairs leads to the observation deck, where, unfortunately, a wasp nest awaited.

An instant after I stepped from the last stair to the deck, several wasps landed on me.  A single sting to my left hand cut short my visit to the top.  I rarely get stung and was a bit ticked off at my luck.  I prefer a good cup of coffee for my morning wakeup.  Still, I managed the header photo and one more before hiking back down.

 
Some bacon,, eggs, hash browns (from scratch), and fresh brewed Dominican Republic coffee soothed my pain.

After breakfast, I hiked the Perry Creek mountain bike/hiking trail, which was an in/out trail of about 5 miles round trip.  The trail had been recently mowed and was in good shape.  I didn’t see a mountain bike the whole weekend or more than a handful of hikers for that matter.   On this hike, my only company was a hen turkey who was too lazy to get off the trail to escape from me.  She did seem to be annoyed that we were going the same way.

Dinner was tostadas with seasoned pork, cilantro and raw onions, washed down with an inexpensive red wine from Portugal. I found some firewood left by the previous occupant of my campsite for a nice bonfire to end the evening. 

Ferry Bluff State Natural Area

Today: After a hard overnight rain, the skies were clear this morning.  The temperature was back in the 60’s.  It would have been a good day to get out the chain saw and get some work done on my own property, but days like today are meant for hiking.

Ferry Bluff is located a few miles west of Sauk City, WI.  The ferry operated during the late 1800’s and transported people, property and livestock. According to the informational sign, Moses and Perses Laws pulled the ferry back and forth with a rowboat and a tow line.

The trail starts where Honey Creek meets the Wisconsin River.

It follows switchbacks back and forth with an 800′ change in elevation on a short trail.

The trails flattens out at the top.  There are a couple of man-made benches for sitting and viewing.  There are also a couple of rock ledges near the edge for sitting and viewing.  The views up and down the river are spectacular.  These photos are taken from Cactus Bluff.

Scientists estimate that the bluffs are 500 million years old.   Spear points and other tools show that humans may have hunted mammoth and mastodon here 10,000 years ago.   During the 1600’s, this river was used as a water highway to transport furs and goods.

From Cactus Bluff, the trail climbs steeply to Ferry Bluff.  There were several large fallen trees blocking the trail.  I tweaked my foot jumping down about four feet from one of those trees–just enough to remind myself that I’m not 35 anymore.

I also interrupted a Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources workshop with about a dozen DNR specialists.  As I passed, they invited me to stick around and listen, so I did for a few  minutes.  It was interesting to hear the competing viewpoints about how to best manage the property with limited funds. The forestry guy talked about how the oaks represented cords of firewood and linear feet of lumbar.  The naturalist talked about the unique nature of the first layer of undergrowth and flowers, which would not exist without the oak trees.  Hunters and fishermen were represented also.  Me? I just came for the views and exercise.

The trail ended at the towering edge of Ferry Bluff.

Below you can see where Honey Creek enters the Wisconsin River. There was a steep drop off.  I wasn’t going to get any closer for a better picture.

Indian Lake to Lake Wisconsin

October 2, 2017:  This morning, I started the day with a cup of Brazilian Morgiana 17/18, Lot 428, home roasted to full city (a few snaps into second crack).

I had errands to run at Costco in Middleton, so I took a slight detour and headed to Indian Lake County Park, located in the northwest corner of Dane County.  According to the calendar, fall has started, but the weather was pure summer with temps hitting 80. There are a few miles of trails, which become cross-country ski trails in the winter. 

The bonus is that the hiking is free, while skiing requires a $7 day pass.  I chose Trail #1, which follows the perimeter of the park about three miles, passing the lake, entering the woods with some ups and downs, opening into some nice prairie, and finishing up in the woods to the parking lot.

Later that day, after dining on Costco salmon and a freshly baked baguette, Julia and I dropped Justin off at musical practice.  We took the opportunity to test Julia’s new hiking poles at Gibraltar Rock.

The sun was still shining brightly when we started the hike.  But when we finished around 7 p.m., it was getting dark in the woods.

There was still time for a nightcap at Fitz’s On the Lake,  a bar and restaurant with  an outdoor deck overlooking Lake Wisconsin.  The Hacker-Pschorr Hefeweisen was the perfect way to finish off a warm night in October.