Balds

Where were we?  Oh yeah, my birthday.  We celebrated my birthday at Vintage Brewing’s new location in Sauk City.  The beer garden overlooking the Wisconsin River won’t be open until warmer weather, but we still managed to have a good time inside.

Based upon the last photo, you might think the title of the blog refers to the three guys quaffing beer.  At least, that’s what folks in Wisconsin would probably think.  The title actually refers to where I’m planning to travel this spring.  2018 has the potential to be a big travel year.  We will find out if it turns out that way, but that is my goal.

Julia will be heading off next week for some cross-country skiing in northern Wisconsin, while I tend to the home fires.  As you recall, she also made a trip to China for two weeks last fall. My wife has generously offered to stay home with Justin during his spring break, so I have a week to play in the outdoors.  Last year, I took a long weekend during the spring to Puerto Vallarta.  This year, I’ve tentatively decided to return  to the Appalachian Trail for the first time since my thru-hike in 1996.

I have no wish to ever repeat my thru-hike. Physically, the 2159 mile trail took a lot out of me.  I contracted Lyme’s Disease, developed heel spurs and knee issues, and dropped about 40 pounds.  I burned fat, and then I burned muscle.  That hike changed my approach to life in many positive ways, but you can never go back and experience the same thing.  Those days are gone.

On the other hand, there are lots of places on the A.T. that I would go back to for shorter hikes or backpacking trips, time permitting.  One of my favorite places in the South along the Appalachian Trail is in the Roan Mountain Area which follows the North Carolina and Tennessee border, north of the Smokey Mountain National Park.  These aren’t high elevation mountains compared to out west, but the climbs start out much lower also. Climbs above 5000 feet will be challenging enough after hiking mostly in the flatlands of the Midwest.

In the South, most of the peaks are not above tree line, so that views are often limited and obstructed by trees.  Balds are large grassy meadows found on top of some peaks. There are a few of them in the Roan Mountain area.  I remember the expansive views and the gale force winds.  This is also the area where I saw my only bear on the hike.  It was a black bear running in my favorite direction–away from me.

If you are interested in reading more about balds and the area I plan to hike in, check out this link,  I’ll hopefully have some of my own photos to post in April.   I don’t plan to take the Brew Hut–just the truck and my backpack.

This morning, Julia and I drove over to Sauk City to watch my son compete at a Show Choir Competition and to walk along the Great Sauk Trail.

This area is known for bald eagles that winter here.  In fact, the header photo shows an island in the middle of the river.  Eagles roost in that tree, as many as 20 or more at a time.  Today, Sauk Prairie rolled out the carpet for tourists, but only a couple of eagles could be found during our hike (too far away for photos from my phone).

It was all a bit too crowded and with too many rules for my taste, so we will return another day. There are good spots for eagle viewing both upriver and downriver from the main advertised viewing area on the bluff.
I will finish with a video from the show choir performance.  Those who are familiar with my blog will recognize my son’s fancy ride.

A New Year: Muse, Views and Brews

In the past month, it’s been a struggle to find subjects that I would like to blog about.

My resolution to walk at least 10,000 steps every day has been fairly easy to keep but not necessarily in any exciting way.  Hiking to the top of Gray’s Peak in Colorado is my idea of exciting.  Doing laps from the laundry room through the kitchen around the living room to the end of my son’s bedroom and back again?  It’s just kinda sad, but that has been my fate with some of the below zero weather that we’ve had lately, along with my full-time caregiver status during Justin’s Christmas break from school.

The highlight was our January 1st hike at Gibraltar Rock, promoted by the local Ice Age Trail Chapter.  About a dozen people participated, despite temperatures hovering around zero.  Julia and I left ahead of the group that was shivering in the main parking lot and hiked to the top and then down to the west parking lot.  We returned to the top where the main group was gathered. Cups of hot chocolate were offered by the organizers for those hikers braving the elements.  The winter views were a bonus.

Today, the weather popped up into the upper 40’s (with rain)  before diving down into the single digits.  Below zero weather returns on Saturday.  This is winter life in Wisconsin.

Yesterday, I spent the day with my son at the University of Wisconsin Children’s Hospital.  Annually, he goes in to see specialists for Duchenne’s muscular dystrophy.  It was not a particularly good day.  Based upon his significant loss of function during the last year, I had a pretty good idea what was coming, but Justin did not.  It’s a heckuva thing for a 17-year-old to accept.  Justin gets down at times, but is probably the most resilient person I know, given his circumstances.

Duchenne’s muscular dystrophy is a neuromuscular genetic disease that weakens the big muscles first (legs and then arms). Often, it runs in families, but not always.  It can spontaneously occur without genetic history.  In Justin’s case, he was adopted from South Korea so he doesn’t have the benefit of family medical records  Through early detection by the UW doctors, Justin began prednisone treatments much earlier than most kids with his diagnosis.  That has delayed the progression of the disease. Delayed but not denied.

Justin stopped all walking at 15 and lost his ability to stand with help last summer. He has also lost much of his arm/shoulder function.  We knew all that, but yesterday’s tests told us that his lungs have weakened considerably during the past 12 months. His echo cardiogram looked good, but the cardiologist sent him home with a 24 hour heart monitor and plans for a heart MRI this summer before he heads to college.  The heart is a muscle too.

 
This is a bridge year for me, transitioning from Justin’s primary caregiver to his Dad again, as he heads off for college in July for a month and then again in the fall for the full semester, majoring in social work.  He won’t be the first kid with Duchenne’s to get a college degree, but there aren’t many.  If you don’t dream big, it won’t happen.

Tomorrow, I drive to Chicago to pick up my daughter Allie who is returning from a semester’s study in China and a month’s vacation in Thailand.  I’m pretty excited to have her home for a week or so before she heads back to college at UW-Milwaukee.

Tomorrow night, we’re getting together with two other couples for a trip to Vintage Brewing’s new place in Sauk City.  We’ve been looking forward to this opening for a while. I like Vintage’s beers, and the location overlooking the Wisconsin River is amazing.  Plus, it’s much closer to us than Vintage in Madison. It’s my birthday weekend, so that will make the brews taste that much sweeter (excepting IPA’s).