Night and Day

Julia is reading “The End of Night” by Paul Bogard, which is described as a hymn to vanished darkness. Between the full moon at Bryce, light pollution at rv parks, and cloudy nights, she hasn’t had much success in viewing the Milky Way.After leaving Moab, we went to Dead Horse State Park, which is about 45 minutes west of Moab and next to Canyonlands National Park.

This area is supposed to be a great spot for looking at darkness.  Unfortunately, even though it was clear for most of the day, clouds moved in at sunset, leaving no stars to be seen.  Then when Julia got up before sunrise, the half-moon spoiled the view.

Fortunately, the trails and daytime sights at Dead Horse State Park made up for the lack of true darkness. We hiked the East and West Rim Trails, along with a few shorter side trails.

This morning, we were off to points south.  My plan was to take Julia to Navajo National Monument, but she opted for someplace new.  We ended up at Monument Valley in the Navajo Nation.  We were going to stay at the View Campground, but no dogs were allowed.  Instead, we went to Goulding’s Campground.  Julia appreciated the hot showers and electrical hookups.  It’s been getting colder, and my $15 ceramic heater has been keeping us toasty when we have electric.  Solar doesn’t work for producing heat–at least not my 100 watt suitcase solar kit.

I had low expectations for Monument Valley, especially after the $20 entrance fee, but it was a very beautiful place.  We drove part of the gravel loop road before deciding that was enough potholes for one day.  Then we hiked the Wildcat Trail (about 4 miles looping around West Mitten). Despite the crowded parking lot and visitors’ center, we saw only a couple of hikers past the first mile.  It turned into a great afternoon.

Julia has one more chance for dark skies before we return to Vegas for her very early morning flight on Sunday.  We have no reservations but will making our way west.

Ice Age Trail: Peters Marsh

This is a continuation of the Antigo trip…

Day Three:  Per my custom, I was up early to eat breakfast and brew coffee.  The campground put out some nice advertising for Antigo’s farmer’s market, so I walked over to the Heinzen Peaceful Valley Pavilion, where vendors were still setting up at 7:45 a.m .  I continued to stroll around downtown and was one of the first customers at the 8 a.m. opening.  I scooped up two quarts of maple syrup to bring home and veggies to stir fry that night for dinner, along with some 50 cent sourdough rolls.

As I hiked back to the Brew Hut, someone yelled, “Hey, John.”  It was Deb from Lodi, who seemed as surprised to see me hiking down the street in Antigo as I was to see her driving down the street in Antigo.  Small world!

Back at camp, I changed into long pants, long sleeve shirt, and packed up bug spray and water.  Then I drove 20 miles northeast of Antigo to the Lumberjack segment of the Ice Age Trail.  The access was a small parking lot on Hwy A.

I wish that I could report that this was one of my favorite segments of the Ice Age Trail, but I can’t do that.  Nearly all of the ten mile hike (5 in and 5 out) was on old logging roads, which isn’t too surprising as this segment is called the Lumber Camp segment.  After I made it back home, I read the Ice Age Trail Organization’s notes on the section.

“Besides grassy stretches not mowed regularly, the heat, insects and special provision of water make summer less desirable for enjoying the pleasantries of a trail experience.”

That pretty much summed up my hike.  The grass was chest and shoulder-high in places.  The trail wasn’t really wet so much as the grass was wet.  Within 20 minutes, my shoes, socks and pants (knee down) were soaked.  Here’s a sample of the trail.

In almost any hike, one can find natural beauty, and this segment was no exception.

And there were berries.  Not all the berries were ripe, but some of the berries were so ripe and sun-warmed that the berry would partly fall apart before exploding in sweetness inside my mouth

Of course, as I dawdled to pick the choicest berries, the mosquitoes ate me alive.  The fruit was worth it, but only to a point.  The Ice Age notes mentioned insects, not just mosquitoes, so they were probably thinking of the deer tick and wood tick that I plucked off when performing a “check” back at the campsite.  Neither were embedded yet, so that was a bonus.

I ate an early supper:

Dessert was a Lakefront IPA and the Packer’s exhibition game against Washington. Life in the Brew Hut is good.