A Longer Hike at Devil's Lake

Julia and I continue to train for the Inca trail, gradually building up our endurance for 10 to 12 mile hikes. Yesterday, we took the free ferry across the Wisconsin River to Devil's Lake State Park

From the Ferry Deck

Julia was in charge of routing this 9.5 mile hike.  We stopped at the parking lot about a mile past the south entrance of the park and hopped on a blue trail that linked us to the Uplands Trail.

Trailhead

Originally, we planned to be camping all week along the Mississippi River in Wisconsin.  With only one dry day predicted for our five day plan, we aborted mission, stayed home and made other plans.

Both women ready to go

It was a good training hike.  Conditions were muddy, due to the rain.  The mosquitos were present.  There were some long hills to climb up and down.  We took the Uplands Trail to the Ice Age Trail to the Grotto Trail to the Potholes Trail to the Ice Age Trail and finally back to the Uplands Trail.

The views along the rocky bluffs are always worth the sweat, grime, and bug bites.

Devil's Lake, East Bluff

After almost ten miles, I was ready for an afternoon nap in my favorite chair when we arrived home.

Nice Try

Winter can be Wonderful

Winter has been going full-blast ever since we've returned from Aruba.   There aren't that many days below zero each winter in south-central Wisconsin, but we've had several of them in the past ten days.  There's also been snow, ice and wind.

None of those weather conditions bother Callie-dog.  She managed to get an upper respiratory infection at the kennel.  I think she just wasn't getting enough outdoor time.

This morning, hiking conditions were perfect.  We took advantage of the soft snow and temperatures into the 30's and drove over to Devil's Lake State Park.   I've hiked the Roznos Meadows Trail during the summer, but this is the first time that I've ever hiked it in the winter.

The first half of the trail is flat, yet provides a gorgeous view of the bluffs that I'm usually hiking up from the lake.  It's always fun to get a different perspective on things.

Julia was off to the races.

This is an in-and-out trail, connecting up with the Uplands Trail at the top of that ridge in the back.  The trail was lightly traveled.  Just a few people and no dogs.

Callie is completely recovered from her illness and ready for whatever comes her way.  We're already planning a spring trip west.

More Winter Scenes

Our early winter continues.  I traded my snowshoes for my medium-duty Dahner hiking boots.  The snow wasn’t deep enough for snowshoes. The hiking boots provided extra support for the hidden rocks and stumps lurking under the snow.

Gibraltar Rock was a winter wonderland.  No prior footsteps or paw prints in the snow meant that Callie and I found the solitude that we were looking for.



We chose the Upland Trail out of the Steinke Basin parking lot.  Trail conditions alternated between icy and windy out of the sun to soggy and warm in the sun.  We didn’t see anyone else hiking all morning

Later in the week, we celebrated Julia’s transition to half-time status at work.  On Thursday, we headed to Devil’s Lake State Park for a hike.  The ferry generally stays open into December, until the river and/or the boat becomes to icy.  The hydraulic ramps were icing up on this morning, causing delays. 

After the hike, we stopped in at the newly-opened Tumbled Rocks Brewery and Kitchen near the north entrance to the park.  The food and beer were both good.  We will return.

On Friday night, we received an unexpected call from the Campus Police Department at Justin’s college.  Almost exactly a year from the date that he broke his leg from a fall, he fell out of his wheelchair again.  Another ambulance ride, another hospital visit.  Thankfully, this time he didn’t break anything. He’s sore but still at school.

Fall Hikes

This is the time of year that hiking becomes problematic on Wisconsin’s public lands.  It used to be that Wisconsin’s deer season started the week before Thanksgiving and ended the weekend after Thanksgiving.  Now, with all of the special hunts to reduce deer populations and chronic wasting disease, the chances of running into a hunter in mid-October through Christmas have greatly increased. When hunters with loaded weapons appear on the trails, it’s time for me to take my walks elsewhere.

Ice Age Trail: Cannery to Twin Pines

On Monday of this week, Callie and I hiked the Ice Age Trail segment from the Lodi Cannery to Twin Pines without any incident whatsoever.  It’s a beautiful time of year to hike: fall colors, comfortable temps, reduced mosquitoes, and fewer people on the trails, especially on weekdays.   We hiked Slack’s Hill on Tuesday and enjoyed similar conditions. On Wednesday, we went back to the Cannery segment.  Things had changed, and it wasn’t even deer hunters.

First, I should say that I don’t have any moral issues with hunters harvesting game within the rules.  I don’t hunt, but I’ve eaten game many times and helped to butcher farm  animals also.  Meat doesn’t come from a foam package covered with plastic wrap.  It comes from a living animal. Unfortunately, there are a lot of hunters that don’t play by the rules or are otherwise inconsiderate. 

Additionally, some of the rules make hunting a little bit more like gathering.
It was obvious when we came out on top of the hill that state-raised pheasants were just  released.  A couple of birds came across the trail right in front of us.  There was no great surprise when we saw a bird hunter ahead of us. 

Unfortunately, he was hunting right on the hiking trail with two unleashed dogs.  In Wisconsin, it’s illegal to hunt within 100 yards of the Ice Age Trail, but there’s little enforcement.  I suppose I could have made a citizen’s arrest or told him that he was breaking the law, but he had a loaded gun.  So there’s that.

The hunter’s back was to us.  He was trudging along with his gun without any idea that we were coming up behind him.  I stopped about 100 feet away (Callie on leash), and waited for him to notice us and leash his dogs.  My plan was to go around and past him, continuing our hike. As you might expect, his dogs were the ones to eventually notice us.  They both started running at Callie.  The hunter didn’t move but started swearing at the top of his lungs.  When one of the dogs got within 20 feet, I picked up Callie (who wanted to “kill, kill, kill”, despite the other dogs being twice her size).

I yelled, “Go home,” The dogs looked at me questioningly.  I yelled “Go home” again,  and they turned around.  When the dogs made their way back to the hunter, he made no effort to leash his dogs, but continued to walk slowly down the middle of the Ice Age Trail, gun on his shoulder.  I turned around and headed home.  It was time to leave that public property until after Christmas. Hiker-friendly laws aren’t much good when ignored by hunters.

 

 Devil’s Lake State Park

On Thursday, Julia took the morning off and we got up very early to take the ferry across the Wisconsin River.

The sun was just starting to come up when we started up the east cliff trail. There was no one else on the trail, except for a lone photographer snapping photos of the sun hitting the west cliffs.  The lake was so beautiful.  We then hiked up and down the west cliff trail.

 

Playing with Wood

Between hikes, I’ve been making progress with the firewood pile.  I identified several fallen trees in my woods to cut up.  Because I live on a hill, the rounds get thrown down the hill, loaded into my truck and taken to the processing area.  Here, the wood is hand split with a maul and then stacked.
This year’s wood is stacked on pallets in my pole barn (5 full cords).  Next year’s wood is off to the left in the photo.  I need to get to work on the spaces on the right.  Split hardwood benefits from two or three years of aging in stacks to get the moisture levels down below 20%, which is optimal for wood stoves.  Typically, I heat with wood full time from October to April.  The furnace only goes on if we’re out of town overnight.

A Gray Day in the Baraboo Hills

Devil’s Lake State Park:

While the calendar indicates that spring started a few days ago, temps struggled to get out of the 30’s today.  The southwest wind was brisk.  Fortunately, the Merrimac Ferry was open, saving me from driving around Lake Wisconsin on the way to Devil’s Lake State Park near Baraboo. When the Wisconsin River is iced over, the Ferry does not run. It opened early this year, closed due to ice conditions, and then reopened recently.

Winter is still hanging on tight by its fingernails. The leaves are brown.  There are snow remnants scattered in the corners of the park, and some ice remains on the south shore of the lake.

I hiked my usual route around the lake, starting with the east bluff trails. This route starts with the Balanced Rock Trail. This is basically a climb straight up the rocks to the top of the bluff–short and steep.

It’s actually not that bad.  There is a trail.  See if you can find it in the photo below.

About half-way up to the top, there are a couple of small signs alerting you to look off to the right for the “Balanced Rock.”

The Balanced Rock is quite impressive. I may have ventured off the trail a bit for the close-up.  Watch your footing.  It’s a long ways down.

After reaching the top of the East Bluff, I followed the trail along the top and then down to the north side of the lake.  Heading towards the beach, the trail passes along several Indian burial mounds.  On the other side of the beach, there is a steep ascent up stairs to the top of the West Buff Trail.  I followed that trail back to the south side of Devil’s Lake.  After coming down from the bluffs, the trail follows the edge of the lake, passing by fishing areas, the dog beach, and  the no dog beach.  The circle route took  about two hours. I didn’t have time for another long hike, but there was just enough time to visit a nearby favorite spot.

Pewits Nest:

This Wisconsin State Natural Area is a hidden gem that not many people know about. Just a few miles west of the Walmart in Baraboo, the Pewits Nest parking lot is on County Highway W.

 

During the summer, this is a terrific place to wade upstream and cool off.  Some foolish people (I won’t mention any names) climb down a bit from the bluffs and jump into that pool after the small waterfall.  I like to cool off, and I like to jump.  But I don’t jump into pools of water of varied and unknown depth.

I’m glad I took the opportunity to hit the trail today.  Tonight, the thunderstorms have started, and I’m tucked in near the wood stove.