First Look at the Badger Ordnance Works

There's a property not far from me that was the largest ammunition plant in the world.  Badger Ordnance Works was announced in 1941.  In less than a year, over a hundred area farmers were kicked off their land and forced to sell.  Of course, before the farmers, the Ho Chunk Tribe inhabited this area, which was once the largest prairie in all of Wisconsin.  Elk would come down from the Baraboo Range to graze here.  

The ordinance works  produced rocket propellant, smokeless powder, and E.C. powder from World War 2 through the Vietnam War and employed more than 23,000 workers.  E.C. powder was used in hand grenades. When the plant was built, a 75,000 foot fence circled around the 7500 acre property.  In 1977, it was placed on stand-by service.  

Eventually, the land was designated for recreational use.  The land is controlled by the State DNR,  the Ho Chunk nation, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.  

Unexpected Reflection

There is a plan to restore much of the property to the glorious prairie that it once was.  This was my first time to the property, and I really should have done a better job researching to see where the trails were.  

 On the map, the hwy 12 entrance is on the far left and center.  There is only a very narrow section of public land where I entered.  

Just about everywhere I turned, I saw signs indicating tribal ownership.

There were also a lot of hunters in trucks scouting for the deer hunt.  Callie and I mostly road-walked for about five miles. It's hard not to think about all of the chemicals used during the manufacturing process here.  Years after the plant closed, contaminated ground water continued to turn up at area residences, forcing the supply of bottled drinking water.  

 

A Different Kind of Hike

Yesterday was Justin's procedure at UW Hospital.  I dropped him off at the door and headed to Marshall Park Boat Launch on Lake Mendota.  I had a couple of hours to kill and did so by walking a circle route of about 1000 steps.  It was a pleasant walk, which I repeated about a dozen times to get some exercise in.  It wasn't nearly as interesting as the Ordnance Works, but the scenery was pleasant. 

Justin, who is twenty,  made it through his procedure:  a painful, unpleasant one.  Kind of an abbreviated colonoscopy without any anesthesia.  He couldn't stop talking about it afterwards and even had pictures for show and tell. The preliminary opinion was that everything looked to be ok.

Our family has some other good news.  After many interviews, my daughter Allie accepted her first professional job after college. She will work for a small marketing/advertising firm in downtown San Francisco, although work will be remote for awhile.  Allie also found a reasonable sublet in "The City."  

I'm very excited for her and maybe a little bit jealous.  I worked in San Francisco as a paralegal in my mid-twenties, and it is a very exciting place to be as a young adult.  Congratulations, Allie!

Almost that time of year again

 Yes, Thanksgiving is coming up, and Christmas is never far behind, but I'm talking about hunting season, which starts this Saturday.  More than half a million deer hunters are expected to head to the Wisconsin woods this year. The Department of Natural Resources estimates that the ten day gun season contributes $1 billion to our state economy.  

Bow season has already started, but I generally continue my hikes until gun season.  I have to admit that a recent incident in Kettle Moraine State Forest gave me pause.  A horse was shot with an arrow--while a person was riding it.  The rider wasn't injured, but the horse had to be put down.

This week, I went to Gibraltar Rock twice at pre-dawn.  Hiking in the dark is almost a guaranteed way to find solitude.  By the time that I reached the top, the sun was just coming up.

Normally, we head to Kentucky for Thanksgiving for a big family gathering.  In this year of the pandemic, it will just be the three of us at home.  Instead of having a big turkey, we are going to have a duck with lots of sides.  I doubt that that anything will go to waste.

I've read that some states are experiencing grocery store shortages.  Not here yet.  We do seem to be running out of staffed hospital beds. The problem is that they are running out of healthy staff, not beds.  We have heard that at least one area hospital isn't routinely testing its staff anymore.  Only staff with symptoms gets tested. 

I've got to take Justin to the doctor for a flu shot this week, and then he has outpatient surgery scheduled for the following week. Julia has to take him for a drive-thru Covid test before the surgery can happen.  Allie is getting lots of interviews in California, but nothing has clicked into a job yet. 

Seeing Things in New Light

One of the reasons that I like to travel is in order to see and experience new things.  It's easy to forget that there are still a lot of new things to discover close to home.  

There's a town just east of Lodi called Poynette, which isn't that different from Lodi.  The two towns have a lot in common. Most of the people in both towns are conservative Republicans. Both have a Piggly Wriggly grocery store.  Both are small towns surrounded by a lot of natural beauty.  

However, many people choose to focus on things that separate us.  

Callie and Elvis, barely tolerating each other

 

Our schools are better.  Our sports teams are better.  Those folks are rednecks.  These are some of the things I've heard over the years. 

This week I went to Pauquette Park in downtown Poynette to start my daily hike.  Somehow, despite visiting that park countless times, I never noticed the small stone next to the parking lot.

Huh.  Poynette should have been Pauquette, except for someone's bad handwriting.  When I got home, I got on the Wisconsin Historical Society website and found out a few things about Mr. Pauquette.  He was half-Indian and born in Missouri in 1796.  Pauquette moved to Portage, Wisconsin in 1818.  For several years he worked for the American Fur Company and operated a trading post.  He was fluent in French, English and several Indian languages.  Serving as a translator for General Dodge, Pauquette was killed by an Indian in 1836.  

Pauquette Park leads to the trailhead for the Rowan Creek Fishery property.  It was a beautiful day, so I was concerned that the trail might be more crowded than I liked.  As it turned out, I didn't need to worry.  Recent rains left significant parts of the trail underwater.  

 

But the trail was better than it looked. Once I tiptoed through the water and mud, the ground rose a bit and was mostly dry.  We didn't see another soul during the entire hike.  We did see something else that I have never seen before, despite hiking this trail dozens of times.  

In my defense, there was no sign or stone to mark the spot.  There was an unmarked path that I probably never noticed when the foliage was full.  Even with the leaves fallen, I almost didn't see it, blended in with the trees.

I have no idea what the story is with this wood carving in the middle of the woods of this public property, but finding it made my day.  We hung out for a bit there and then here.

Another great day for a hike.

Vote

 Every blog should have at least one very short post...

View from the Edge

Self-Improvement

I don't have any stellar hikes to blog about this week.  The weather has changed, and hunting season is underway.  This time of year, I basically have two hikes.  The first one is a City of Lodi walk that occurs before dawn.  The second is my country road walk which is only safe to do during daylight hours.  I've been able to get my five miles in each day,  which makes Callie happy and keeps me from getting too fat.  

Things are also slow on the brewing front.  After keeping my kombucha culture alive and well for about a year, I've decided to shut that down until at least spring.  I just wasn't drinking that much kombucha anymore.

My sourdough culture is doing well, and I use it regularly.  I don't make bread every week, but we have sourdough pancakes at least weekly.

Because I've been mostly home-bound this month taking care of Justin, I have tried to find some things to keep from going stir-crazy.  One of my more successful endeavors was to take a free online course from Yale called, "Moralities of Everyday Life."  As one might expect, it doesn't teach what constitutes a moral decision, but it does spend a lot of time examining the roles that biology and environment play.  Professor Bloom also sorted out the role of values:  care/harm; fairness/cheating; loyalty/betrayal; authority/subversion; sanctity/degradation; and liberty/oppression.

Another interesting part of the course was a discussion of liberals vs. conservatives.  We know deep down that most Republicans aren't complete idiots, and that most Democrats aren't complete idiots. Sometimes, however, we fail to recognize other people's perspective, which may involve a different weighting of values.   The key to bridging the present divide is to understand viewpoints different from our own. 

That doesn't mean agreeing on every point, but we need to stop thinking of one another as enemies in every context. And we need to listen to other viewpoints so that we can find the common ground upon which we  do agree.  

Speaking of listening, Mary Gauthier, one of my favorite musical artists, played a virtual concert at the Kerrville Folk Festival, which included a talent competition for new folk artists.  They have a youtube web page with a whole lot of good new folk music.  Again, highly recommended if you enjoy the genre. Folk music has come a long way since Peter, Paul, and Mary.  The voices of new folk musicians and songwriters, young and old,  give me another reason for hope during these difficult times.  

Merrimac Preserve

 

As the weather worsens, there are usually fewer people hiking on the weekends.  We are past peak color, but area trails are still crowded.  

I headed out mid-day during the weekend in search of the trail less traveled.  Curious, I drove by Gibraltar Rock and  found the parking lot full beyond capacity and all the way out to the road in the undesignated spots. The lesser known trailheads in the Lodi area were similarly busy.  

I headed to the next town west:  Prairie du Sac.  The Great Sauk trail leading out of town, featured busy bicycle traffic in both directions.  Nope!  I started driving north of town, intending to head out to the retired Badger Munitions Plant, where some new recreational land has been established.  However, I missed my turn and found myself on Hwy 78, driving towards the south end of Devil's Lake State Park, where two million people visit each year.

I turned up Hwy 113, not really expecting to see much in solitary hiking opportunities.  I noticed a truck parked in a small parking lot on the east side of the road.  An older,  yellowed sign said "Merrimac Preserve."  I had low expectations, thinking that the trail would probably be good for a short hike.

As it turned out, this was one of my best hiking finds in recent memory.  The trail was in great shape, having recently been mowed.  Bridges and boardwalks, built in 1996, provided relief from the wetlands and crossing streams.  The Merrimac Preserve transitioned into the Riverland Conservancy.

 

We hiked the orange and blue trails, passing through woodlands and wetlands.  One of the streams was deep enough for Callie to swim in.  To the north, views extended to the Baraboo Range.

Callie and I hiked for over two hours (five miles or so) and never saw another person.  Devil's Lake State Park, with all of its crowded trails,  was in plain sight.  I've passed this small parking lot over a hundred times without knowing the preserve was there.  This time, my meandering paid off. 

Gibraltar Rock: Hiking in the Dark

 

I mentioned in my previous post that Gibraltar Rock is now open after being closed since spring, due to the pandemic and the crowds that congregate here.  

There were no crowds at 6:15 a.m. on a recent weekday morning.  In fact, there were no vehicles in either of the parking lots.  Julia and I very rarely hike in the dark.  We won a lottery at Bryce National Park a couple of years ago for a guided moonlight hike to the bottom of the canyon.  We've also stayed too long for sunset at Gibraltar and ended up hiking down in semi-darkness.  

This time, there was no moon, and the heavy woods gave no hint of pre-dawn for most of the way to the top.  Again, we were totally alone on top of the cliffs.

There was just a hint of light, but we knew that there would be an opportunity for a better view on the return loop.  We followed the Ice Age Trail back down to the main parking lot.  On the way, we passed five people, with our same idea, mostly older and wearing masks.  They started a little bit later than us and left from the main parking lot.  

By the time we started heading back up again on the former park road, the sun was starting to rise, making it much easier to hike. Motor vehicles have been prohibited on the park road for many years, but with no one hiking on it for months, the former asphalt pavement has narrowed and is going back to nature.

At the top again, we lingered for awhile and enjoyed the view.  I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw that someone had already littered with a plastic bottle at the best view on the cliff.

The hike down was easy, now that we could clearly see.

I've done this hike many times, and I'll never tire of it. 

Ice Age Trail: Gibraltar Segment

Gibraltar Rock Natural Area is well-known across the Midwest, especially by rock climbers.  I've mentioned before that it's a happy spot for me. 

DNR closed Gibraltar at the beginning of the pandemic because the trails are narrow, and the crowds are often large.  I thought about sneaking in more than once, but never did. 

 

The Gibraltar Segment of the Ice Age Trail is from Slacks Road to the Merrimac Ferry.  Although the trail is open, I haven't hiked it much because it's been very busy throughout the summer.  I took a chance last Friday morning at about 8 a.m. and was rewarded with only one other car in the small parking lot.  

No hunting or unleashed dogs are allowed on this segment.  The absence of bullet holes in the sign was a comfort.

The trail starts out in heavy forest and then opens up into prairie.  The leaves are beginning to change, but we've also having windy days.  Fall colors may come and go quickly this year.

Eventually, the trail follows switchbacks down to the Wisconsin River and the Merrimac Ferry.

On the way to the ferry, we only passed one person.  On the way back to the trailhead, we passed about eight people.  Callie and I moved off the trail each time since none of the other people were masked.  The parking lot was now full.  Time to head home. 

Note: On the day after this hike, DNR decided to reopen Gibraltar Rock Natural Area.  I will try a sunrise weekday hike and see if I can beat the crowds.

Brewed Journey Camp

 

Justin watching Callie retrieve the Frisbee

I felt like a new man after a good night's rest in the Scamp, which is parked on top of my hill. Sunny skies with highs in the upper 60's and lows in the lower 40's are probably my favorite type of weather.  

I knew that I wanted to hike somewhere different today, but I decided to stay close to home.  The nearest Ice Age Trail segment to my house is less than a mile away.  Recently, I've avoided that trail because it is heavily used during the pandemic.  Historically, there have been other reasons to avoid the trail at certain times of the year.

 

This is a public hunting property.  The bullet holes all over the sign (which is in a public parking lot right next to the public road) tell you that not all of the hunters use good judgement.  Part of the sign, obscured by a bullet hole, says that dogs can be off-leash for most of the year on this property.  

Nevertheless, I decided to take my chances this morning at about 8 a.m.  It's about a five mile in/out hike from the Lodi Cannery to the Twin Pines parking lot on Riddle Road. Callie reports that we didn't see any unleashed dogs on the entire hike.  The scenery was beautiful.

 

During the first part of the hike, I approached three young adults on a narrow part of the trail without any room to pass.  Nobody was wearing a mask.  I moved off the trail into the brush about five yards to let them pass.  Just as they passed, we were all startled by a loud "Boom."  Someone from a concealed spot nearby in the woods took a shot at something. 

The rest of the hike was uneventful. I stayed more than a few minutes letting the view below soak in.

Upper Prairie overlooking the Lodi Marsh

Lost Year

I was reading another blog earlier this week, and the author made a point that resonated with me.  In many ways, this is a lost year.  That doesn't mean that I haven't had some good times, but it sure hasn't been normal.  

I've been fortunate during the last two years to take long camping trips with the Scamp during the spring and fall.  Neither one happened this year.  I tried to make up for that this summer by taking shorter trips and staying closer to home.  That was okay, but even that is coming to an end.  

Two things are working against me right now. As a full time caregiver for the foreseeable future, I only have two nights off.  One of those nights is Friday, and I haven't had any luck finding camping reservations for a Friday night.  

Second, many campgrounds are closing down for the season, making the number of available campsites even on Thursday night problematic.  

Even if I could find a campsite, the trails have been very busy on Fridays and Saturdays.  While Covid numbers are down for many parts of the country, things are bad in Wisconsin right now. We are experiencing a 50% uptick in cases, along with record hospitalizations and deaths.  

I have no photos for this week.  I checked my phone for "possibles", but then I remembered that nearly all of my walks this week happened before dawn. It is what it is.  I'll try to do better next week.

Scamping at Buckhorn State Park

Last week, I camped for a couple of nights at Buckhorn State Park in central Wisconsin.  

The weather wasn't great.  One day, it rained all day.  Again, that meant there were hardly any other people here.  Not a bad thing when Covid is running rampant in Wisconsin.  Like  trends and fashions, it took awhile for Covid to take root here.  But we are now among the nation's leaders in transmission and setting new records for hospitalizations.

Time to head to the woods.  Actually, Buckhorn isn't known for its woods; rather, the property contains some of Wisconsin's last barrens.  

Prior to the arrival of white settlers, there were 4.1 million acres of pine and oak barrens in Wisconsin.  Today, about 10,000 acres remain.  Agriculture and fire suppression won out.  

Buckhorn has some well-maintained hiking trails--mostly flat and easy hiking.  The Savanna Trail circles a nice pond.

 

The Barrens Trail is short, but Callie and I came across over a dozen wild turkeys just after sunrise.  Alas, I was too slow with the Iphone camera, settling for a landscape shot where the gobblers ran away.

Castle Rock Lake offers swimming, boating and fishing.  I don't do much of any of those, but it was nice to look at too.

We had one nice night for a campfire and took advantage of it.

Callie, assuming the position

We may stay home this week.  Temperatures are expected to dip into the lower 30's. I hate to winterize the Scamp so early, but we also don't like frozen pipes.