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.

A Fall Update

The last few weeks have been busy with matters mostly unrelated to this blog.  Julia’s mom, who was a frequent commenter to this blog, succumbed after an uncomfortable and lengthy battle with congestive heart disease and related kidney issues.  Her ashes were placed in the ground on Monday.  Berla was a generous, optimistic woman who almost always had a smile on her face and encouraged others to smile by showing her  love and support.

In early August, I purchased the 100 watt solar panel kit from Harbor Freight for the Brew Hut.  It worked okay, but I wasn’t satisfied with the build quality of the panels or the solar controller. It was also quite bulky.  After trying it out for awhile, I returned the kit and purchased the Renogy 100 watt solar suitcase kit. 

So far, so good.  It is much smaller and easier to transport.  The solar controller provides information on amps supplied to the batteries(something that the Harbor Freight controller did not do).  The panels produce   more amps in direct sun than the HF kit.   

I think it will be an excellent tool to top off the batteries for the Brew Hut when boondocking (camping without electrical hookups).

We’ve had a stretch of hot, humid weather that ended yesterday.  I celebrated with a Slack’s Hill hike on the Ice Age Trail to the Merrimac Ferry and back.  One of my favorite spots on the Ice Age Trail is a bench overlooking Lake Wisconsin and the Baraboo Hills.  This is the view:

 
This is the bench:

The header photo to this post shows my feet on the bottom part of the bench as I stretch out.  This bench was built in honor of a professor who loved the trail.

 
This segment of the trail ends at the Merrimac Ferry, the Colsac.

The Ferry crosses the Wisconsin River from the Town of West Point to the Town of Merrimac. From the deck of the Colsac, looking upstream, there is a railroad bridge.

In our family room, we have a painting of this bridge. Bernie Kvam, a sign painter for many years, became an artist in his retirement. Bernie was a coffee shop customer and continues to give me a hard time when we meet.  I try to dish it back, but he usually wins.

Little Cabin in the Woods

 

 

For the past few years, we have reserved one of the disability cabins in the Wisconsin State Park system, which allows my son Justin to enjoy the outdoors with us and to “hike” a few trails in his power wheelchair.  This summer, we spent two nights at Mirror Lake State Park, which is in the Wisconsin Dells/Baraboo region, a short drive from our home.

Justin would probably prefer to stay at home and play video games, but he has no choice in this matter.  The main characters in this adventure are Justin; his service dog, Elvis; my nephew, Zach; and my wife, Julia.

The cabins are an amazing resource and opportunity.  This one comes equipped with Hoyer lift, hospital bed, and full accessibility, including a roll-in shower. Rates are very reasonable.  There’s no television, but there’s a picnic table, bonfire pit, screened porch, and beautiful views.

We hiked all the accessible trails and a few that probably weren’t recommended for wheelchairs.  Justin is a daredevil in the power chair.  Somehow, he powered his way up a Nordic ski trail; I had to hold the back of his chair for the way down to keep it from tipping forwards and to hold it steady side-to-side.  After the bonfires, Justin still managed to find some indoor video game time.  Next year, Justin heads to college.  He has two in mind and has already been accepted by one with an offer for an academic scholarship.

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.

Antigo Lake Campground: Base Camp

Day One:  This is likely my last summer trip this year with the Brew Hut. School for Justin starts next week.   I have a family weekend pass and used it to tow up to Antigo Lake Campground, which is a very reasonably priced ($20/night) municipal campground northeast of Wausau, Wisconsin.  The campground offers full hookups, nice showers and toilet, free wi-fi, bike loaners, and campfire wood for donation.  Additionally, downtown and a grocery store are a short walking distance away.  The City’s hiking/biking trail of 2.3 miles runs right next to the campground.

There is an active industrial building across the street–Merit Gear.  There is some truck traffic during the day, but it was quiet at night.  I was set up by 7p.m on Thursday night, picked up some tortilla chips and a six pack of Lakefront Brewery’s IPA at the grocery store, and watched a little television before falling asleep by 10 pm.

Day Two:  Today, I woke up early, ate my granola, banana, and yogurt, brewed coffee and was hiking on the City trail by 7:30 a.m.  Unfortunately, I walked in the wrong direction (towards downtown), so I ended up walking about 3 miles.  This was a sign of things to come.  For a municipal trail, there were some nice views and a great boardwalk through area wetlands.

Back at the Brew Hut, the lazy part of me wanted to read a book and take the morning off.  However, that little voice in my head (maybe it was my wife, Julia), told me to hit the road and get some serious hiking in. Leaving the Brew Hut behind, I drove the Nissan Frontier northwest, entering the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest.  One of my goals was to scout out future dispersed camping spots for the Brew Hut on future trips.  That didn’t work out so well.  I’m sure there are spots (although I haven’t found mention on-line), but I didn’t find anything suitable.  Eventually, I drove by the a sign for the Jones Springs Trail.  Several loops were available, although there was a warning about high standing water and flooded streams for a small sector of the trail.

Being a former Appalachian Trail thru-hiker, I sometimes ignore warnings, such as this one, thinking that I don’t mind getting a little wet or that the warning was intended for casual hikers, not me.  The red loop was about 6.4 miles, per the map.  80% of the trail was beautiful, mostly following up and down ridges.  Sometimes, the hills were challenging.  There were a few beautiful backcountry campsites for tenters.

With just a couple of miles left in the loop, I came across this:

The police tape did give me pause, but I noticed that there were no signs actually closing the trail.  It was only a short distance to finish the loop.  I felt confident that I could pick my way across any water hazards.  The first mile was easy and dry.  After that, I noticed a lot of dead trees across the trail–as though no one had maintained it for some time.  Then the trail dipped just a little in elevation, not much, but enough to notice some water ahead.  I started across logs that someone had evidently put across the beginning stretch.  After that, the logs ended, and there was absolutely nowhere to go. The water beyond was more than a foot deep, and there was deep mud under the water.

I started back across the log to firm ground, so I could re-evaluate the situation.  Boom–I fell to the right, my right leg going into the mud about calf high before I pulled it up again.  Okay, going across wasn’t going to work.  I looked to the right and left to see if there was a way around.  Nope, water and mud as far as I could see.  So I walked back to my little police tape scene and continued on to see if the orange loop was open.  Nope, more police tape.  I went back to my map, and it appeared that the “small” part of high water blocked my way to completing any kind of loop.  At this point, I might have said “Fiddlesticks” or some similar expletive.  I was stuck and was going to have to do a complete reversal of my path.  At least I knew it was a pretty hike and higher ground. All the same, it turned into a 12 mile in and out, instead of a 6.4 mile loop.  That gave me 15 miles for the day.

I felt like I deserved a good meal.  T-bone with fried plantains on the cast iron skillet. Along with a glass of homemade chardonnay, I had enough motivation to blog tonight.

Kohler-Andrae State Park: Days Two and Three

Day Two: We woke up early, brewed coffee, ate breakfast, and were on the trail before the dew dried.  Specifically, we hiked from our campsite to the Sanderling Nature Center.

Intricate, amazing spider webs were everywhere along the trail, glistening in the early sun and dew. We also saw multiple adult deer and fawns.  There’s just something about hiking early in the morning with no one around that brings peace and joy to my soul.

Later in the morning, Julia did some wading, while I found a picnic table under a shady tree.   You’ll notice my new hat, picked up at 3 Sheeps Brewing in Sheboygan.

3 Sheeps has a cavernous warehouse tasting room with picnic table spread out over the concrete floor and overhead doors opened up for air circulation.  I tasted several sours, which pushed my limits (not a bad thing).  The bartender was informative, and the tasting room was unique.

Later that day, we enjoyed Mexican food on the second floor deck at El Camino Mexican Restaurant in Sheboygan.

We started a campfire early that evening, but were eventually chased in by rain showers.

Day Three:  Our plans for this day were to pack, hitch up, and tow the Brew Hut to a county park along Lake Winnebago.  However, as we drove within a mile of Calumet County Campground, the cell phone rang.  I could only hear Julia’s side of the conversation:  “What, he did what, what, how bad is it?  what?”

The short story is that our son Justin injured his ribs during a transfer at the disability leadership conference.  He needed medical attention that day, which required us to tow back home and take Justin to urgent care in Madison. 

Everything checked out (bruised ribs requiring rest), but it was a good reminder that plans are to be made in Jello, not concrete.