We finally have enough snow to make snowshoeing an easy choice over
hiking. Julia and I took turns outdoors today so that someone was home
for Justin. She cross-country skied 12k over at the Lodi Golf Course.
I procrastinated until about 90 minutes before sunset and then drove
over to Slack’s Trailhead on the Ice Age Trail.
I often read on other blogs about how terrible and boring winter is
in cold climates. To be honest, however, I would miss winter days like
today if I were to move to southern Arizona or a similar place without
wintry blasts to remind us of weather extremes. The air was so cold and
clean, no insects, total silence, and pure solitude. As I plodded
along in my snowshoes, all of my worries and concerns washed away.
It was cold out; temperatures tonight will dip below zero again. But
I wasn’t at all cold as I moved up and down hills, through stands of
pine and oak, and passed native prairie grasses. Seasons keep views
dynamic, and I had to stop for a few minutes to gaze across the hills
looking southward down the frozen Wisconsin River.
I’ve
hiked thousands of miles of trails across this country and plan to do a
lot more hiking outside my home area. Yet, I also love the one I’m
with.
We’ve had a mostly brown winter–very little snow. Today,
Wisconsin’s normal winter returned with a fresh coat of several inches
of snow, along with cold temperatures. My wife Julia and I celebrated
by taking a quick snowshoe walk around the marsh. Brisk, but
refreshing.
The
last time I went snowshoeing on the marsh was a couple of weeks ago
when my daughter was home. Unfortunately, while we were on this same
trail, Allie lost her iPhone, which was purchased from summer work
savings. Allie and I walked up and down the trail several times, hoping
to find it on top of the snow.
Later, Julia returned with a rake and
went through about a half mile of trail, raking the snow without any
luck. A day after Allie returned to college, we got a call from Madison
from a very honest stranger who found Allie’s phone on a day that the
snow had partially melted. Rejecting any reward, he told us that he only
hoped that if his own phone was lost someday, that someone would treat
him with a similar kindness in returning the phone.
John Prine wrote a song called, “Some humans ain’t human.” I can’t
argue with that. But, thankfully, good people help balance that out.
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.
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).
Due to my frugal/cheap nature, I was one of the last humans to give
up my dumb phone from Tracfone in favor of a smart phone I still
cheaped out, buying the least expensive iPhone, an SE (small edition). I
justified my lesser spending on the basis that it fits better in my
hand and pocket (which it does). Even I have to admit, however, that I
really like some of my apps that were not previously available to me
with the old flip phone.
One of the features that I recently discovered was the default
“health” app, which combines with the pedometer app to keep track of my
steps/mileage. I don’t believe the pedometer is completely accurate,
but it’s close enough. What I immediately determined was that there
were quite a few days when I just wasn’t getting off my butt. As a
result, I set 10,000 steps per day as a goal.
That works out to be
about 4-5 miles, and I frequently exceed that by quite a bit. The major
benefit to me is that I no longer have very many days when I don’t get
in the 10,000 steps. If it’s 3 pm., and I’m still “in the red”, I make
every effort to get enough steps in to get “into the green” and make the
confetti rain in the app. Kind of silly, I know, but the app keeps me
from sedentary days, especially helpful when it’s wet or cold.
The main gun deer hunting season is over, so I am back at my regular
hikes on the Ice Age Trail. Today, I ambled from the the Lodi Cannery
property off Hwy 113 to the bluff overlooking the Lodi Marsh.
I don’t generally hike with a hiking stick or poles, but I change
that up during the winter when the trail is snowy or icy. I use a pair
of cross-country ski poles that I kept after giving up cross-country
skiing. The poles definitely give me more of an upper body workout on
the uphills and provide balance for moving more rapidly on the
downhills.
Frankly, I love this time of year for hiking. There are so many
positives. I rarely see anyone else hiking. No bugs. I don’t get too
hot or cold. I burn lots of calories. Plus, cold air is so wonderful
to breathe. There is a freshness to the air that one doesn’t encounter
in the summer. The dry prairie winter colors are amazing to me.
We spent most of last week in Lexington, Kentucky celebrating
Thanksgiving with Julia’s sister and family. The trip involved a lot of
driving, eating, watching movies, and socializing.
It’s always fun for our kids to get together. This was the first year
that someone was missing (our daughter Allie who is studying in China).
Next year, Zach will be the only one still in high school. Anna and
Justin head for college.
I
managed to get in a few miles of walking each day–often back and forth
to Hartland Park, which has an interesting set of blacktop switchbacks
enabling local subdivision residents to get in some pedestrian exercise.
On Friday, my brothers-in-law and i headed to West Sixth Brewing,
where we sampled excellent beer. I had an East Coast Juicy IPA and a
special IPA from Firkin Thursday.
After finishing our beers, we walked outside and around the back to
Bluegrass Distillers, established in 2015. We all signed up for the
tour and tasting.
Because this distillery has been around for only a short time, it
seems unfair to compare their young bourbon to aged bourbon from other
Kentucky distilleries that I have tried. Also, my tasting expertise is
focused more on beer than bourbon. With that caveat, I thought that the
rye was quite nice despite the lack of aging. I didn’t particularly
care for the bourbon. It seemed pretty harsh to me, but I’ll have to
come back in a few years for a fair test.
The distillery employed a technique that I hadn’t heard of before to
speed up the aging process. The bourbon was aged in smaller 25 gallon
barrels with a deep char.
After an afternoon of fun, I was ready to head home for a nap. The
trip home on Sunday was uneventful except for some stop and go traffic
due to crashes. Just south of Madison, we almost ended up in a crash
when someone lost a ladder and dropped it in the middle of the driving
lane next to us in heavy traffic, creating a scurry among the vehicles
trying to avoid it. Thankfully, we made it home safely.
