Another look at Devil’s Lake, courtesy of Jim.
Category Archives: Travel
A Day in Baraboo
7/31 – Baraboo is the hometown of the Ringling Brothers, and was the winter home for the circus for many years. Now it is the home of the Circus World Museum, which is a great way to spend a day in Baraboo. From classic posters:
to ornate parade wagons:
to silly photo ops:
…it’s still the Greatest Show on Earth!
Did you know? The U.S. Army studied the circus to learn how to transport men and gear efficiently prior to World War I. True!
Okee to Devil’s Lake to Baraboo
7/28 – we got an early start this morning, knowing we would have to walk three miles back to the Merrimac Ferry. We don’t usually have much luck getting rides early in the morning when folks are on their way to work. As we left the motel, Jim stuck out a thumb, and the first car that came by pulled over! It was a Native American nurse on her way to work at the Ho-Chunk Nation community center, where she runs a health clinic and cares for the elders. We learned so much about this tribe and her love of her job and her people on the short ride to the ferry. A beautiful soul!
We walked in to Devil’s Lake State Park on the Ice Age Trail, through a wild-flower filled meadow, with the hills looming before us. In an hour, we were in the woods, taking switchbacks that kept going UP.
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This is the highest elevation we will see on our Wisconsin trip. As we looked down over the rocks, I was filled with peace, which was quickly shattered when Jim showed me that the trail down to the lake was a quarter mile of rugged rock steps (with no bannister!) that we would have to scrabble down. Although I don’t like climbing UP, I am terrified of falling DOWN. With a 25 pound pack on my back to upset my center of gravity, this was a horrible hour for me. I was too scared to stop and take a picture, so you’ll have to imagine it, but, needless to say, I lived to tell the tale! Here’s the bottom, which doesn’t look scary at all:
So now we are at the lake, looking at kids swimming and boarding and boating in really cold water. We ate our picnic lunch, and watched a group of priests, all dressed alike, play frisbee.
Now we have to climb the hills on the other side of the lake to get to Baraboo. This is a steeper climb than this morning, and every ten feet or so, there’re is a number painted on the trail. We have a long time to climb and ponder what these number might mean, until we reach the summit and all is revealed: here is an emergency call box that can be used to summon help if someone has a heart attack or falls off the cliff, and the numbers are locators for the EMTs. There’s even a stretcher:
Don’t fall off the cliff, Jim!
We descended without further incident, and started our walk into Baraboo. I know you will not be surprised to learn that Derek was happy to stop and give us a ride to our motel. Nice People Rule!
Lodi to Okee
7/28 – today we walk to the shore of Lake Wisconsin. We left our motel and started with a 4 mile road walk. It was a beautiful morning, and I appreciated the blue sky, barns and silos,
the ever-taller corn (see the ears and the red silk?),
The ever-present moo-sers,
and sandhill cranes (these are standing in a field of soybeans).
The Gibraltor Rock segment of the Ice Age Trail took us up to the highest elevation yet, and gave us some peaceful views of the countryside below.
We emerged back onto the road at the Merrimac Ferry, where we thought our motel would be. We looked around, and asked around, and discovered we’d overshot the motel by almost three miles. Would we have to walk back along the road??? You know by now that a Nice Couple from Wisconsin rolled off the ferry, and gave us a ride right to the motel door. I continue to be grateful and humble in the presence of such fine people.
Thunderstorm
As the sun was setting in Lodi…
Cross Plains to Lodi
Guess what! Someone from Russia is reading this blog! Greetings and welcome, whoever you are!
7/25 – we set out from our B and B after a hearty breakfast for a full day’s walk and a night on the ground. We walked several hours of trail, followed by lots of country road with no traffic. We knew there were no official places to get water today, so we filled our canteens to the brim in the morning, and figured we could filter some water from Indian Lake, which looked lovely…
…until we saw the sign:
Yikes! Between blistering wildflowers and toxic algae, we’d better be careful! We ended up asking for water from a house along the road, and a Nice Person obliged, so all is well.
Our path took us through more fields of ripening corn. Look at this pic, where the crop on the right has bloomed with tassels, while the rows on the left are a few weeks behind. Corn sells here at the Piggly Wiggly for ten ears for a dollar. What is the midsummer price where you are?
Another benefit from today’s walk were loads of ripe blackberries in the woods, free for the sweet picking. We had our fill!
Happy to report that the Lodi Marsh section was mosquito-free, even at dusk. Jim found us a pretty level camping spot not far from the trail. We noted the sign that said the area was a combined hiking and hunting area, but didn’t register alarm until we heard gunshots in the field near our tent. Yikes! We then noticed that others hiking through were all wearing bright orange vests. Luckily, I was wearing my orange shirt, so we were as protected as we could be…
In the morning, we continued up into the hills for some beautiful views:
then back down, crossing into Columbia County.
The town of Lodi was quiet and friendly, with several parks and a stream running beside the Main Street.
Lodi’s sign says it is home to Susie the Duck – since 1948, a family of ducks has nested in the park right off Main Street every year, so the town sells cracked corn to encourage them to stay, and holds an annual Rubber Duck race in honor of the original Susie. What a nice story!
Now it’s time for Jim to plan the next leg of our journey, to another fun place to pronounce: Baraboo, and Devil’s Lake!
A Day in New Glarus
7/19 – today is our day to take in the sights of New Glarus. You may think it strange that on our day off from hiking, we walk around town. What else should we do?
Since the Pet Evaporated Milk plant closed in the 60’s, New Glarus has been all about tourism. Originally settled in 1845, 193 courageous souls left the poverty of Glarus, Switzerland, and formed a new community here. We started the day touring a Swiss village attraction maintained by the historical society, with old buildings, tools and furnishings, including a really big pot used to make cheese.
For lunch, we finally visited Culvers, a Wisconsin food chain that specializes in Butterburgers and frozen custard. We’ve seen them in every town. They have an app so you can keep track of the frozen custard flavor of the day!
And then there were the painted cows… some commercial, some inspirational, all done by different artists. We walked the whole town to make sure we saw them all! Which one is your favorite?
Albany to New Glarus – Back on the Trail
7/17 – today we start a nice, flat 18 mike walk on a Rails to Trails multi-use path along the Sugar River, that the Ice Age Trail shares with the Sugar River Trail. We will break this walk into two days, camping out overnight, as the only town enroute (Monticello) does not have any lodgings. The young and strong would do this walk in one day, but I am the old and not-so-strong, and I want to test out the healing of my foot.
We encountered a retiree bicycling group from Madison, and the riders walked with us a while and took our picture. They hadn’t encountered hikers on their bike trail before!
We have food for the journey, but the map doesn’t indicate a place to refill our drinking water today. A challenge! Jim has been carrying his water filter, and today will be his first chance to use it. By mid afternoon, we were hot and thirsty, so at the next bridge, Jim scooped up some Sugar River and squeezed it through the filter to refill our canteens. The Sugar River is not sweet, but the water was very welcome. We each carry two quarts of water (adding 5 lbs. to our packs) plus Jim fills a collapsible water container with another two quarts for supper and breakfast during our last water stop of the day.
As you can see by Jim’s fashionable outfit, the mosquitoes were out in full force today. Not only did we need our net suits plus Deet, we had to zip the suits all the way up to our necks. Walking along like this makes me feel like an astronaut in a space suit, viewing the world from a distance. Eating reminds me of watching the females in Muslim countries eat wearing their veils. You can do it, but it’s no fun… Joggers and walkers stopped to ask where they could get suits like ours. Answer: Amazon!
7/18 – in the morning we broke camp and walked the last 5 miles to New Glarus.
This town was settled by a group of Swiss immigrants in 1845, and they turned their town into a little Switzerland. Chalet architecture and painted cows everywhere!
Even businesses not trying to attract tourists express the Swiss theme:
After checking into the Swiss Aire motel, we ate an authentic Swiss pub lunch of Brats and local beer at Puempel’s Olde Tavern.
Tomorrow, we will check out the tourist attractions!
Janesville to Albany
7/16 – last night we shared dinner at the home of our new friends Todd and Susan, who we met at church on Sunday. Todd drove across town to pick us up from the motel, and Susan prepared a delicious meal – the first home made meal we’ve had in over a month. We shared conversation about kids and grand kids (they have 14!), and a good time was had by all.
This morning, Susan graciously volunteered to drive us the 29 miles to Albany, so that my foot can continue to heal. This saved us a horrendous road walk. She brought along some fresh and dried comfrey, known to herbalists as ‘bone-knit’, and home-made salve to further help my recovery. What a wonderful and thoughtful person! Thank you, Susan and Todd – it was so nice to get to know you!
Here in Albany we are staying at the Albany House B and B, the only inn in town. At the beginning of our hike, I thought there’d be many B and Bs along the way, but it turns out that these posh stays are usually out in the countryside, making them impractical for travelers on foot who need access to groceries and restaurants close by. We were happy that Albany House was right in town, although the Main Street of the little town is torn up for the summer, which made finding supper a challenge.
Also staying at Albany House were a group of artists who meet here each month at the studio behind the house for art workshops. They were great conversationalists and lovely company.
So, what did we have for breakfast? Fruit parfait, homemade coffee cake, spinach pie and bacon baked with black pepper and brown sugar. We waddled back onto the trail not needing to eat for the rest of the day!
Whitewater to Janesville
7/12 – Well, we did not walk from Whitewater to Janesville, we took a bus. My left foot has been giving me increasing discomfort, so Dr. Jim prescribed a few days off, to see if it will heal. There is a sporting goods store in town, so I’m counting on a new pair of boots to help. We’re tucked into a very nice Motel 6, next door to a Cracker Barrel, across the street from a Walmart, so all our needs will be met while my foot gets some rest. (Somebody please tell Doug Nixon that I was wrong and he is so right about Cracker Barrel – the best restaurant ever!)
We’ve been following the Ice Age Trail for a full month now, and have walked over 300 trail miles, plus all the miles we add by walking into and out of towns. With the exception of the Nice People of Wisconsin who occasionally pick us up on our way into a town, we have been getting by on our own.
With the prospect of being laid up for a few days and seeing some long road walks ahead, Jim reached out to Tess, one of the Trail Angels who help support Ice Age Trail hikers in this county. Tess completed the 1100 mile trail last year by hiking in sections, and is one of the handful of women who have achieved this goal. She understood our frustration at being sidelined by injury, but assured us that it happens to everyone trying to complete the long road walks. In fact, she was surprised that we accomplished as much as we did.
Tess came to our motel with maps and suggestions of ways we could break up the miles differently, and encouraged us to reach out to other trail angels as we continue on. This is very good advice.
Next to our motel is the Janesville Bible Church. Whenever we find ourselves near a church on Sunday, we stop in. Last week in Eagle, it was a Catholic church. We sat through the mass, sang the hymns and walked out without any one saying a word to us.
This week’s service was about as different from that one as night is to day. There were only about 12 people, but just about everyone came up to introduce themselves and welcome us. After the service (and I’ll have you know that my verse finding skills are VERY good), the pastor’s wife invited us to stay at their home, and offered to make an herbal compress for my foot. We were touched by their friendliness, and will take them up on their offer of supper before we move on.
7/14 – This morning we walked the mile over to Gander Mountain, a huge camping/hunting/hiking store that just opened in town two weeks ago. (Coincidence or answer to prayer? You decide!) I danced out with a new pair of comfy boots, new socks, and new Keen hiking sandals to wear in wet weather. My feet feel better, and my spirit is elevated 100%. (Jim’s not so much, as the purchases went on his credit card…)
I don’t have many pix to share, so here is one from home of Lexi and Emma eating ice pops while watching Frozen. I find this amusing on several levels.
Taking Our Time 