Category Archives: Travel
Circus Dogs
Devil’s Lake, WI
Another look at Devil’s Lake, courtesy of Jim.
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.
br />
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!
