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.
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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!
Verona to Cross Plains
Thank you, faithful blog readers – this blog has 1200 views and 50 followers!
7/23 – the temperature dropped back to ‘normal’ today, high of mid 70s. This really is the nicest summer weather…
We hiked the Ice Age Trail segments south of town, and met Ruben, a trail volunteer, out mowing the sunny parts of the trail just for us. Thank you, volunteers, for all you do!
We saw a new sign on the trail today, warning us of wild parsnip ahead. It seems that this yellow wildflower is an invasive species that causes blisters if you touch it. Of course, the narrow trail was filled with the yellow flower, which grows about waist high. We did our best to avoid them, but time will tell, as it takes several days for the blisters to develop… Beware if you see these:
Belleville to Verona
7/21 – Cameo Rose B and B continued to delight us with fresh cut flowers and a four course breakfast garnished with mint and lemon balm from the garden. I meant to take a picture, but it slipped my mind when I saw the stuffed French toast… Oh my!
We got back on the Badger Trail, and had a lovely two hour trek on the straight Rails to Trails path before we found ourselves back on the highway at noon. Today was very warm by Wisconsin standards, in the upper 80s. Once again, a Nice Person of Wisconsin stopped for us almost immediately, saying that it was much too hot to walk. When we said we were on our way to Verona, this lovely lady changed direction and took us all the way to our hotel, even though she wasn’t originally going into town. Thank you, Nice Person!
We’ve decided that the reason so many people stop for us is my floppy blue hat. What do you think?
We will be in Verona for several days, completing the Ice Age trail segments nearest to town in the mornings, and returning to the hotel in the afternoon. This is an especially nice way to hike, as we can leave our packs behind.
7/22 – today the weather warns of record-breaking heat (high of 90!!), so we set out early to be done by the hottest part of the afternoon. The trail starts behind the public library, which, of course, is on Silent Street. Love a town with a sense of humor!
The trail took us through some wildflower-filled meadows and up a hill that let us look over the town below. We found ourselves humming “the hills are alive” and looking for Julie Andrews… What a lovely morning!
We want to take a moment to thank the state of Wisconsin again for setting aside land, mowing and maintaining so many parks, bike paths and multi-use trails, and the Ice Age Trail volunteers for all they do!
New Glarus to Belleville
We left little Switzerland this morning for a 12 mile walk north. Rather than go far out of our way to pick up the Ice Age Trail, we plan to get on the Badger Trail after a 4.5 mile road walk. No sooner did we get on the road and stick out our thumbs, than a car pulled up to offer us a ride. Christianne, from England, was on her way to church, knew right where the trail was, and brought us up to the trailhead. Another Nice Person of Wisconsin!
Now our walk was only 7.5 miles. The Badger Trail is also a bike trail, and we encountered several cyclists out on a beautiful Sunday morning. For a while we walked between walls of corn on either side, so high that we can’t see the farm buildings and silos.
By early afternoon we reached the Cameo Rose B and B, the very nicest place we’ve stayed. Here are some pix of the gardens where we relaxed away the afternoon, looking at gold finches and wild turkeys strutting through the yard, while listening to the waterfall:
Our hosts Dawn and Gary really love their place, and it shows. If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is!
