IAT Between Mishicot and Point Beach S.P., Sat. 10/2/10

Windy and trying to rain on me

County V = No Shoulder = Unsafe

Close to Point Beach State Park!

Details and Weather: Cold and very windy. Low was in the low 40's, might have broken 50 when the sun came out, but most of the time it was cloudy and a little rain later in the day. When I left for home the car was reading 48. It was too windy, I would have loved to stay out longer but it was kicking me in the rear. Spent the night in Manitowoc, started hiking at 6:42, finished at 12:54 so 6.2 hours. Made it to where the trail trail starts north of Point Beach State Park. The wind was brutal.

Parked at the grocery store in Mishicot, then hiked north to connect to where I left off at the intersection of Rock Ledge Road and Princl. This part of the route was nice.

Then started hiking East. This was by far the worst day of hiking since I began, due to this part of the route. The hike along County V between Mishicot and Point Beach State Park is very dangerous. I've christened it the Insanity Hike because no one in their right mind would hike this stretch of road (yes, I did, so that might tell you something...). There is no shoulder to walk on when cars come along, which is constantly. To be accurate there is a shoulder, it's just that it's a downward sloped 1 foot wide bit of grassy gravel. Most of the time I would just stop and step down towards the ditch to get out of the way of on-coming cars, which was constant, and they are going about 60-65 mph. It was crazy, never again. I don't know how they can have this route be part of the official connecting route at all. Ok enough venting about that.

So I'm finally at Point Beach S.P. and I can't wait to walk a few miles on a real part of the trail.

Wildlife: Crows; Tweety Birds; Black Birds; Sandhill Cranes (a single then a flock of 4) nice; Geese; Squirrels; Cows; Horses; a huge monster dog that looked like a cross between a Chessie and an Irish Wolfhound; a Border Collie mix (2 total); A Mix (with the one Border Collie); a solid Black Chow that really didn't like me at all; a possible Pileated Woodpecker (95% sure); heard a Rooster.

Dangers and Conclusions: See above for my thoughts about the dangers of this route; also windburn (lol); being eaten by a large dog.