Ice Age Trail, Still South of Valders, Monday May 30, 2011

Getting into more hilly country

Spring Lake, Town of Meeme, WI

Details & Weather: Started hiking at 7:00 a.m., finished at 10:45. 53 degrees in the morning and very foggy, getting up to 84 degrees today and sunny. Went 10 miles total - all roads. The first part by Spring Lake was nice, then south of School Hill was flatter and getting hot, then started getting hilly again. Can start to tell I'm in the outer edge of Kettle Moraine country.

Wildlife: Crows; Black birds; Red Wing Black birds; yellow birds(real name TBD); Tweety Birds; Chickadees; Robins; Doves; Pigeons; Swallows; Sandhill Cranes; Geese; Raccoon (D); Mole(D); Squirrels; Yellow Lab; Great Pyrenees; Pit Bull Mix & a Paris Hilton Dog; a Bijon Friese; Orange Tabby Cat; Golden Retriever;

Notes: Memorial Day. I wish Blogger would fix the system so I can post pictures again. Lots of nice people along the way. Wish my bike were fixed already.

IAT, South of Valders, Friday May 27, 2011

Farm ruins along the way

Details & Weather: Nice sunny day. Brought the bike for the first time to help increase IAT mileage since I'm self-shuttling. Dropped the bike off where I left off, found a good parking spot, hiked and rode the bike back. Everything was working perfectly until the bike chain broke about 500m from the car. Good timing. Tried to get the chain working again, got it all connected but didn't really trust it anymore so I gave up on the bike. Did some more hiking but only ended up doing 3 hours. Started at 7:15 a.m. and finished around 10:00 a.m. Hiked 6.5 miles, biked 2.5 miles.

Wildlife: Swallows; Tweety birds, Red Wing Black Birds; Black Birds; again no Crows; Sandhill cranes; geese; pair of Mallards; Cows; Horses; a Border Collie; a Lab mix; and a Chipmunk.

Notes: The bike shuttling works, getting it fixed now, will keep doing that for sure as long as the trail is on these roads. Helps to not forget: Running shoes; map; camera; notebook. Abo Dude would be disappointed. Also helps to having a bike in good condition, but I guess the chain is allowed to break after 20 years.

Ice Age Trail, Valders and points south, May 22, 2011

 

 

 

 

Details & Weather: Drove to Clarks Mills and parked at the town hall area, was hiking by 6:45 a.m. then hiked until 10:45, so 4 hours total on the trail/road. Ended up being 10.5 miles. First went to Valders and back, then re-parked the car at Valders Memorial Park. A quiet Sunday morning, just me and about 80 pick-up trucks passing me by as I walked south on County J. It was very foggy in the morning, then that cleared up by 9:00 or so. Was warmer and muggy, thunderstorms coming in the afternoon. This section was all along the road, but it was still interesting as usual, always something to see. Did one last jump south of Valders to go another 2 miles along Hillcreek Road, then I was done, it was getting hotter.

Wildlife: Robins; doves; pigeons; swallows flying all over the place; blackbirds; red-wing blackbirds; tweety birds; several pairs of Sandhill cranes; geese; and to note for the first time ever since hiking I did not see a Crow while hiking; a Killdeer; cows; horses; a huge Belgian horse; 2 donkeys; an old Black Lab; a German Shepherd; and a barky black Shit-zu looking canine.

Noteworthy: The Belgian horse; the donkeys - the came down to the road to see me; the Manitowoc River fall/dam at Clarks Mills; the weather was nice; lots of nice yards along the way with tulips and other flowers; stopping and getting lunch at the Firefighter's brat fry in the Town of Brillion on the way home.