Ice Age Trail, Friday December 16, 2011, South of West Bend, Wisconsin

Survey Marker south of West Bend











Slinger Speedway along the trail











Kame and trail just east of Slinger












Nice part of trail north-east of Slinger

Details and Weather:  Stayed in West Bend so I could get an early start.  Started hiking at 6:47 a.m and finished at 1:00 p.m. - 6.25 hours - 9.5 miles.  It was still dark when I started, just getting light.  Temperature was 26 degrees in the morning and mid 30's by the afternoon and party cloudy, almost no wind.  Went from the south end of Ridge Run County Park to the Community Park in Slinger.  Broke it up into 3 sections for shuttling.

The first part started out on roads which was a pain, especially around where they were doing some construction, but ended up nice being back on the trail going to Ridge Run.  Then lots of road walking, found some more trail gold in the form of a Hershey's chocolate bar and an Almond Joy bar, my best guess is some kid on Halloween dropped them (on a main road though ??).  They were intact, and delicious!  Then the last part around Slinger was also nice back on the trail.  I hate going over the bridges over the 41 though, walked across one and rode bike across the other - should go in the official Danger category.

Profound Thoughts:  I think I'm going to swap out my current bike for the blue 10-speed, I need the better ride and fit, plus I'll take better care of it and would rather have the old mountain bike lost/stolen/destroyed (it's inevitable...).

The "Held" meat & cheese store in Slinger along the 41 wasn't much. All these years driving by it, too rushed to stop but wishing I did. No comparison to Cedar Creek, Haen's or Nueske's, with Nueske's setting the standard.

Wildlife:  Crows; woodpeckers; Chickadees; birds; heard geese; flushed a turkey out of his roost in a very tall group of pine trees; horses a couple of different times; heard squirrels chattering; 3 deer running/walking through the big woods together; a really furry/scraggly looking mixed dog; a good looking black and white Border Collie.