February 18, 2012 Holy Hill to Hartland, Wisconsin

Holy Hill

 Just south of Holy Hill

 Oconomowoc River

 Trail along old rail bed

Details & Weather:  Very nice weather, 19 in the morning then got up to 35, little wind, it was mostly sunny all day.  Started at 7:06 a.m. and finished a little after 5:00 p.m. - 10 hours.  Went from the trail pull-out on Hwy 167 to the Hartland Inn downtown.  Was ~15 IAT miles so a great day overall, but will pay for it later on.  My motto was to "walk completely off the map sheet!" (Ice Age Trail map 83f), and I did that and more.  Overdid it for sure, but the last 2 hours was really to get to downtown Hartland so I could find a place to sit, eat, warm up and wait for my ride.  It was so nice not having to worry about shuttling, completely changes the outlook on things.

Started out around Holy Hill and it was beautiful out there.  Took a few short breaks along the way, then one longer one in the afternoon when I just laid down on the thick grass in the sun and took it easy, it felt great.  Saw many more people on this outing, the most I've ever encountered. Joggers, dog walkers, kids, it was a lot different being this close to Milwaukee.  That said the majority of the hike I was still by myself.  Thought today about how few people are really outside anymore, everyone is inside for the most part nowadays, every day, every hour, not just in the winter either.  It would be an interesting thing to study and make connections.

Millie



Millie the Black Lab - I came on the south side of Holy Hill area and started walking east on Donegal when a happy black lab came up to me, she never barked, just started play bowing and running around near me, would run off then come back again.  She was a beautiful dog, with really orange eyes like Ruby.  She did this a few times, I got her to come up to me and I petted her, and she ran off again.  I remembered the missing dog sign that was put on one of the trail signs, so called her back to me, but she was Millie, not the lost dog on the sign (makes me sad to see all of these signs for lost pets, I've seen 3-5 of them now along the trail).  She ran off some more and I watched her, thinking anytime she would run into one of the driveways to go home, but she just kept on running down the road out ahead of me about 25 - 50 yards while I was walking.  After a bit I realized she wasn't going into any of the homes along the road, so I called her back to check her tags.  She came and but wouldn't sit still so I pulled a shoelace out of one of the running shoes in my backpack to make a leash, plus I offered her some of my Oatmeal Raisin Clif bar to get her to stay still while I read her tag.  The tag had a phone number (no address), so I called it the number and and the owner picked up, I told him where we were and he said he's come out to pick her up right away.  Millie and I sat down and I fed her some more Clif bar, the owner finally pulled up, an older guy in a small pick-up truck.  He said "the electric fence was broken" and gave me the impression it had been for a while, so I bit my lip and didn't say to him that this would be a perfect day to get it fixed.  Millie jumped into the truck, he said thanks and they rode off, hopefully to a soon-to-be fenced in yard.

Wildlife:  Crows, Geese, Mallards, Woodpeckers, Birds, A Robin looking bird (not a Robin); Horses, Squirrels, Millie the Black Lab plus about 6 other dogs, a Cat, Ded Possum, Raccoon, feline and canine tracks in the snow. Heard Sandhill Cranes, a Red Tailed Hawk, and a Peacock!(very cool).

Jan. 27-29, 2012 Winter Camping & Ice-fishing, Lake Poygan, WI

 Lake Poygan, Wisconsin

16" thick ice

Saturday sunset

 Saturday twilight

Details and Weather:  Went ice-fishing and winter camping on Lake Poygan west of Winneconne, Wisconsin. Weather was - Friday: high 35, low 24, sunny clear early on, then .09 inch of snow, very windy. Saturday: high 34, low 15, very windy early on, 31 mph max gust sometime between midnight and 3:00 a.m., then grew calmer into the day and evening. Sunday: high 23, low 8, clear, some wind.

13"-16" of ice, caught 5 fish, one of them was a nice walleye. Inside the tent was warm with the wood stove going. Venison tenderloin hobo dinner Friday night, Saturday egg/cheese/bacon English muffins for breakfast then grazing the rest of the day. Sunday was leftovers. No one ever goes hungry! Slept well on cots both nights. Easy set-up, pack-up was harder with all of the exercise getting the tent stakes out of the ice.

Dangers:  Ice was thick, but Sunday morning the Suburban did see some action when it went over a crack in the ice and had some water splash up. The floor of the tent was very slick due to the melting ice from the wood stove, need to try and insulate it better next time, plus get more ice cleats to use. The wind Friday night/early Saturday morning was very bad, tent and center pole held up though.  The usual hazards with Coleman lantern-white gas combination, falling in ice-fishing holes, and potential dysentery from my fellow camper!

Ice Age Trail, Sat. Jan. 7, 2012, south of Slinger, Wisconsin

Trail in Pike Lake State Park, Wisconsin

Young and Old Goldens in Slinger

Strange snowman along the trail in the woods

Another Survey Marker right on the trail

Details and Weather:  Started at 6:38, finished at 12:15 pm - 5.8 hours, 8 miles total.  Temperature was 30 degrees when I started in the dark and upper 30's and partly sunny at noon.  Went from the Slinger Community Park to Highway 167 just north of Holy Hill.

Dropped the bike off in Slinger then parked the car at Pike Lake Unit.  Walked north on the snow/ice, started in the dark but quickly got light. Got back to the car and found my courtesy friendly reminder from the DNR to re-new my annual sticker, lovely.  Drove south and parked at the trailhead at Highway 167 just north of Holy Hill, then started walking north again.  This is a very nice section of trail especially around Holy Hill. Reminded me of hiking in Germany.  Survived on O.J. and eating my friend's gift of venison summer sausage, it was really good, a very good food item to have on a hike.

Wildlife:  Crows; Redtailed Hawk; lots of Doves; Birds; Geese; Cows; Horses; Squirrels; 2 Deer in the woods (might have been the same one twice); a Golden Retriever Puppy and an older one sitting at their house in Slinger; a barky German Shepherd and a Mix, then a barky Beagle and a Beagle Mix.

Dangers:  Slipped on ice a couple of times, went to the ground once - ouch! My Bike Helmet and 2 liter Mountain Dew bottle broke my fall, who says Mountain Dew is bad for you!?!  Red truck checking me out and probably giving me the stink-eye, maybe thought I was hunting since I had on my orange jacket. Got a warning ticket from the DNR for having an expired annual pass, for once I catch a break from them, they must not have realized who's van it was (I think I'm on the DNR's wanted list, we have a history, it's a long story).