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).