Day 22: Sunday, October 27, 2013
Location: Northern Half of Plover River Segment, Marathon County, WI
Today was a glorious day for hiking. We have missed many a glorious day this fall, but finally today we got out to stretch our legs along the trail, and we had a triple bonus. First, we had our daughter Nicole join us today, along with her dog Joplin. Second, it was her birthday (almost) we had a lovely picnic (more on that later). Third, we were able to return to the part of the trail that we worked on back on August 3rd (see Non-hiking Day 1).
So the occasion was our daughter’s birthday celebration. She often walks her dog Joplin for long hours, and so it was only natural that we decided to celebrate her birthday by choosing a place fairly close to home and logging a few miles on the trail. We decided on the northern half of the Plover River Segment, which is new trail cut in 2011 and 2013 by the Mobile Skills Crew. We helped lop this part of the trail back in August, and we can truly appreciate the effort put forth by this rotating crew of volunteers and core team members. The temperature was a sunny 45 degrees, the wind was slightly gusty, and the fall colors were a few rainstorms past prime. There had been rain the previous week, but things had dried up nicely.
We dropped a single bicycle off at the north end of the trail, on CTH HH, about a half-mile south of Bear Lake Road. There really isn’t a place to park here, so it’s just as well we were using a bicycle. Then we drove down to the parking area on Hwy 52 right near the Plover River. The time was 12:15, and the four of us started north. We got a short ways down the trail and ended up turning around and going back to the van to rearrange our equipment. Then we started out again in earnest. The first quarter mile of the trail must have been truly awful before they put in several hundred feet of elevated boardwalk to get through the rich, heavy muck that borders the Plover River. There are actually two separate boardwalks, and I can’t imagine passing this area without them. Toward the north end of these walkways we were walking past an area where there is an impossibly dense cedar grove on the left, storm-damaged and black with shadow, and on the right a similar grove that had been heavily pruned providing a far more open feel. Actually, there is a small platform out there in the grove with two benches that may be the nicest sitting area we have yet seen on the trail.
As we continued north, we were walking through a really nice oak and maple forest and the hiking was level, well-blazed, and easy. With each of us strolling through a three-inch layer of dry leaves, I was rather amazed when Joplin spotted a deer and took off to get a closer look. I would have thought we had scared every deer for a quarter mile, but they hold pretty close even with that amount of noise. This was definitely Class ‘B’ trail, leaning towards ‘A’. There was not a single limb or tree down across the trail, and if it weren’t for the many, many rocks making the footing a little hazardous in the leaves it would have gotten the higher rating.
We were delighted when we got a mile or so into the hike and reached the area where we had been pruning and trail building. There was a lot of pride in seeing the effect we had in creating corridor that should last for many years. There are no creek crossings on this section, and when we reached CTH HH we had covered a delightful 2.6 miles of trail. Here is where I jumped on the single bicycle and rode back to the van (against a brisk wind the whole way) and returned to pick up my wife, daughter, and dog. It was about 2:30, and the temperature remained very pleasant.
We drove south to the parking area on Highland Road across from Village Road, and carried our picnic supplies a short way down the trail and set up out of the wind. We had a folding table, table cloth, three chairs, and a buffet of sandwiches, hot soup, pickles, deviled eggs, celery and cream cheese, chips, homemade caramel apples, and chocolate cake. Beverages included Diet Pepsi, Coke, Root Beer, and Gatorade. We even brought smoked pork bones for Joplin. We were NOT going hungry. We had a really pleasant picnic down there on the trail, and we laughed to ourselves thinking about how strange it would appear if any other hikers came along and saw us having a trail-side picnic complete with table and chairs. After a while Nicole opened her presents (did I mention we had balloons, too?) and we packed up and got ready to tackle one more small section of trail.
The parking area is actually about a tenth of a mile from the official trail down a blue-blazed connecting trail, and we quickly found our way heading north along the 0.8 miles of trail that was built in July of 2011 by the Mobile Skills Crew. This was perhaps not their greatest achievement in trail-building, but knowing what they had to start with along this river I can forgive them the poor footing. The first half of this trail meanders along the east side of the river, finally getting close enough to admire how crystal clear the water is. Along this part of the trail, we passed two hikers going the opposite direction, and we laughed again at the picture we would have made had they walked past us having our picnic. A little further we came upon a charming bench at the location where the trail crosses to the west side of the river across beautifully placed stepping stones. Across the creek, we passed into a lovely hemlock glen with the characteristic soft-springy ground and park-like atmosphere. An enjoyable tenth of a mile or so later the trail got ugly again, and we fought rocks and roots and hillocks until we reached a long log-walk taking us through another boggy area that would have been utterly unpleasant without it. At the end of the log-walk we came upon STH 52, crossed over, and quickly got to the bicycle at the parking area.
This time, the ride was only 0.8 miles, and there was a lot less wind. I got back in the car, drove to the parking area where we loaded up, and happily headed home, a quartet of tired and happy puppies. Running total: 208.2 miles of trail covered; 13.2 miles ‘extra’ hiking/biking. End of Day 22.
