Day 40: Saturday September 7th, 2019
Location 1: Connecting Route between the Ringle Segment to the north and the New Hope-Iola Ski Hill Segment to the south
28.5 miles of trail covered.
Today dawned bright and crisp, with a definite chill of fall in the air. Our original intent had been to go hike the Ringle Segment, but our daughter decided not to go with us, which meant we would be more productive biking off some connecting route, because that's something we can't do when Nicole and her dog are with us.
So instead we set our sights on the lengthy Connecting Route between the Ringle Segment to the north and the New Hope-Iola Ski Hill Segment to the south. We knew from researching the segment online and from driving the area in the past that it was relatively level, with a few stand-out hills. We decided to bike it north to south, which of course means we start at the south end and moon-bike our way backwards in a leapfrog fashion until we get to the start. it's complicated to explain, but it's extremely efficient.
At roughly 1 pm, we dropped a target vehicle at the parking area on Sunset Lake Road at the west end of the New Hope-Iola Ski Hill Segment, then drove north a ways, parked our launch vehicle, then rode south to the target vehicle. This effectively lops off the last mile or two of roadway, then we drive to a point a couple of miles north of where we started and do it all over again. That's more explanation then anyone needs, so I'll move on.
The entire day hovered around 65 degrees, with a light wind from the northwest. Rather than describe each piece as we actually rode it, I'll start from the northern end and work my way south, describing as best I can what you will encounter.
In Hatley, not far from the Public Library, you will see where the IAT connects with the Mountain Bay State Trail, a biking route from Weston Wisconsin all the way to Green Bay. There at the kiosk, you begin the Connecting Route by heading south. You pass south through Hatley along streets where the houses look as though they were built in 1950 and never changed. Not run down - just unchanged, in a quaint small-town way. The bridge up and over I-29 is a little narrow, but there is a pedestrian walkway on the east side of the bridge that doubles as a snowmobile crossing in the winter. This next section goes modestly uphill with a fairly wide shoulder until you reach Town Line Road. Then a long, slightly downhill section takes you all the way to Pike Lake. The shoulder is wide enough to bike on most of this way, but it's still a pretty busy, narrow road. Also, somewhere along this stretch there is a massive erratic next to the road, that has been repeatedly painted with a variety of content, mostly on the PG-13 side, or downright G-rated.
At Shady Lane, the shoulder disappears and narrows significantly to an 8-inch wide piece of asphalt extending beyond the white line, with a short drop to a 2-foot wide gravel shoulder. Neither the asphalt nor the gravel is easy biking, and we frequently found ourselves ducking off the edge as cars roared past. The distance from Pike Lake to Mission Lake road isn't long, but it feels that way when you can't wait to get off this busy piece of highway.
Turning East on Mission Lake Road, you are immediately relieved of traffic, and though there is literally no shoulder, you feel far less threatened by passing motorists, who all seem to relish the slower pace on this bucolic piece of roadway. There is one relatively steep hill to climb, but it's short, and once over it it's mostly level all the way to Crooked Lake Road.
While still on Mission Lake Road, we stopped to use the facilities at Mission Lake County Park, which I recommend as a very nice place to go someday for a picnic. There were a couple kids fishing from the pier, and it was all just ever-so-lovely.
Crooked Lake Road is the only road in this whole stretch that is gravel-like, and yet it isn't really a gravel road. They used tar to glue the gravel down, or something like that. It's not paved exactly, but it's not full of rumble strips, either. No problem walking or biking. It is also the only road that bears any resemblance to a roller-coaster, and even these hills aren't large. They just go up and down a lot in a short stretch. There is a private religious camp here as well, so keep in mind it may be a busy place in the summer. We found no one there, seeing as it's after Labor Day.
The road goes west again along Highway 153, which wasn't too busy when we went through, and we were happy for it. Once again there was a tiny little strip of blacktop outside the white lines, and we spent a great deal of time trying to stay on it. About a mile later the road goes south again on County Road I. Here there is a significant uphill climb that peaks out about two tenths of a mile from County Road C. Coasting down to C you will run across a true General Store where we went in and bought two packages of cheese curds. After a brief dispute on the proper distribution of said curds, we went back into the store and bought a third bag as a backup. That way everyone gets to keep their fingers.
County I goes south as straight as a sunbeam, with relatively little up or down, and mostly down. At County Road A we turned west once more and encountered a mile or so of slight up and down road until it took a sharp turn to the south where once again we seemed to tilt slightly downhill. Along this road is Lions Lake, and a campground of some kind. I'm certain they have water and facilities there, but I don't know if you can access them, or when.
Eventually, the road crosses Hwy 66, which gets a lot of traffic. Another mile or so later and you'll turn on County Road T, also called Locust Road. A short while later T veers off to the right and you follow that downhill to Flume Creek, then along the lowland until you reach a very confusing intersection of T, Flume Road, and Sunset Lake Road. Be sure to take Sunset Road. You do have to go uphill for a ways here, until you top out about halfway to Rustad Road, and finally downhill all the way to the IAT hiking trail.
I'll repeat. The route is almost entirely paved, mostly with narrow or non-existent shoulders. The traffic is heavy along County Road Y, much less so the rest of the way. There are hills, but they are not overly imposing, and overall the route follows a basically level path.
Along the way you will see deer, cranes, geese, frogs, butterflies and moths, grasshoppers, turtles, hawks, rabbits, squirrels, and sundry other things that fly, walk, hop or crawl. There are times when the trees close in around you and hold you in a soft embrace as you travel between their massive 200-year-old trunks. You will see creeks and bogs. You will travel through swarms of tiny bugs that always hover near the water. You will marvel at the landscape. You will see beautiful farms and you will see run-down shacks. You will meet nice people along the way. You will also see the effect of the glaciers in the soil, the rocks, and the hills.
We managed our last stint along County Road Y just before 7 pm, when there was just enough light that we didn't feel we were at too much risk. Then we touched the sign and congratulated ourselves for having bested our previous one-day record by 0.3 miles. We felt like 28.5 miles was worth celebrating, but we weren't done yet.
Running Total: 312.1 miles of trail covered; 30.6 miles ‘extra’ hiking/biking.
Location 2: Ringle Segment (Part 1), between Duncan Road and the Hatley IAT Kiosk, along the Mountain-Bay State Trail.
2 miles of trail covered.
Since it wasn't dark yet, and there was a very short distance of biking to be done on the Mountain-Bay State Trail before the Ringle Segment takes off to the north, we decided we would just go ahead and get this over with.
In truth, because of our geocaching, we have covered this part of the trail on bike or on foot at least a dozen times. We never counted it before, and we wouldn't have known what dates to use, so we just never claimed it as 'IAT' miles. Today we do. We drove out to Duncan Road where there is a tiny, little parking area next to the trail, and we went west about 150 feet until we encountered the trail sign indicating that the IAT leaves the MBT behind and heads off through the woods. There we touched the sign and biked our last two miles of the day along the amazing and beautiful Mountain-Bay State Trail. In this area the trail is heavily used and beautifully groomed.
I should point out that if you are using older maps, the Ringle Segment has undergone some major changes in 2019, and you would be well advised to view the information kiosk in Hatley. it shows where the new trail is, which is almost a complete reroute. More changes are scheduled for the future, so pay close attention to the blazes as you go.
It was dark. We were tired. Hungry. A little saddle-sore and leg-weary. Enough was enough. 30.5 miles covered today. a new record for us.
Running Total: 314.1 miles of trail covered; 30.6 miles ‘extra’ hiking/biking. End of Day 40.
28.5 miles of trail covered.
Today dawned bright and crisp, with a definite chill of fall in the air. Our original intent had been to go hike the Ringle Segment, but our daughter decided not to go with us, which meant we would be more productive biking off some connecting route, because that's something we can't do when Nicole and her dog are with us.
So instead we set our sights on the lengthy Connecting Route between the Ringle Segment to the north and the New Hope-Iola Ski Hill Segment to the south. We knew from researching the segment online and from driving the area in the past that it was relatively level, with a few stand-out hills. We decided to bike it north to south, which of course means we start at the south end and moon-bike our way backwards in a leapfrog fashion until we get to the start. it's complicated to explain, but it's extremely efficient.
At roughly 1 pm, we dropped a target vehicle at the parking area on Sunset Lake Road at the west end of the New Hope-Iola Ski Hill Segment, then drove north a ways, parked our launch vehicle, then rode south to the target vehicle. This effectively lops off the last mile or two of roadway, then we drive to a point a couple of miles north of where we started and do it all over again. That's more explanation then anyone needs, so I'll move on.
The entire day hovered around 65 degrees, with a light wind from the northwest. Rather than describe each piece as we actually rode it, I'll start from the northern end and work my way south, describing as best I can what you will encounter.
In Hatley, not far from the Public Library, you will see where the IAT connects with the Mountain Bay State Trail, a biking route from Weston Wisconsin all the way to Green Bay. There at the kiosk, you begin the Connecting Route by heading south. You pass south through Hatley along streets where the houses look as though they were built in 1950 and never changed. Not run down - just unchanged, in a quaint small-town way. The bridge up and over I-29 is a little narrow, but there is a pedestrian walkway on the east side of the bridge that doubles as a snowmobile crossing in the winter. This next section goes modestly uphill with a fairly wide shoulder until you reach Town Line Road. Then a long, slightly downhill section takes you all the way to Pike Lake. The shoulder is wide enough to bike on most of this way, but it's still a pretty busy, narrow road. Also, somewhere along this stretch there is a massive erratic next to the road, that has been repeatedly painted with a variety of content, mostly on the PG-13 side, or downright G-rated.
At Shady Lane, the shoulder disappears and narrows significantly to an 8-inch wide piece of asphalt extending beyond the white line, with a short drop to a 2-foot wide gravel shoulder. Neither the asphalt nor the gravel is easy biking, and we frequently found ourselves ducking off the edge as cars roared past. The distance from Pike Lake to Mission Lake road isn't long, but it feels that way when you can't wait to get off this busy piece of highway.
Turning East on Mission Lake Road, you are immediately relieved of traffic, and though there is literally no shoulder, you feel far less threatened by passing motorists, who all seem to relish the slower pace on this bucolic piece of roadway. There is one relatively steep hill to climb, but it's short, and once over it it's mostly level all the way to Crooked Lake Road.
While still on Mission Lake Road, we stopped to use the facilities at Mission Lake County Park, which I recommend as a very nice place to go someday for a picnic. There were a couple kids fishing from the pier, and it was all just ever-so-lovely.
Crooked Lake Road is the only road in this whole stretch that is gravel-like, and yet it isn't really a gravel road. They used tar to glue the gravel down, or something like that. It's not paved exactly, but it's not full of rumble strips, either. No problem walking or biking. It is also the only road that bears any resemblance to a roller-coaster, and even these hills aren't large. They just go up and down a lot in a short stretch. There is a private religious camp here as well, so keep in mind it may be a busy place in the summer. We found no one there, seeing as it's after Labor Day.
The road goes west again along Highway 153, which wasn't too busy when we went through, and we were happy for it. Once again there was a tiny little strip of blacktop outside the white lines, and we spent a great deal of time trying to stay on it. About a mile later the road goes south again on County Road I. Here there is a significant uphill climb that peaks out about two tenths of a mile from County Road C. Coasting down to C you will run across a true General Store where we went in and bought two packages of cheese curds. After a brief dispute on the proper distribution of said curds, we went back into the store and bought a third bag as a backup. That way everyone gets to keep their fingers.
County I goes south as straight as a sunbeam, with relatively little up or down, and mostly down. At County Road A we turned west once more and encountered a mile or so of slight up and down road until it took a sharp turn to the south where once again we seemed to tilt slightly downhill. Along this road is Lions Lake, and a campground of some kind. I'm certain they have water and facilities there, but I don't know if you can access them, or when.
Eventually, the road crosses Hwy 66, which gets a lot of traffic. Another mile or so later and you'll turn on County Road T, also called Locust Road. A short while later T veers off to the right and you follow that downhill to Flume Creek, then along the lowland until you reach a very confusing intersection of T, Flume Road, and Sunset Lake Road. Be sure to take Sunset Road. You do have to go uphill for a ways here, until you top out about halfway to Rustad Road, and finally downhill all the way to the IAT hiking trail.
I'll repeat. The route is almost entirely paved, mostly with narrow or non-existent shoulders. The traffic is heavy along County Road Y, much less so the rest of the way. There are hills, but they are not overly imposing, and overall the route follows a basically level path.
Along the way you will see deer, cranes, geese, frogs, butterflies and moths, grasshoppers, turtles, hawks, rabbits, squirrels, and sundry other things that fly, walk, hop or crawl. There are times when the trees close in around you and hold you in a soft embrace as you travel between their massive 200-year-old trunks. You will see creeks and bogs. You will travel through swarms of tiny bugs that always hover near the water. You will marvel at the landscape. You will see beautiful farms and you will see run-down shacks. You will meet nice people along the way. You will also see the effect of the glaciers in the soil, the rocks, and the hills.
We managed our last stint along County Road Y just before 7 pm, when there was just enough light that we didn't feel we were at too much risk. Then we touched the sign and congratulated ourselves for having bested our previous one-day record by 0.3 miles. We felt like 28.5 miles was worth celebrating, but we weren't done yet.
Running Total: 312.1 miles of trail covered; 30.6 miles ‘extra’ hiking/biking.
Location 2: Ringle Segment (Part 1), between Duncan Road and the Hatley IAT Kiosk, along the Mountain-Bay State Trail.
2 miles of trail covered.
Since it wasn't dark yet, and there was a very short distance of biking to be done on the Mountain-Bay State Trail before the Ringle Segment takes off to the north, we decided we would just go ahead and get this over with.
In truth, because of our geocaching, we have covered this part of the trail on bike or on foot at least a dozen times. We never counted it before, and we wouldn't have known what dates to use, so we just never claimed it as 'IAT' miles. Today we do. We drove out to Duncan Road where there is a tiny, little parking area next to the trail, and we went west about 150 feet until we encountered the trail sign indicating that the IAT leaves the MBT behind and heads off through the woods. There we touched the sign and biked our last two miles of the day along the amazing and beautiful Mountain-Bay State Trail. In this area the trail is heavily used and beautifully groomed.
I should point out that if you are using older maps, the Ringle Segment has undergone some major changes in 2019, and you would be well advised to view the information kiosk in Hatley. it shows where the new trail is, which is almost a complete reroute. More changes are scheduled for the future, so pay close attention to the blazes as you go.
It was dark. We were tired. Hungry. A little saddle-sore and leg-weary. Enough was enough. 30.5 miles covered today. a new record for us.
Running Total: 314.1 miles of trail covered; 30.6 miles ‘extra’ hiking/biking. End of Day 40.
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