Day 51: McKenzie Creek Segment (Part 3), Indian Creek Segment (Part 1), Polk County

Day 51: Sunday April 11th, 2021

Total Miles covered for the day: 4.7

Location 1: Eastern End of the McKenzie Creek Segment between the Eastern Trailhead at County Road O to the East and 60th Street to the west.
1.6 miles of trail covered

This was day two of our planned nine-day hiking vacation. Yesterday we hiked part of the McKenzie Creek Segment to the south, and we had only 1.6 miles of it left, from the east trailhead to the end of 60th street, where we spent the night sleeping in the van. 

When we got up, the temperature was somewhere in the high-30s. Not bad. The only thing I missed was hot coffee, but thankfully we had cold coffee from home. 

 

Leaving behind our vehicle at 60th Street, we drove to the trailhead on County Rd O and started our hike at 9:30 am, with the temperature all the way up to 46 degrees. 

The easternmost part of the trail is not as magnificent as the rest of the McKenzie segment, but it's still a spectacularly well-maintained piece of trail. It was easy to see that the trail-makers and trail-tenders have done a fabulous job of maintenance. The footing was easy, the trail well-marked, and I particularly appreciated the parts of the trail that went through recently logged regions (within the last 10 years), where huge effort had obviously been put into keeping back the encroaching aspens and berry bushes. I know just how much work it is to keep those things at bay, and even when we were walking through a tunnel of new growth, the trail was free and clear, with a good 3-4 feet clear on both sides.  

1.6 miles melted away before we knew it. 

We reached our waiting car at 10:45 am, and had to say goodbye to the McKenzie Creek segment for the last time. It's definitely one of our favorites. It was still 46 degrees, but the wind had picked up a bit. It was cloudy and there was a chill in the air that foretold of rain to come. The first hints of mist started falling as we got into the car to drive to the next launching point.

Location 2: Western half of the Indian Creek Segment between 30th Street to the east and 50th Street to the west.

3.1 miles of trail covered

We took an easy drive to our next destination, heading straight for the parking area on 30th Street, splitting the Indian Creek Segment basically in half, planning to hike the 3.1 miles back to the car on County Road O. Getting to the launching point did involve a lot of gravel road, and true to form, there were still some muddy areas and soft spots to avoid, making the driving poor. If only we had known that the driving was the least of our concerns. 

We hated this hike.

We started out at 11:40 am, where the temperature had dipped slightly to 44 degrees and a barely noticeable mist continued to fall. 

To be honest, the first part of the hike wasn't all that bad. It was steep and hilly, but the footing was OK and we had no trouble following the blazes. Then, about four tenths of a mile in, the rain started to pick up a little. Theresa stopped dead in her tracks. 

"We're not that far in," she said. "Should we just call it a day and go back?"

I'm not sure when I will ever learn to trust her instincts. 

After hiking the glorious and well-groomed McKenzie Creek Segment, I reasoned, 'How bad could it get?' I also wonder when I will ever learn to NEVER ask this question about the Ice Age Trail. It can get bad. It can get very bad. It can go from the best day hiking to the worst day hiking in the stretch of 1 mile. But I'm getting ahead of myself. 

"I think we should go on," I said. 

Yup. It was me. All me. I take the blame. 

We hiked on. At about 6 tenths of a mile, we were walking past the edge of a long, wire fence strung through the forest. I think about how much work it is to carry even a light pack and a hiking stick a half-mile into the woods, and I look at that long string of steel fence posts driven into the ground every 15 feet or so, and I ask myself, "Why?" Can you imagine how much work that would be? We hiked on. Steep hills. Very open forested area with little understory. It needed some selective cutting. 

For the benefit of anyone hiking the Indian Creek Segment after 4 inches of rain in a week, the center part is bring-your-own-scuba-gear wet. From N 45 39.830, W 92 13.849 in the east to N 45 40.425, W 92 14.430 in the west, the trail cuts across a flat, miserable bog, with more water than trail, and more mud than trees. Nearly a mile of misery with no way out but through. At times the water was six inches deep, right next to a sodden tree sticking up from the water with a proud yellow blaze on it. If clump-hopping was an Olympic sport, we were in it to win it. 

Do we go around this way or that way? Does it matter? There was water cress growing in patches in every direction as far as the eye could see. Where there was no water, there was mud. If we counted all the times we crossed the trail, bushwhacking from one side to the other, back-tracking to try and find the best way through this Tolkien-esque quagmire, we would probably have to count an extra half-mile of hiking. We just wanted it to be over. 

Did I mention that Theresa was wearing a brand-new pair of hiking shoes? 

Eventually, though, the mud gave way to a small rise, and we hiked our way up onto the less-muddy terrain. Miraculously, we had found a way through that mess with only one completely wet foot, having gone just a little too deep into the mud and taking water in over the top. I hadn't even noticed, but by now the weather had turned from persistent drizzle to a steady rain. Everything was wet. Including us.

The trail then cuts very close to the end of 325th avenue, and in fact we could have parked there and cut this piece into two parts, but had chosen not to. I wished now that we had, because at this point the hike would have been over, but as it was we had another 0.7 miles left to go. 

We laughed out loud when we went another 100 feet or so and saw our first bridge crossing a tiny little creek. One we could have easily crossed with no trouble at all. We hiked on. A quarter of a mile later we thought we might get another bridge, but it turned out to be a rock-hop across the stream. 

A little further on, we passed an uncelebrated but noteworthy point on the trail; the northernmost point. Located at approximately N 45 40.656, W 92 15.278, this point is as far north as you will go anywhere on the whole IAT. There's an arrow nailed to a tree there to indicate that the trail cuts to the south. I took out a pen and attempted to write 'Northernmost point on the IAT' on the sign, but only managed to get most of the first two words onto the wet plastic before the pen showed more sense than I did and gave it up for the day. We didn't linger. 

We were a quarter of a mile from the car, and we couldn't get there fast enough. We hiked up one last low hill, and slid down the other side in sight of the road, and our car, ahead of us. Out of the gloom of the trees we could see that it was seriously raining now. It was 3:00 pm, and the temperature had climbed back up to 48 degrees. We touched the sign, reconnecting with the far away river that we felt like we had just finished wading through, and fell into the car. 

Tomorrow's forecast is rain all day - we're going home. 

Running Total: 375.2 miles of trail covered; 36.8 miles ‘extra’ hiking/biking. End of Day 51.

.

.

Return to Table of Contents

.

.