Day 52: 

Timberland Hills Segment (Part 1), Barron County

Connecting Route, Blueberry (Tuscobia) Segment, Washburn County

Day 52: Tuesday April 13th, 2021

Total Miles covered for the day: 3.9

Location 1: Tiny snippet of the Timberland Hills Segment between the Parking Area on CTH H to the west, and the end of Skinner Road to the east.
0.5 miles of trail covered

This was actually day 4 of our hiking vacation, but only the third day of actual hiking. Monday was so bad we just went home and watched it rain. All. Day. Two and a half hours of driving. Each way. 

Just for the record, the weather today was lousy. When we woke up, the temperature was 29 degrees, there was frost on the car, and it was supposed to both rain and snow later in the morning. The region we wanted to hike had received over 4 inches of rain in the last week, and things were looking... bleak. Solution? Stay out of the mud and walk the connecting routes. 

Since we were parked next to roughly a half-mile of roadway, where the Timberland Hills segment runs along Skinner Road, riding the county line between Burnett and Barron counties before dipping ever so slightly into Barron, we decided to hike just this tiny little piece before going off in search of other connecting route bits to hike. 

I don't know what time we started. I don't know the temperature. I remember that it was cold and we could see our breath, but there was no ice on the puddles that riddled the gravel road. We hiked east to west, finishing by crossing CTH H and walking to the blue-blaze trail that ducks behind the absolutely outstanding parking area on CTH H. If you're anywhere in the area and need a place to stop and relax - this is it. 

Mission accomplished - moving on.

Location 2: Connecting Route between the East end of the Timberland Hills Segment on Leach Lake Road to the west, and the West end of the Grassy Lake Segment on Pershing Road to the east. 

2.5 miles of trail covered

The next thing we did was drive east. Since we had done everything to the west already that wasn't a trail, we headed to the 2.5 mile connecting route between Timberland Hills and Grassy Lake. This also had the very nice effect of walking us off the edge of map 7, in the event we were able to complete Timberland Hills before the week was over. 

"Do you want to walk with the icy, howling snizzle wind in your face, or on the back of your neck?"

We chose to have the wind at our back. 

We dropped a vehicle on Pershing Road, then drove back to Leach Lake Road. No starting time. No ending time. It was cold.

OK, there was more than that. The parking was decent on both ends. We passed by some very curious horses on our way through. Most of the walk was gravel roads, except a bit in the middle where it went past the graveyard on Brickyard Road, and the Pottery Shop on the other side of the road. We didn't stop at the pottery shop on the way by, but we did stop before we left the area and bought a mug. We had on literally every layer of clothing we brought with us, and we needed them all, including Theresa wearing the waterproof double-layer snowmobile mittens I keep in the car for winter emergencies. It turns out I didn't have the right kind of hat along, so I pulled my neck gaiter up and over my ears. 

In the end, we made it with very little trauma. Neither one of us wanted to be in the woods on a day like that. Thank goodness for the connecting routes. 

Location 3: The old Blueberry Segment, now denoted as the easternmost 0.9 miles of the Tuscobia Segment, between Balsam Lake Rd to the west and Loch Lomond Rd to the east.
0.9 miles of trail covered

Finally, we stopped near Birchwood, WI to walk the 0.9 mile Blueberry Segment, only to discover that the Blueberry Segment no longer exists. It has now been absorbed by the Tuscobia segment. It's a pleasant walk down Featherstone Drive, then along a path next to the road. As I understand it, this was named after a spur on the blueberry line railway, and it runs on the opposite side of the road from the Tuscobia State Trail. 

The Tuscobia Trail runs on for many miles, finally ending at Park Falls in the middle of Price County, but the IAT leaves it after only 11 miles, where a connecting route continues south for another 2.4 miles. We chose not to hike that piece, but instead drove on to our intended parking/camping place for the evening. 

Running Total: 379.1 miles of trail covered; 36.8 miles ‘extra’ hiking/biking. End of Day 52.

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