Day 54: 

Timberland Hills Segment (Part 3), Barron County

Indian Creek Segment (Part 2), Polk County

Sand Creek Segment (Part 1), Burnett County

Day 54: Thursday April 15th, 2021

Total Miles covered for the day: 5.0

Location 1: Westernmost piece of the Timberland Hills Segment, between the corner of 30th Ave and Lake 32 Road to the west, and the parking area on CTH H to the east.
2.5 miles of trail covered

Another wonderful day for hiking. 

We still had the other half of the dreadful Indian Creek Segment waiting for us to the west, but we wanted to give the woods one more half-day to dry out before we tackled it, so instead we targeted the western end of the Timberland Hills Segment. Once more we left a vehicle at the parking area on County Highway H where the night before we had been serenaded by the familiar 'who-cooks-for-you, who-cooks-for-you-all?' chanting of a barred owl. Come to think of it, this easily identifiable bird-call was a frequent companion as we walked late in the day out here in Polk, Baron, Burnett and Washburn Counties. 

Driving our launch vehicle to the designated parking area on the gravel intersection of 30th Ave and Lake 32 Road, we started our hike at at 9:05 am, with the temperature a chilly 37 degrees. We were hiking west to east, and it really wouldn't have mattered which way we hiked it because it was gloriously pretty. 

The Timberland Hills Segment may be the only segment in the entire trail that has the distinction of traveling in three different counties (Baron, Burnett and Washburn). If it isn't, I haven't found any others. The trail starts out on this end with a long, slow climb for about a quarter mile, then an easy meander through mature forest south for another quarter-mile or so before taking a sharp bend to the east. Then, after another four tenths of a mile it heads south again. I don't remember if this was precisely where it switched from being a walk along a broad, well marked multi-use trail that was mowed and groomed to being a more typical wind-your-way-between-the-rocks IAT trail, but it did switch over somewhere in there. 

At first we were thinking, "Here we go again", but it really wasn't all that bad, and the payoff was fabulous. Right in the middle of this U-shaped hike we found ourselves walking along the edge of a beaver pond, then on a tiny isthmus of land within a literal cluster of ponds. The number of waterfowl and swans was incredible, and it was just really neat to turn a full circle and see beaver lodges everywhere you look. 

The trail then eased up to the south edge of the largest lake in the bunch, and this was the one place where the amount of rain in recent days caused a problem. The trail takes you directly across the top of a very old and well-established beaver dam, except that the lake was literally full to overflowing. There was standing water on the trail, and literally no way around it. Starting at N 45 38.008, W 92 06.268 and going to N 45 37.993, W 92 06.233 - a distance of less than 200 feet - we relied on the many logs, branches and other debris people had placed in the water to get across. Thank goodness for waterproof shoes. 

On the other hand, once we had crossed we were rewarded with a nice Leopold Bench, and as we sat there taking in the lovely view of the lake, we noticed two loons. With some encouragement, I made what must have been the silliest imitation of a loon call ever made, and wouldn't you know it, these two loons were just curious enough to swim over and check us out. 

We spent the next 3 or 4 minutes frozen still as they paddled steadily over, swimming within 50 feet or so. When it was obvious they were coming no closer I tried one more call, which must have translated to "Get the heck out of here!" in Loonish, because both of them literally beat feet across the surface of the lake as they took off flying to the other end. Fun times. 

Shortly afterwards we rejoined the larger trail and walked a nice, easy path until we reached the famous Timberland Hills Lighted Snowshoe Trail. This was interesting, because we didn't know it was coming, and all of the sudden I looked up and in the middle of the forest there was a telephone pole with a street lamp on it. "Narnia!" Theresa said. 

Then we looked around a bit more, and there were more lights. Not running, of course, because it was daytime and no one wants to snowshoe without any snow, but there all the same. The IAT follows one part of this lovely trail gently through the trees, fairly close to County Highway H, all the way back to the parking area where our car was waiting. 

One thing we noticed on this piece is that the bears seem to take exception to the light poles. At every pole where a light was attached you could see where the bears had scratched and clawed at the pole, about 6-7 feet in the air, and some of them were so badly damaged they had to be replaced. Theresa told me if I saw a pale-skinned woman riding a sleigh or carriage, I was to ignore her and under no circumstances accept any Turkish Delight. As it turns out the advice was unnecessary.

We ended our hike along this piece of trail at 11:19 am, and it had only gone up to 39 degrees. We couldn't put it off any longer. If we were going to close map 5, we needed to hike the other half of Indian Creek. Mustering both cars and our courage, we headed wet. I mean, west. Interesting typo... 

Location 2: Eastern half of the Indian Creek Segment between 30th Street to the west, and 15th Street to the east.  

2.3 miles of trail covered

We parked one vehicle on 30th street where we had parked before, and then our launch vehicle at the large and obvious eastern trailhead on 15th street. We started at 12:36 pm, temperature 42 degrees, and gritted our teeth as we headed down the open field and into the woods. 

Right away we could tell that the trail was muddy. In fact, we spotted what turned out to be a beaver track right there on the trail, though we didn't know it at the time. I wish I had gotten a picture of it, because it looked a bit like a human hand, maybe the size of a nine-year-old, but with webbing between the toes. Onward we went. 

But the strangest thing happened. As soon as the trail went into the trees, it became absolutely gorgeous! Easy walking past a farmer's field, then through a little grassy area, then up through some pines, walking on a soft bed of needles, then through a pine plantation just taking shape. It was so nice we wanted to stop and have a picnic, and would have except that we had already eaten lunch.

Right around N 45 40.292, W 92 11.810 we came across a mailbox. Or not a mailbox. It was a mailbox post, but instead of a mailbox there was an Ice Age Trail Ammo Can, with a log book for people to record their thoughts. I like the idea, and we had seen similar items before. I read a few of the comments, and apparently some people like walking through standing water in April more than I do. My advice - wear muckers, or knee boots. But I already complained about that end of Indian Creek a few days ago. I digress.

Right at this spot, the trail went from open and sunny to hiking through the wet forest. At least this time there was some elevation change, so the water didn't all stay in one place, but it was still not as nice a hike as what lay either to the east or to the west. After crossing a small creek, the trail plunges southward on an easy slope, eventually making it's way to the south end of two ponds that represent the headwaters of Indian Creek. It was here I feared the worst footing, but it turned out to be just fine, actually much drier than the stuff we just walked through. 

As we hiked the last half-mile or so to the car, I picked up a few of the geocaches sprinkled along the trail, although one or two eluded my brief searching. 

Typical Hepatica

We reached the end of the Indian Creek Segment - the middle actually, but it was the end for us - at 2:48 pm, and the temperature had crawled up to a full 51 degrees. We had been dreading this hike, but as it turns out it wasn't too bad, unlike its ugly twin to the west. 

Location 3: The tiny little piece on the eastern end of the Sand Creek Segment that runs along 30th Ave.
0.2 miles of trail covered

It was fairly early in the day, but we had already hiked nearly 5 miles, and didn't really feel like taking on another long segment. There was simply nothing close by that was a suitable length, so we ended up walking a tiny little piece of the Sand Creek segment that went along the road on the east end. 

We were planning to hike Sand Creek tomorrow - a six-mile segment with no breaks - and anything we could do to make that shorter was good. As it turns out there is just enough room at the corner of 30th Ave and 1 1/2 Street to park a small vehicle, so we did the two-car thing and walked off this two tenths of a mile of gravel road. It wasn't much of an accomplishment, and there's very little to say about it, but at least it meant we were only facing 5.8 miles in the morning. 

This put an end to our fifth hiking day during our nine-day planned vacation. 

Running Total: 388.7 miles of trail covered; 36.8 miles ‘extra’ hiking/biking. End of Day 54.

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