Day 56: Timberland Hills Segment (Part 4), Burnett and Washburn Counties

Day 56: Saturday April 17th, 2021

Total Miles covered for the day: 5.2

Location: The eastern half of the Timberland Hills Segment between Boyd Rd to the west, and Leach Lake Rd to the east. 
5.2 miles of trail covered

We originally planned a nine-day hiking adventure thinking that day eight might be the last day of actual hiking, since anyone who has taken a trip like this knows it takes DAYS to recover. And as it turned out, this would indeed be our last day of hiking, though we only managed seven actual days of walking. We had given up one day to the rain and snow. We're hardy, but there's a limit. 

How does one measure the health of a forest? I look at many things, but the first thing I always ask myself is, 'What is living there?' The most obvious thing to evaluate is the trees. What is the age of the trees? What species are present? How much deadfall is there? Are the trees crowded or widely spaced? Is there a good mixture of trees? Then I start evaluating the animals, usually starting with the birds. If it's springtime, how much birdsong is there in the morning? How many different kinds of birds? Is it only canopy birds, or are there woodpeckers and ground birds as well? Are there predator birds? Do I see hawks? Do I hear owls? 

And I look for signs of other large predators and smaller mammals, as well as the insects, spiders, amphibians and snakes. A healthy forest should be absolutely teeming with life, and there should be signs of it everywhere. Along any piece of muddy ground there should be tracks, of deer, bears, bobcats, coyotes. Scat piles will tell you what those animals have been eating. And the frogs should be singing in the springtime. 

The next thing I usually think about is the soil. Learning about different soil types (clay, sand, silt, peat, chalk, loam) and their blended varieties can help you to get a very quick read on the age of the woodlands around you and know what you should be looking for. Are you surrounded by Tag Alder? You're probably standing on very wet, peaty soil. Are you under a canopy of hemlock? You're probably walking across needle-covered ground with almost no understory. The relationship is true in reverse. Just picking up a piece of soil, smelling it, and squeezing it in your hand can tell you a great deal about the forest.

And the understory and small plants tell you amazing things. What kind of flowers are there? Some flowers are very fragile and particular about their habitat, and quickly die out when the conditions are bad. Along the way we always look for Trillium, Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Dutchman's Britches, Horesetail/Equisetum, Trout Lily and Hepatica (Sharp-lobed or Round-lobed) which I have mistakenly thought of as Liver Wort my whole life. Seeing these flowers come to life always brings us enormous joy, knowing that the forest in which they grow has all the carefully balanced elements it needs to survive. 

Finally, I look at the water, and the types of creatures that inhabit the water. Is it stagnant or flowing? What color is it? If it's a deep rusty color you know it's full of tannins. If it's clear, it's being fed by nearby springs. What kinds of plants are growing in the water? Are there ducks? Geese? Swans? Loons? Beavers and Muskrats? 

As I think back and reflect on all the hiking we did this week in Polk, Barron, Burnett, Washburn and Rusk Counties, I think most of the forests rated a B-minus for health. There isn't enough life there to rate an 'A', even when there is ample beauty. The deer tracks are small, indicating few large, mature deer. The beaver ponds are aging, and the tree cuts are old, indicating too much trapping. There are vast stretches of forest with literally no understory, indicating that they have been aged artificially, suppressing the natural fires that create gaps in the canopy, allowing for new growth and diversity. This ultimately leads to large areas where there is excessive deadfall because the forest ages and dies all at once, creating the fuel for a much larger and uncontrolled fire. 

It's not all unhealthy. Sound forestry practices were evident in many places, creating new habitat and food sources for the animals. A few places have fallow fields, allowing for the grasses that bring bird diversity and insects. The Timberland Hills Segment? This is an over-mature forest that lacks vital understory. There are large animals, but not enough small animals due to lack of habitat, and therefore few owls, hawks and other predators. The water is very healthy, hosting numerous ducks, geese, swans and the like, and several frog species were evident as we walked along. Is it beautiful? Yes. But it's fragile. 

So today we decided to hike the last piece of the Timberland Hills Segment before driving home. This would achieve, like the Sand Creek Segment the day before, the trifecta of hiking prizes, completing a map, a Segment, and a County all at once, and at the same time the added bonus of extending our Touch-the-St-Croix mark a little further to the East. 

We started at 10:03 am, the temperature a lovely 45 degrees. It was a little breezy, so we layered up and into the woods we went. We were hiking from the East Trailhead on Leach Lake Road to the shelter-house on Boyd Rd, a distance of 5.2 miles. 

Let me warn anyone wanting to hike only the easternmost 0.7 miles of this trail that the 'road' that shows up on the map is someone's driveway, and the trail actually walks along that driveway briefly before crossing into the woods. If you want to be able to continue hiking here, please respect the private property sign and don't take a vehicle down there to shorten the walk.

The trail was almost exactly what we expected. For the first 1.3 miles, while we were walking in Washburn County and had not yet reached the ski trails, the hiking was unspectacular. There was a long downhill stretch at the beginning, then we passed by a nice, pretty pond, up and over a few hills, then shortly after crossing into Burnett County (for the last time) we connected with the ski trails, never to leave them again until the end of the hike. 

Along the way we were passed by a very nice woman with whom we had a brief conversation about trails and shoes and the poor availability of women's hiking apparel, and then wished her well as she pushed on ahead. 

Up until we reached the ski trails, the markings had been adequate, and the hiking wasn't too bad. Then, like the ski trails further west, we found that the trail blazes became few and far between again, and we had to trust that the trail would not leave those broad avenues. 

The trail headed north from here, and traced out a cloverleaf loop that actually resembles the hepatica leaves that are so abundant here. The first thing it did, though, was climb very steeply up a hill, only to plunge right back down the other side again. It was the only point on the whole trail that felt completely pointless to me as a hiker, but I imagine it presents a different kind of challenge and enjoyment to those who are on skis, so one must adapt. 

On the southward plunge of the cloverleaf, we walked down a steep hill at a very gradual angle and came to what I thought of as the prettiest part of this hike. The trail follows the edge of a large lake, easing around the southern end, and then walking generally back up the other side, with a spectacular view of the water almost the whole time. A little further down the trail and there is a shelter house next to some large white pines, just before a bridge that crosses the South Fork Clam River, flowing north into two large lakes. If you look to the south here through the trees, you will see what happens when a large failed beaver pond gives way to open grassland. Beavers in this area do what fire does not, keeping open the vital edges of the forest and thinning out the trees, allowing for new growth. 

We took our lunch here at the shelter, even though it was in deep shade and filled with some sort of animal scat in the corners. I took a brief walk downriver to catch a view of the lake and picked up six deer ticks for my trouble. It was here that we noticed the signage was poor, even for the skiers. We had seen no 'You are Here' signs that we could remember, and there were several intersections along the way. 

The rest of the hike was more of the same, with a number of areas that were a little muddy, or where there was a bit of a pond on the trail, but in all cases it was relatively easy to avoid. The only notable piece of trail that remained was 'Diggins' Dragons', a section of the trail with repeated up-and-down bumps that were named after Olympic Gold Medalist Jessie Diggins who had skied there during some of her training. Either she described the hills as being like riding over a dragon's back, or perhaps she likened it to a book written in 1966 by Felice Holman, where the Dragons represented something to overcome. Either way, I can see how the hilly terrain would be fun to ski if you were an Olympic athlete. 

And then we finally reached the part of the trail where we could see the warming house, and there was just one, more, tiny little hill to climb, and this hiking vacation - was OVER!

(Note to readers - we've been binge-watching 'Forged in Fire' on Hulu. If you've watched the show, you might understand the reference.)

We reached the end of the trail and touched the sign at 3:45 pm, with the temperature all the way up to 55 degrees. Our western line of continuous trail now extended beyond Polk and Burnett counties and into Washburn County. where the Grassy Lake segment awaits our return visit. 

Running Total: 399.7 miles of trail covered; 36.8 miles ‘extra’ hiking/biking. End of Day 56.

.

.

Return to Table of Contents

.

.