Day 100: Eastern Lodi Marsh Segment, Columbia and Dane Counties, Springfield Hill Segment, Dane County
Day 100: Sunday, September 26th, 2021
Total Miles covered for the day: 4.7
Location 1: The Eastern Lodi Marsh Segment
3.1 miles of trail covered
We woke up in our van last night at 3:30 am. Not by choice, but by flashlight.
We had chosen a place to sleep that we thought was fantastic. It was public land, in that it was owned by the City of Lodi and not some private citizen. It was on a hilltop, far away from the city lights, so it was dark and quiet. it was remote, so we knew there would be no drive-by traffic. What we didn't count on was that the local police considered it to be a hot-spot for illegal and illicit behavior. We weren't the only ones who had ever decided to park there late on a Saturday night.
The first police car that came through didn't even wake me up. Theresa woke, saw the headlights bobbing around, saw the flashlight beams, but in the end the officer in question - for it was certainly an officer - left us alone.
The second time, however, the young officer knocked on the window of the van, shining a light in our eyes and forcing a pre-dawn discussion of our origins, activities and intentions.
Lots of sentences came out of his mouth starting with a 'W'. "Where are you from? What are you doing here? Why do you have two cars? What time did you get here? How did you find this spot?"
Okay, that last one started with H, but all the same we had to answer his questions or face - what, a rousting? I suppose we could have been charged with some sort of vagrancy violation. But the poor kid was no match for the sight of Theresa flopping the sleeping bag off her face, exposing her white hair, while trying to turn off her CPAP machine. From that point forward all the questions were just a formality.
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It was a lazy Sunday morning. I finally dragged myself out of the sack at 8:00 am. Today was going to be our 100th day of activity on the trail, either hiking or biking. I knew this day was approaching, but in truth I missed it when it arrived, so there was no celebration or commemoration of any kind. We just went hiking.
Today we decided to do that 3.1 mile segment that we skipped yesterday called the Eastern Lodi Marsh Segment. I had looked up details before arriving so I knew we were in for an up-and-down hike. In that, we weren't disappointed, but neither were we disappointed with the experience, or the scenery. Overall it was a very nice hike.
We dropped off a car on the north end, then drove back to the parking area on Lodi-Springfield Road, this time to hike in the opposite direction. As we were preparing to leave, we saw this charming, enthusiastic family getting ready to enjoy the marsh walk. It was so iconic it was funny. Dad with his backpack, mom with her water bottle, little boy in his sports gear and a tow-headed little girl in her purple tutu. How can you not ask to take a photo?
So we started hiking at 10:48 am, temperature 67 degrees. We took our photo by the sign and headed east and north into the hills.
Yes, there are hills in Lodi. Big ones.
The trail started out with a sunny, uphill climb through an area of restored prairie. The sun was doing its best to keep us warm, though the shorter days are having an effect. Fall is fast approaching, and leaves are turning color. That, and the fall bloomers are in stride. Had I known what these flowers were I might have been tempted to dig up one or two. Just as well I didn't.
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| Jerusalem artichoke |
The trail had some recent switchbacks added that were created to prevent erosion. Signage explains what they did and why, and I applaud their efforts. I'm always annoyed at trails that climb straight up a hillside, or plunge straight down, if the grade is too steep. Over time, it becomes a terrible place to walk. There is a bit of work remaining to remove the stubby tree stumps still on the trail and acting as people-trippers, but I'm sure the volunteers will be back eventually to make this trail even better.
There are some spots along this trail on the way up the first hill where one must absolutely stop and take a minute to appreciate the magnificent view. According to the Earth Cache located here (GC5X9HW) we were hiking on a dolomite ridge of the Magnesian Cuesta, formed during the Ordovician Age, some 55 million years before the formation of the Niagra Escarpment. The area has a steep western-facing wall known as an 'Escarpment' and a long, gently sloped opposite side, averaging about 5 feet per mile. The Magnesian Cuesta travels about 175 miles through Wisconsin, ending here in Lodi and starting all the way back in Marinette County. Back in Marinette County it's only about 2-7 miles wide, but down in the Lodi area is is more like 10-20 miles wide. The dolomite that makes up the rocky outcroppings here was laid down on the seabed, and is filled with Brachiopod fossils.
Cool stuff. And here I thought it was just a hill.
We had another great discovery along the way. I saw Big-toothed aspen trees, which are far less common up north, and I hadn't seen one in quite a while. The leaves look a lot like their more common family member, the poplar (quaking aspen), and their cousin the cottonwood, but much larger, as the name would imply.
I'm rambling a bit, so I'll go back to talking about the trail. When we got to the distributed campsite we found it to be just so-so as far as a camping experience. There wasn't much of a place to camp. They did have a log book, but it was utterly, utterly full. It needs replacing, along with a new Ziploc bag.
The other notable feature of this trail was its incredible popularity. There were unbelievable numbers of people on the trail. I lost count somewhere around 5 or 6 groups, then gave up trying at 10 or 12. In all, must have encountered at least 30 people out hiking the segment.
After spending a long time hiking through the fields atop the escarpment, we headed due north again and crossed from Dane County to Columbia County at a nice spot on the trail with a bench and elaborate signage.
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| More Asters |
And then it was downhill from there.
Not that the trail became worse, or that we enjoyed ourselves less - it's just that it was all literally downhill. We walked past some ancient coral formations, then as we neared the bottom of the slope we walked past some erratic boulders, all pushed in a row from when the land was cleared for farming, I assume.
At the very bottom of the hill we made a 90 degree turn east and trekked past more fields. Finally, after passing under the RR Bridge, we had only one more tiny little uphill hike to the waiting van.
In review, the footing on this trail was hard-packed dirt, no doubt from the thousands of hikers that pass through here during the year. It was easy walking, and afforded a lot of interesting things to see. We ended this segment at 2:14 pm, and the temperature had climbed steadily through our hike and was now 80 degrees. Fortunately the humidity was low and there was a stiff breeze, or we would have probably been done for the day, facing a 2 1/2 hour drive home. Instead, we opted for one more little hike.
Location 2: The Springfield Hill Segment
1.6 miles of trail covered
Last but not least, we took the short drive south to park at the one and only parking area for the Springfield Hill Segment.
Here, we were faced with an unusual choice - which way to go? There aren't very many places along the trail where one gets to make this choice, because - well - it's not a loop trail. But along the way there are occasional eddies like this one, where the IAT hiker is expected to walk in a short circle to enjoy some feature of the landscape, or perhaps just a nice walk in the woods. This was one such spot - a circular trail walking around the perimeter of an old farmstead once belonging to Frederick Hahn.
Early on during the walk we saw this impressive wasp nest. In case you're curious, the nest is over a foot tall, and hanging at head height about ten feet off the trail.
As we hiked, the trail wound through what was once the Hahn's prized apple orchard. In addition, you can see hickory trees and black walnut trees that may or may not have been planted by the Hahns, but were certainly used by them while eking out a living in this tiny, remote spot. If you use your imagination you can almost see what it looked like 150 years ago.
A little later we found a bench to sit on, which we did, if only briefly.
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| Oaks and Brown-Eyed Susans |
We noticed that there was a concerted effort to severely thin out the Aspen Trees, presumably so that other species could take their place, like more oak and hickory. This was being done by first girdling the trees and letting them die and dry while still standing, then coming around later and removing them.
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| A girdled aspen tree |
We stopped briefly to look at the Distributed Campsite, which was quite interesting. There was a very new bench there complete with metal-topped places to put a hot stove.
Also - the camp was set up on a hillside with no level ground, so a three-walled platform had been built for putting up a tent. If you look very closely you can just see that they also put in large eye bolts to give campers a place to tie off their tent strings.
The trail continues along, with nice easy walking and very good blazes, and creeps up another hillside where we took advantage of another bench, placed strategically to give one a south-facing overview of the valley below. It was hot and sunny, but we had a nice breeze so it wasn't too terrible.
It was here as I was looking at a satellite map of the area that I realized just how much work was being put in to make this place look the way it did. On the satellite imagery it was possible to see where large piles of branches had been burned, leaving big ashen circles on the ground. Those older burn piles were gone and grown over, but new ones were in evidence as we looked around, and later as we hiked we could see that a volunteer army had been clearing away some of the undesirable species, like buckthorn, and using controlled burns to try and turn the area back into the savannah it once was. A lot of blood, sweat and tears have gone into making this such a pleasant place to hike.
So long as they keep up their efforts, they will be successful. Once they stop, though, their work will go the way of the homestead, once grand and beautiful, but eventually neglected and reclaimed by nature.
We reached the end at 4:45 pm, and in what is a rarity on the trail, touched the same sign at the end as we did at the start, demarcating both ends of the hike. It was still 80 degrees, and it was time for dinner before we went home.
We thought we would picnic at Indian Lake, the next segment to the south, but it was a chaotic zoo. There must have been fifty cars, and literally hundreds of people. No masks anywhere. We left.
Instead, we drove to the dog park end of Indian Lake, where we would end up hiking soon enough. This was better, but there were still far too many people and not a mask in sight. Still, we were able to set up our camp chairs and enjoy a picnic in quiet corner of the parking lot.
We ate our dinner, then started the long drive home. We got home after dark, but we were highly satisfied at having covered five whole segments over the weekend. We can't quite see the end of the trail yet, but we're more than halfway now, and every segment crossed off the list brings us a little closer.
Running Total: 731.9 miles of trail covered; 89.6 miles 'extra' hiking/biking. End of Day 100.
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