Day 99: Fern Glen Segment, City of Lodi Segment, Columbia County, Lodi Marsh Segment, Dane County

Day 99: Saturday, September 25th, 2021

Total Miles covered for the day: 5.3 plus 0.2 miles extra hiking    

Location 1: The Fern Glen Segment

1.3 miles of trail covered

Another week, another visit to the Ice Age Trail. This would all be quite a bit easier if I wasn't trying to juggle a full-time job with all this. 

This morning we drove down from Wausau all the way to the Fern Glen segment, south of Devil's Lake, which is a full two hours and 10 minutes' driving time. This goes a long way towards explaining why having both vehicles in place and starting our hike by 12:30 pm felt like a victory. 

We started out by dropping a vehicle at the west trailhead parking area on J. There was plenty of parking, and we met a woman there who regularly walks her dog through this section. She was off and walking before we even got our shoes tied, so we never got her name, though we did run into her a couple more times. More on that later. 

Next we drove to the other trailhead, at the end of Bilkey Road, and found significantly less room for parking, but managed to squeeze a vehicle onto the side of the road near the big sign. It's clear from the signage that this used to be called the Groves Pertzborn Segment, presumably named after the two landowner families who made their land available to hikers. 

No longer, though. For some reason known only to the keepers of the trail, the name has been changed to the innocuous and somewhat boring 'Fern Glen Segment', named after we knew not what, because there were hardly any ferns, and it was more hilltop than glen.

It was 62 degrees when we started hiking. 

The Groves Pertzborn Segment is more or less a hill. Up one side and down the other. It's a well-used and well-loved single track, a little bit sandy with some hard packed dirt on top. On the east end we had to start by walking past some black-dirt bottomland full of stinging nettles, but soon left those behind. At the lower elevations we found a lot of ash, hickory, mulberry and cedar, and as we moved into higher elevations those trees gave way to more oaks and maples. 

We passed the dog walker shortly after we started, making it clear she was a much faster hiker than we were. Based on that pace we knew full well she would reach the end and pass us again going the other way. 

About halfway up the first side, we saw this sign, and how could we do anything but go see Susie's Rock?

After a brief walk down the side trail we found a couple of benches, and... Susie's Rock. 

We actually did stay for a bit and think about dear old Aunt Susie. This felt very much like a healing place, and we got a lot of good energy from staying there. Everyone needs an Aunt Susie. 

Saw this plant (below), which is some kind of hedge parsley. 

On the climb up we noted a couple of very well-executed switchbacks, put in to prevent erosion. I always have an appreciation for a well-laid trail. 

At the very top of the hill is a bench. On that bench is a commemorative plaque noting the generosity of the Groves family. Not sure what happened to the Pertzborn family. Maybe that explains the difference between the 4.6 miles of trail noted below and the 1.3 miles that currently makes up the Fern Glen Segment. 

It was here at this bench, as we sat in a nice cooling light breeze, that the dog walker passed us by again. We spoke to her briefly and she was off again, with hardly a minute to spare. 

In short order we got up again and started making our way down the other side (western), which was gently sloped and aggressively covered in tree-climbing poison ivy. At times, the branches from this awful plant extended out into the trail space, making it necessary to duck or turn sideways to avoid it. 

But with the bad also comes the good. Here is a photo of a fabulous mushroom I spotted. We didn't harvest it for later, but I wish we could have. 

Hen-of-the-Wood Mushroom

And we also spotted this invasive little beast called a Japanese Barberry. It's actually a pretty plant, which explains why it's sold as an ornamental for front yard gardens, but it has escaped and spread like wildfire, and it's tough to get rid of if you don't want it around. 

Below is pictured the unique fruit of the blackhaw, another ornamental bush in the viburnum group. 

Just when we thought we had reached the bottom, we needed to keep hiking for another tenth of a mile or two before coming out into the parking lot at 1:32 pm. It was 65 degrees and we were making pretty good time. Today's goal was to hike several short segments, and we checked this one off in about an hour. 

 

Location 2: The City of Lodi Segment

2.2 miles of trail covered

Skip the connecting routes. We're hiking segments. 

The logic here is that at some point in the future we can come back and hike the roads, basically any time we want. That logic may break down when actual winter hits and there are dangerous snowbanks restricting the roadway accompanied with ridiculous cold weather, but for now it seems reasonable. The other thought is that if we have to break up and do some of these separately, it's a lot safer for Theresa to do roads by herself, rather than hiking uncertain trails.  

So we picked up both vehicles and headed east to the City of Lodi Segment. We decided we'd break this into two pieces, so we first dropped a vehicle off at the western trailhead. This is not as simple as it sounds, since getting there means we had to drive quite a ways through the parking lot for the High School (Go Blue Devils!), then scoot behind what might be the pool building to find a surprisingly large parking area specially dedicated to Ice Age Trail parking. This would have been complicated enough without the fact that there was a girl's tennis tournament going on, and the parking lots were awash in teenage girls. But since we had actual coordinates for the parking lot (N 43 18.879, W 89 32.949), we navigated there without incident and counted ourselves wiser for the advance planning. 

Then we drove to the designated parking area on the weirdly unnamed road that runs behind the line of businesses on Main Street along Spring Creek. Spring Creek, by the way, is a source of some pride among the people of Lodi (Lodites?) as it is the home of Susie the Duck. But I'm getting ahead of the story. 

As we started our walk through town, for indeed most of this hike does go through the actual City of Lodi, we were in no particular hurry. It was 2:13 pm, and the temperature was a beautiful and sunny 65 degrees. We snapped a photo of the iconic building at the intersection of Main, Corner and Columbus (above) and another of the beautifully maintained old brick facades on Main Street. 

 

As we hiked, Theresa was reminiscing about all the time she used to spend in Lodi when she was a teenager, which got her thinking about her high school days. 

"I think I went to high school with someone named Groves", she said. "I don't remember his first name." 

"Think it could be the same Groves family that donated the land for the Fern Glen Segment?" I asked. 

"Probably. Maybe a cousin down the line or something. Where is Susie the Duck?"

This conversation was happening as we happened to be walking past City Hall, wearing our fanny packs and carrying walking sticks. Suddenly a voice rings out from nearby. "How are you enjoying the Ice Age Trail?"

We turned to see a pleasant, round-faced woman grinning our way and genuinely pleased to see us as hikers. We told her we were having a wonderful time and that we thought Lodi was a beautiful old town, and that they had done a great job of keeping everything looking good. 

"Have you hiked up at the Fern Glen Segment yet?" she asked. 

"Just came from there a half hour ago", we replied. 

"That's my family's land", she said. "I'm a Groves. Ann Groves Lloyd. I'm the Mayor."

"Really?" I asked. "That's awesome! Thank you, or thank your ancestors, or whatever. It's really nice to have trail to walk on. I went to visit Aunt Susie, by the way."

"Oh, great!" she said. "That's nice."

We chatted on for a bit longer, then Theresa said, "I went to High School with a guy named Groves."

"What year?"

"19CENSORED"

"That would be my brother, Bill", she said with a big smile on her face. 

We chatted a little more, and said our goodbyes as we each headed off to our own business, but I ask you this, dear reader. How weird is it that we hike on a piece of land donated by the Groves family, then drive to a nearby town, start walking through the streets thinking and talking about some guy named Groves that Theresa went to school with, only to have someone show up less than 60 seconds later who turns out to be the sister of the very same vaguely recalled high school classmate from all the way back in 19CENSORED? And that for whatever reason, this sister, who doubles as the Mayor of the City, just pops off and shouts out to two perfect strangers walking down the street on a sunny Saturday afternoon and makes the connection? 

I'd say this falls somewhere along the scale ranging from improbable to impossible. And not even all that close to the Improbable end. Square in the middle, next to the words 'highly unlikely'. 

We kept walking. 

Of course, less than a block later we stopped to admire the creek and the home of Susie the Duck. Forget the Blue Devils, the real Mascot of this town is a Duck. Just ask anyone during the 'Susie the Duck' festival. 

A short while later we walked past a brick home that had unquestioningly been built with Ringle Brick, and almost certainly around the year 1900. I didn't take photos because there were a number of children in the yard, but it definitely reminded us of our beloved Ringle Brick farmhouse in Rib Falls that we sold a few years ago. 

After bouncing along the city streets and just as we were passing Strangeway Park, we saw a carsonite sign indicating that the trail went off-road. But to be perfectly frank, it looked for all the world like we were walking across someone's front yard to get there. It just wasn't very trail-like, and I was more than a little hesitant to go that way, since there was no obvious path in the grass. But yes - that was indeed the trail, and we were soon walking through a mostly wooded area that eventually ran behind the Middle School and up to the High School. 

This was an unwelcoming section of trail, filled with poison ivy, stinging nettles, buckthorn, raspberries, locust trees and other nasties. MC Hammer kept running through my head while literally everything I saw made me think, 'Can't touch this...'

The other thing was that even though this was a City Segment, the IAT managed to find some hills to walk on. Yes, there really are hills in Lodi. Quite a few if you look to the south. 

Eventually we came to a very nice bench nestled in among a grove of locust trees on a hillside overlooking the school grounds. We sat there quite a while and enjoyed our trail food luncheon. There was a nice, strong breeze running up the hill, which helped to offset the increasing temperatures. 

Eventually we continued the hike, knowing we were almost at the end, and when we finally came down the hill we were greeted with the famous bridge taking us over the narrow ravine near the high school. It's really quite a beautiful piece of construction, sturdy and rustic all at the same time. 

On one of the posts crossing the bridge I spotted this little cute grasshopper. Unless maybe it was a katydid. I don't remember, and it's hard to tell from this angle. 

We reached the high school and touched the sign at 3:37 pm. The temperature was 65 degrees, and we needed to step up our pace a bit if we wanted to make the most of the day. 

So next we drove to the south trailhead on Hwy 113, about a half-mile out of town. We had just a little bit of the segment left, and we started walking north at 4:18 pm. 

Walking past the soy beans in the field on the way into town, we were walking on top of what was once a proud bit of trail made up of ground-up old roadbed, Unfortunately it was now weed-infested and sadly neglected. Actually, we walked over a tenth of a mile on it before I noticed it was built-up trail and not just a dirt path between field and road. 

There is a place on the edge of town where the trail crosses the road. The road crossing wasn't immediately obvious based on the signage, but the sidewalk beckoned from the other side and we would have walked there anyway. 

From here, we were back in the city enjoying city things, like this whimsical sculpture. 

  

The only place it got a little confusing was when we got to Ice Age Park, or Veterans Memorial Park, depending on which map source you use. It was difficult to figure out if we should cross the river or not but eventually we did spot a yellow blaze some distance off, so we crossed the road bridge and headed through the park. At the north end was an iron monster of a bridge that was put there in 2002, according to the dedication plaque. 

In no time at all we were at the car, having finished our second segment of the day. It was 4:38 pm, and we decided we had time for just one more hike. 

Location 3: The Lodi Marsh Segment

1.8 miles of trail covered plus 0.2 miles extra hiking

We debated for a while if we would have time to finish this one more segment and still be able to make dinner and get set for van camping before dark. Spoiler: no.

We knew we didn't have time to hike the next segment south, the Eastern Lodi Marsh Segment, but the little loop trail to the south of that one looked just doable. It was the Lodi Marsh Segment, and it brought to mind something best done when there wouldn't be many mosquitoes around. Tempting dusk made this seem somewhat inadvisable, but we did it anyway. 

We parked at the designated parking area on Lodi-Springfield Road, and started hiking at 5:00 pm, temperature still at 65 degrees and quite breezy. 

Poison Ivy in all its colorful fall glory

Over the years, I have often envisioned this as being a buggy, potentially wet hike through less than ideal footing. In no way did I expect this to be in my top five hikes as far as pleasant, scenic and just plain fun. 

The hike out and back, with only a 0.2 mile separation between start and end along an easy-to-walk roadway, took us up and over, then around a couple of nicely featured drumlins. There is an Earth Cache there, if anyone cares, that describes the area well. 

There are numbered posts along the trail, and at number 7 we found ourselves at a split in the trail. The official IAT continues west, and a short-cut trail allows people to take a much shorter path to the end. Obviously we needed to take the longer path, and no matter what your inclinations are I recommend you do the same. Anyone taking the short-cut here will miss an absolutely stunning view of the hilly region south of Lodi. 

The photo above cannot possibly do justice to the view, so I made a short video:

The trail continues west along the top of the large drumlin until it plunges rapidly down the trailing end and turns back east again, this time walking along the bottom of the south edge of the drumlin. 

Along the way we passed a number of Brown-Eyed Susans, and even found a couple of painted rocks. 

The last half-mile or so was a spectacular open prairie restoration area, and we walked a two-track through the field and back to the road. We reached the sign at 6:14 pm, and the temperature had dropped to a very breezy 62 degrees. 

We were left only with a short 0.2 mile walk back up the road to where we started, and we were able to call it a day. 

We drove back into town to find an electrical outlet we could use to make hot water. We had a great trail dinner of hot soup and sandwiches, then found a great place to go van camping. Unfortunately we were visited by the police twice during the night. The first time they didn't actually disturb us, but the second time we received flashlights in the face and knocking at the window. It was 3:30 in the morning. 

It was a young officer. I'm sure the location we were using to sleep has, at times past, been used for any number of late night shenanigans and trysts. And I'm equally sure that the police have this spot on their nightly rounds on Saturday nights to make sure no one is doing anything up there they shouldn't be. But in the end, after determining that we were just a couple of old hikers looking for a place to sleep for the night, he decided to leave us be. 

He told us that 'Well, it is a public area, and you're not really doing anything wrong...', so he figured we could stay there if it was just for one night. After he left I asked myself, 'Well if this is public land and were not doing anything wrong, why the heck did you wake us up?' I mean - two cars, both registered to the same couple. A little odd, maybe, but not illegal. 

I think Theresa got a little more sleep. I never did. I just listened to my book on tape until dawn broke. 

Running Total: 727.2 miles of trail covered; 89.6 miles 'extra' hiking/biking. End of Day 99.

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