Day 103: Connecting Route, Point Beach Segment (Part 1), Manitowoc County
Day 103: Monday, October 4th, 2021
Total Miles covered for the day: 6.3
Location 1: The Connecting Route between the Point Beach Segment and the Mishicot Segment
5.3 miles of trail other-half-covered
Today, while I woke up all snug and lonely in my bed at home, preparing to go to work, Theresa woke up before dawn in a tent, 135 miles away in the Point Beach Campground, preparing to go hiking. She discovered an interesting thing about the Point Beach Campground, which is located in Manitowoc County along the shore of Lake Michigan; there are creatures here.
Not the typical raccoon/skunk/squirrel creatures, as is typical in all campgrounds, but the snarling, yipping canine variety that travels in packs. Not wolves, though that would also make for an interesting story, but coyotes.
Last night she heard coyotes yipping very close to camp, so she was more than happy to have made her way into her tent before full dark. But she woke up at some point to one of them snarling literally inches away on the other side of the tent wall, which she understandably found somewhat unsettling.
No shrinking violet, she, she rooted around in the tent and found the hammer we use to pound in tent stakes, then proceeded to yell menacingly and loudly, scolding them like ill-behaved dogs, making as much noise as possible, intent on scaring the creatures away. Then she put the hammer back down close to her cot, and went back to sleep. She may have gone down in a fight, but she was taking one or two of them with her before it was all over with.
When she did wake up it was still dark, but there were no coyotes within earshot. Good, then. Time to start the day.
The plan was to meet up with some friends of ours, whom we know from one of our other hobbies, geocaching. Mindy Borchardt (a.k.a. Conejo Rojo) and her husband, Tim, and their faithful canine companion Mora. Theresa met them at the corner of County Road V and Lake Shore Road and drove with them to Wedge Road for the first leg of the walk.
Mindy and Tim had never played leapfrog with their vehicles, or with their car and bicycles, so the concept was new to them. The time was a little after ten in the morning, and the weather was - not raining.
Theresa made one major mistake before starting the day. She had purchased a new pair of orthopedic hiking boots and put them on for the first time at the beginning of the day, having never walked in them before. Needless to say, they did nothing to fix the problems in her feet, and instead contributed mightily to her pain and discomfort as the day wore on.
When they reached their waiting vehicle, a couple of miles later, the four of them drove to town to the other end of the connecting route and started walking towards Wedge Road, some 3 miles distant.
I asked her what memorable events occurred while walking the road, and she proceeded to tell me about a farmer who was riding around in his Mule UTV and had stopped to talk to them not once, but twice as they walked past. The farm was fully decorated for Halloween, except on one corner he had a snowman with a pumpkin, which the trio found amusing.
"A little early for Christmas decorations", Theresa quipped.
"Wait", Mindy said, "I think it's a ghost".
Mora didn't voice her opinion.
That was even funnier, and the three of them were having a good belly laugh when the farmer showed up on his UTV. "If you put a Christmas Tree in front, that ghost could do double duty and you could leave it up all year."
"Oh no", he said. "I've got all kinds of Christmas decorations. You should come see it then!"
They parted ways, then as they were continuing down the road, the farmer came puttering back up on his mule to engage them in more conversation. During that discussion the trio learned that the farmer was also a pilot, and flew for missionary visits to some south of the equator country, doing what is certainly intended to be good works. Theresa in turn talked a lot about the Ice Age Trail, and confirmed that they were staying down at Point Beach Campground. Theresa was actually quite happy for the break, because she was developing a terrible blister on the ball of one foot, and she needed the time to rest.
Finally, though, the three of them got going again. When they got to Tannery Road, Tim suggested they stop for lunch, because they had almost reached the car and hadn't taken a break yet. So they all plopped down on the side of the road and ate their lunch at 12:40 pm.
As I sit and think about the distance walked, the fact that they took this photo at 12:40, and the fact that there was vehicle movement involved as well as farmer-chatting, I have come to the conclusion that the three of them were loping along at a distinctly un-snail-like pace.
After lunch, they walked the short distance back to the van, and Theresa took Mindy, Tim and Mora into town where they could continue their hike by lopping off the in-town portion of the Mishicot segment. But because Theresa had already hiked the segment the previous day, and because her feet were literally torn up from the new shoes, she begged off and sat in the van getting some rest and chatting with our daughter on the phone, while there was still decent reception.
She sat there so long that by the time she left, Mindy and Tim had already completed their walk and had driven back to the campsite to set up for the night.
Location 2: The northernmost 1.0 miles of the Point Beach Segment between County Road V and Lake Shore Road
1.0 miles of trail half-covered plus 0.9 miles extra biking
Theresa went back to camp to change her shoes and assess the damage to her feet, which was substantial. But after taking a two-hour break, she was determined to make a little more progress towards her Mammoth Hike Challenge. Targeting the north one mile of the Point Beach segment, she drove up and parked her vehicle on County Road V. Then she took her bicycle up to the trailhead on Lake Shore Road and walked back to the car.
Theresa is not often moved to taking photos, but she was so amazed by the boardwalk that she took out her camera and took not less than ten photos as she made her way through the swamp. Here are a few.
She also took this photo of a marsh marigold in a rare October second bloom.
The boardwalk is 1419 feet long as measured in a straight line through the swamp. In reality, it is somewhat longer, due to the meandering path, rounding out at about three tenths of a mile.
These are some of the folks we have to thank for our ability to walk across the swamp.
At the very end of the hike, Theresa encountered a group of people who were having an archery class, but she was able to work her way around it and get to the car. On the one hand, she was happy to have gotten in one more mile for the Challenge, but on the other hand even with different shoes and a huge patch of moleskin, and even with walking that mile at a much slower pace than was used to cover the road earlier in the day, it still hurt to walk.
Theresa then drove back to camp and realized that she had forgotten to give Mindy and Tim their SnOTT patches. While they were not the first people to earn the patch, they were the first recipients, and it was with genuine joy that they received the honor.
Brock's Progress on the Mammoth Hike Challenge: 18.2 miles
Theresa's Progress on the Mammoth Hike Challenge: 10.8 miles
Running Total: 741.7 miles of trail covered, 9.4 miles half-covered; 99.7 miles 'extra' hiking/biking. End of Day 103.
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