Day 105: Point Beach Segment (Part 2), Connecting Route (x2), Manitowoc County
Day 105: Wednesday, October 6th, 2021
Total Miles covered for the day: 6.0
Location 1: The Connecting Route west of the Tisch Mills Segment along County road AB, between Collegiate Road and Nuclear Road
0.5 miles of trail other-half-covered
This was another day where Theresa was out hiking, trying to add miles to her Mammoth Hike Challenge while I was unable to join her. It makes for more difficult blogging, but it makes getting to 41 miles a lot easier.
Today Theresa woke up at her campsite in Point Beach Campground and prepped her sore feet for another long day walking with a newly inducted Snail by the name Kathy Cootware.
Kathy was a new acquaintance made through Facebook, and she was really looking forward to meeting Theresa. Theresa is, after all, the infamous 'She who hates hiking', or whatever the nickname was. But she is also highly motivated by unfinished goals, and the closer we get to 1200 miles the more enthusiastic she is for the sport. People found her story - especially the part about having to overcome all her obstacles - to be motivational and inspiring, and she's gained quite a following. I'm pleased by that, but I still like it better when we're hiking together.
Anyway, Theresa met up with Kathy and they had originally planned on hiking the middle third of the Point Beach Segment first, but then they got to talking about the Tisch Mills Segment and a little bit of Connecting Route up there that she still needed to walk, and bip-bam-boom they decided to head up and hike the Tisch Mills Segment.
Except that when they got there, the overwhelming mold smell was still filling the air, and Theresa was unable to hike Tisch Mills, so instead they headed north to pick up that tiny little piece of roadway that I had hiked on Saturday, but she was unable to.
There are no photos of the event, and no times or temperatures. It is only a half-mile of flat roadway, after all.
Location 2: The Connecting Route between the west trailhead of the Tisch Mills Segment and the intersection of Holmes Road and County Road B to the south.
1.9 miles of trail other-half-covered
The other piece of roadway Theresa needed to finish that I had already done was the rest of the Connecting Route between the Mishicot Segment and the Tisch Mills Segment, specifically the northernmost 1.9 miles along County Road B.
Once again, Theresa and Kathy made use of the fact that they had two vehicles and a lot to chat about, and before they knew it, they had walked off the distance and found their way to the other car.
Which brought them to lunchtime, and they drove in together to Mishicot to grab food at one of the restaurants in town. Actually, she tells me, the restaurant was closed, so they had to eat at the gas station. This may not sound exciting, but this gas station is locally famous for their fabulous, home-made daily donuts. If you need directions to the gas station in town that sells fresh donuts, just ask anyone.
Location 3: The Point Beach Segment, between the parking area on Viceroy Road and the equestrian parking area on County Road O
3.6 miles of trail half-covered
Eventually, after lunch, they went back to their original plans and set up to hike the part of the Point Beach Segment between County O up by the lighthouse and the Viceroy Road parking area. They hiked it north to south.
This was now a piece of the IAT that Theresa had hiked but I hadn't, so it was counting as newly 'half-covered' trail.
When I asked her about her recollections for that hike, her first impression was that it was an overcast day that was cool enough for a T-shirt, but not cold enough for a cover layer. She remembered walking along the long, narrow ridges between the swale ponds, and thinking how much nicer it would be to walk through there after a good hard freeze or two to kill off all the mosquitoes.
Along the way Theresa checked out the camping area near the beach, and told me it seemed well situated, with a bit of a wind break. She recalled walking the long, comfortable and broad hiking path that was clearly multi-use in colder weather, and encountering a large oak tree that had fallen down across the trail.
She said she met several people either walking, jogging or exercising their dogs, but there were not an overwhelming number of people on a Wednesday afternoon.
Shortly after crossing the gravel road to the group camp, the two of them walked along on the trail behind the group camp cabins, close enough to see and be seen, but far enough away to leave the cabins isolated.
A little later the trail met up with the gravel bike path, and as they walked and chatted the rest of the distance fell away, and they were soon crossing the bridge over Molash Creek and walking west the last couple hundred feet to the waiting car.
I give Theresa credit for a lot of amazing things she does. The amount of prep work she does to organize our hiking events is astonishing, and I wouldn't be able to enjoy the trail like I do, with the same safety measures and comfort, without her attention to detail. But she is NOT very good at taking pictures. The one photo she took all day was the half-faced selfie above, and she took not one - not ONE - photo of Kathy. Even worse, she forgot to give Kathy her Snail patch. This would eventually be remedied, so no problem there, but it makes it a little harder on the storyteller to make it all fascinating and engaging.
Trust me when I tell you that despite her sore feet, she was having fun on the Pont Beach Segment.
Brock's Progress on the Mammoth Hike Challenge: 18.2 miles
Theresa's Progress on the Mammoth Hike Challenge: 24.5 miles
Running Total: 750.1 miles of trail covered, 4.6 miles of trail half-covered; 105.3 miles 'extra' hiking/biking. End of Day 105.
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