Day 117: LaBudde Creek Segment, Sheboygan County
Walla Hi Segment, Dunes Segment, City of Two Rivers Segment (Part 1), Manitowoc County
Day 117: Saturday, November 13th, 2021
Total Miles covered for the day: 10.1
Location 1: The LaBudde Creek Segment
3.6 miles of trail covered
Deer hunting in Wisconsin starts on November 20th this year, so this was our last planned weekend of hiking. Once the bullets start flying, we really have no interest in hiking. Don't get me wrong. I am not anti-gun, or anti-hunting. I do, however, recognize that there are a large number of people who hunt ONLY during deer hunting, and are not planful, experienced hunters. It's those hunters, whom I think of as shooters, who make the news every year for mistakenly shooting cows, or cars, or other people. We don't plan to be in the woods when the shooters take the stage.
All of which goes a long way towards explaining why we were out here in Eastern Wisconsin, sleeping at an Airbnb, and hiking through the woods on chilly, windy days in November. More than that, when we woke up this morning there was a significant amount of snow and ice on the cars, though very little was staying on the ground.
As I was packing up the car, there was a tiny little furball of a kitten that was trying very hard to come with us by jumping into the van. Then when we were both leaving, she came running up to me again and started climbing my leg. Theresa thought it was hilarious, because the kitten had done that to her earlier, and I thought it was funny too, until after I set her down I realized my pant leg was soaked because the kitten's fur was soaking wet from the snow and rain. End result - I had to start my day hiking with wet clothes.
Out target today was ambitious. We wanted to cover segments, segments, segments, and we started out by driving to the LaBudde Creek Segment. At 3.5 miles it was the longest segment we were covering. I was on call for work, so I had to stay close to the vehicles at all times. That meant we had to chop up the Segment in pieces, perhaps smaller than we would have done otherwise.
We were working our way south to north, so we went to the west trailhead just past Hwy 67, and to be perfectly honest, the parking there is terrible. If we weren't so intent on covering whole segments, we wouldn't even have tried to park there. But we did drop a vehicle, then went back up the road a piece to the very nice parking area on Garton Road. From there, we started our hike at 9:41 am, and it was ll the way up to 37 degrees.
Within a tenth of a mile or so, we found this small painted rock, a Day of the Dead creation, that had been left behind by some other hiker. We took this one for a ride with us, and it eventually made its way to a Kwik Trip store somewhere for someone else to enjoy.
We found another rock too, but left that one behind in a prominent spot for the next hiker.
The ground was alternately sandy, or squishy from the snow and freeze/thaw that happens this time of year, and in many places covered with bright yellow tamarack needles.
As we walked along, bundled and warm, we were greeted by the sound of Sandhill Cranes trumpeting their way across the sky. The cranes have started grouping in earnest by now, beginning their journey south for the winter. We paused to wish them good journey, and kept walking. In almost no time at all we reached the road, then took the very short walk to the car, just a tenth of a mile down the road.
Then we set up for the next leg by driving to Badger Road. We actually drove past the trail here, not spotting the signage or yellow blazes until we turned around and came back. Once again, we were greeted with almost non-existent parking, and if it weren't for the need to stay close to the cars and hike short legs, we wouldn't have chosen to park there.
This time, we weren't in the scrub, but rather in the trees. And instead of sandy footing, we found dirt, with lots of rocks pushing up out of the soil along the way, all buried in a heavy layer of wet maple and oak leaves. There was a brisk, cold wind blowing up into the woods carrying with it the sweet smell of junipers from down below.
I could tell when we were near the end, because we found ourselves back on the sand and out of the woods again, and sure enough here came the parking lot. 1.3 miles down, 2.2 miles to go. We thought.
The next thing we wanted to do was snip off that small piece of roadway along Little Elkhart Lake Road and Badger Road, so we parked in the beautiful parking area on County Road A. Theresa was a few paces ahead of me down the road after I parked the car, and when I caught up to her we were right at the intersection of A and Elkhart, and then I saw yellow blazes I didn't expect.
I pointed. "Blazes", I said.
"What?"
"Blazes. Over there. There's new trail here."
Which was a tiny bit inconvenient, because Theresa only uses one hiking pole when she walks the roadway, and two when she hikes trail. We didn't know we'd be hiking on a trail, so she had to make do with only one.
The new section of trail is a little horseshoe that goes southwest in the general direction of LaBudde Creek, but then does a sweeping turn and heads back up the hill and back to Little Elkhart Lake Road. It's a nice trail, and it's been here a while. It's not on the printed maps, but it is on the Resource Map, proving once again that even if you have the most up-to-date atlas maps that have been published, the trail is ever-changing, and you must be ever-alert for yellow blazes.
We came out on top of the hill, after a fairly long, steady climb. In the end, this route was one tenth of a mile longer than walking the road, and I'd have to say it was probably more pleasant, too. From there it was an easy stroll down the road, but the steady, biting wind took some of the pleasure out of it.
We retrieved the van from it's precarious parking place on Badger Road and picked up Theresa's other hiking stick before driving over to Keystone Road and starting another leg from the excellent parking area there.
It was only seven tenths of a mile to the car, but someone managed to cram five geocaches along the way, and I picked those up as we walked. It was flat, easy walking, and there was even a boardwalk through here.
OK - I admit - I'm not 100% sure that's where the boardwalk was. I think it was along this leg. I took the photo at 12:06 pm. There was a spot with a boardwalk. I also remember that there was no water, and we didn't need it. But I'm sure there would be times of year we would be really happy to have it.
As we were getting to the end of this leg, we could hear someone popping off with a 30:30 rifle, most likely sighting in for next week's hunt. With the flat terrain we were happy to just get out of there and onto the next piece of trail.
It was only 12:30 and we were at the north end of the segment with only seven tenths of a mile to go before we were done. As we parked the car along the road on County FF, we saw two hikers ahead of us just finishing their hike.
By the time we were done chatting with them, there were two new snails, by the name of Kathy Ann and Taylor Drees.
This was fun and all, but we had hiking to do. After they left we stood by the Trailhead sign and I experimented with a different view for selfies.
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| A new angle for selfies |
The last half-mile of trail on the north end is much like any walk along a creek. I remember that there were some large white pines at the beginning, and a mix of hardwood and conifer as we walked. It was level, and basically straight, and nothing really stands out in my mind as unusual or particularly memorable.
We soon found ourselves on Keystone Road, where we had to turn left and walk the 0.2 miles back to the car. It was 12:56 pm, 40 degrees, and we were done with LaBudde Creek. Looking back, I have to say it was a very nice segment, but we didn't see it at its best. The November chill cast a pallor on it, and I'd love to see it again sometime in summer.
Location 2: The Walla Hi Segment
2.3 miles of trail covered
After conquering the LaBudde Creek Segment, we picked up both cars and headed straight to the Walla Hi Segment, a 2.3 mile walk that travels mostly through Walla Hi County Park. I'm always curious about how these places get their names. LaBudde, as it turns out, is the name of a family who lived, unsurprisingly, on LaBudde Creek. I was unable to locate an origin for Walla Hi, though. Various sources identify "Walla" as a First Nations word for 'Water', and Walla Walla, Washington is listed as meaning 'many waters'. "Walla Hi", as written, didn't produce any satisfactory hits online, but I did see that the word "Wallahi", used as a phonetic translation from Arabic, means, "I swear to Allah". I'm betting on the Native American source. If anyone knows the true origins of the name for the park I would love a comment on the post.
There is really only one parking place on the whole segment, and it's not on either end. In fact, anyone who is segment hiking like we are will find it difficult to do this piece without getting some assistance, or doing an out-and-back in both directions from the middle. The west trailhead is off the steep-pitched shoulders of Lax Chapel Road, and the east trailhead is at a busy intersection with basically no shoulder at all, unless you want to park in someone's driveway. The spot where the "trail" portion ends and the roadway begins, three tenths of a mile from the east trailhead, is flagged with numerous 'Thou shalt not park here' signs, so that is inadvisable as a resting place for a vehicle. This is not a segment friendly to section-hikers.
We decided the easiest thing to do was crisscross the eastern piece, so that we didn't have to leave a vehicle anywhere near the end. Theresa dropped me off at the corner and I stated walking west, while she drove to the designated parking area (near the covered bridge) and started hiking east. I started at 1:30 pm, and it was now 41 degrees, although that one extra degree did little for comfort in the face of the cold wind.
East to west, the trail starts out by walking downhill, about three tenths of a mile, directly along the road leading into the park. At the corner, the trail cuts into the woods behind the park sign, and meets up with a short piece of something that looked to be a logging road. Given the recent freeze/thaw cycles and rain/snow mix, it was muddy and unpleasant, but it was short, as the trail left this track in about 200 feet or so and went back into the woods. After that, it was a delightful walk.
Walla Hi is a hilly segment in general, with an upland oak/maple/beech/hickory blend of trees. The hills aren't too steep, and there isn't a lot of understory, which means you get to see a long way in the woods between the trunks of mature trees. In short - it's a pretty walk. The footing was good, and the signage was excellent. It has to be. The park is riddled with trails, some of which are for horses, and if not for the excellent signage it would be easy to take a wrong turn.
At 1:38 pm I got a text from Theresa. "Rebecca Nichols". I have learned that this is her short-hand way of saying, "I just ran into this lovely person on the trail, and we had a nice, long chat. In the end, I gave her a SnOTT patch and took her photo, but I don't have anything to write on, so I'm texting you her name for the blog."
That works. Meet Rebecca Nichols, new Snail.
Hey wait - I know her!
This is the woman we saw blowing past us on the LaBudde Creek Segment! It seems she was doing the same thing we were doing, except she was using a bike for transportation to get back to her car.
Eventually, I crossed paths with Theresa. I was hauling some bits of garbage with me that I had found along the way, and she was just getting started, or so it seemed. We were walking through a level spot on the trail where there was a boardwalk, obviously because it gets wet at different times of year. She was concerned that it would take her forever to finish, and I was nearly done, but we've been through this before. I assured her that it would take me a while to get to the car, deal with the trash, unload the gear, and drive the car back to the end to meet her.
It's a good thing I had taken a close look at the park maps earlier. When I got to the place I was supposed to turn left to go to the parking lot, I was never able to see the vehicle, or even the lot. The only reason I knew I should turn there was that I had reached the covered bridge, something I knew to be on the west half of the segment. So I turned left and Lo! There is the car, about 150 feet away.
After snapping the obligatory photo of me and Snottie, I drove up and picked up Theresa at east end. As I thought, she was nearly done by the time I got there, and it wasn't even a five-minute wait before she got to the car. Then we drove over to reposition ourselves for the second hike.
There is absolutely no parking at west end of the segment either. There is a small parking area a hundred or so feet away from the trailhead, but signage makes it clear that the land owner does not consider this to be a public parking space. The shoulder is so steep I wouldn't park an ATV on it, let alone a car, so I dropped Theresa off at the trailhead and drove up the road a bit to park at the entrance to the large sand and gravel pit. It was a questionable place to park, but as they were not currently in operation, I thought it would be ok to leave a vehicle there for a bit. I didn't get a ticket, but it was probably a risk.
Walking west to east from this end, the trail drops off the edge of the road and along a narrow corridor between a farm field and a stone quarry, though you can't really see the quarry. Signage tells you that the land is private to both sides, and even though the IATA says there is no hunting at Walla Hi during the 9-day gun deer season, that doesn't really take into account that there is clearly private land along this first half-mile, and the 'no hunting' zone is really only in the park itself.
Halfway through that walk, though, is a feature that is easy to admire. Given that access though this corridor was limited to a straight line, there was little choice but to walk down a very steep hillside next to a big three-stem oak tree. This was achieved by hand-crafting a magnificent stone staircase, and though it sits well outside the boundaries of the park, it is one of the coolest features of the Segment. Ordinarily I wouldn't say that about a man-made structure, but in this case it's justified.
On the uphill side, it's a more traditional trail, hiking more or less straight up the incline, though at the very end there is a switchback or two before getting into the County Park. It is there that the whole hike changes complexion.
I mentioned before that Walla Hi County Park is riddled with trails. Even so, it is a delightful place to walk, and I can see why some people rave about going there, saying that it's among their favorite places to hike. The going is very hilly, and the path winds its way in and among the hills, giving hikers fantastic views of the many kettles.
The IAT Guidebook rates this as a 3 for footing and a 4 for elevation. I don't agree with either one of those. It really wasn't that steep, and the footing was pretty good throughout. Not many rocks or roots, and the trail was well-established. I would give it a 2 and 3 at most.
At the high point of the hike, there was a bench to sit on, allowing us to enjoy the view. Here in the woods the wind wasn't as sharp, and we did take some time to relax and have a snack before we moved on.
We reached the covered bridge at 3:22 pm, and this marked the end of our hiking at Walla Hi. If there was a way to give ratings, I would definitely give this segment a Favorite Point.
Location 3: The Dunes Segment
2.7 miles of trail covered
There would have been plenty of days where we would have said 'good enough', having hiked two whole segments, but this has become a bit of an obsession. Plus, with all the expense of traveling out here and staying overnight, it made sense to keep going. So we did something we hadn't done in a long time - we went night-hiking.
The Dunes Segment is another segment that is closed during the nine-day gun deer hunting season, so it was on our list as something we wanted to finish if possible. We also wanted to get it done when we weren't in mosquito season, so it seemed reasonable to attempt it.
The whole segment is only 2.7 miles long, but we had no idea what we would encounter, so we decided we would drive to the end of Goodwin Road and use the access trail to cut the segment in half, just in case we needed to bail early. This would add distance to our hike, we knew, but we thought it was safer.
We parked at the end of the road, at the closed, gated entrance to the Woodland Dunes Nature Center and Preserve. The sun was setting, and geese were noisily passing overhead in a south-bound V. It was 4:45 pm, and it was 38 degrees. We were both wearing headlamps, and we were ready to go.
We had two choices of access to get to the IAT, both of which followed the white-blazed Trillium Trail, a loop trail passing through the preserve. We chose to go east, rather than south, and I'm not sure that was the right choice. The eastern path started out on a nice boardwalk across a pond, but the going was a little iffy after that, going across muddy and boggy areas with not-quite-enough boardwalk to get you through. And even though there were trail markers indicating we were on the 'Trillium Trail', there weren't enough of them and in one or two cases we had to guess at our route through the muck. Not ideal.
The trail, as it goes through the preserve, is essentially a straight line for a good, long distance. There is little in the way of elevation change, and given that we were hiking at night, there wasn't much to see beyond the halo of trees in the pooled light of the headlamps.
One thing that did surprise us, though - we encountered another hiker out there, in the late dusk, hurrying in the other direction to some unknown destination. He didn't have a headlamp, though he might have been carrying a flashlight. If he was, he wasn't using it yet, instead relying on the last dying vestiges of light from the sunset.
We didn't stop to talk. Would you?
We passed the other place where the Trillium Trail headed due north to where our car was. That one looked like it might have been a better path than the one we used to get to the IAT, but it was difficult to tell in the dark.
Apparently, we were walking through a restoration project, too.
This eventually led back to the parking lot, where our van was waiting for us, and we decided we would go ahead and take a break for dinner. Since we were hiking in the dark anyway, there was no sense in jumping right back out to do the other half.
Dinner was at a restaurant, a rarity for us on the trail. We discussed our options, one of which was to abandon the other half of the trail and come back to finish it another day. In the end, though, we decided we would give it a go.
We drove out to the eastern trailhead and started our march into the darkness again at 8:03 pm.
This leg of the Segment was marred by recent storm damage, with a lot of trees laying down, mostly cedars. A lot of work had gone into clearing the path and making it passable, but there was a lot more work to do if the long-term goal is to restore it to its former park-like beauty. In a few places it was difficult to see where the trail is supposed to be, primarily because any path through a thick stand of cedar looks pretty much as good as any other path, as long as there are no branches in the way.
I had forgotten that the trail crossed 10th Street, so that was a little surprising when we got there, but after that we soon found ourselves back on the laser-straight trail headed through the Preserve. We had no trouble identifying the spot where the Trillium trail would take us back to the car, and even though I'm convinced the other route would have had better footing, we retraced our original path of access choosing the devil we knew rather than walking another half mile and walking the devil we didn't know. The Dunes Segment was done, but I didn't catch the time, because we were too focused on another crazy goal.
Location 4: The Two Rivers Segment, between the western trailhead and the intersection of East Street and 17th Street
1.5 miles of trail covered
Back in the beginning of the year, Theresa set a goal for herself. She wanted to be able to walk ten miles in one day. This may sound trivial to some, but for a number of reasons, this was a genuine stretch goal for us. When we added up all the miles we had hiked today, we were at 8.5, plus 0.4 miles of extra hiking because of the spur trails. I figured we needed only 1.1 miles more and we would reach that ten mile goal.
Theresa's feet were feeling good, so we decided to go for it. Not only the 1.1 miles to reach 10, but a full 1.5 miles so that we would hit 10 miles of actual Ice Age Trail. We used the car to mark off the distance along the route.
Straight down 12th Street, all the way to Washington Street, then left across the bridge. An immediate right on River, then a Bend onto Jefferson, and right again on 17th Street. Across a second bridge, and we were there. 1.5 miles. It felt like a long way.
"Really? They take us across on one bridge, just to have us cross back again a few blocks later?" I asked. "That doesn't make any sense."
Theresa, who had been navigating, reminded me that the name of the city was 'Two Rivers'. Suddenly it made more sense.
Parking the car, we took off on our last leg of the day, reversing course and making our way through town. We made for an unusual sight, based on the stares we got from the people hanging out at the entry to one of the local pubs.
"We look like homeless people", I said. It was true. All bundled up against the cold, with layers of clothing suitable for trail abuse, we weren't exactly fashion models for Eddie Bauer. And what were we doing out there anyway? We were walking the streets - I had a big stick and Theresa had a pole; I don't think anyone we walked past would have stopped to chat us up, either.
I'll be honest. 12th Street felt like a very long way. More than the 1.1 miles that showed on the map. But when we were done, and we reached the sign again, it was somehow only 9:38 pm. We had made impossibly good time.
The last photo looked a lot like the one we took an hour and a half earlier, before starting the rest of the Dunes Segment. Unless you look closely at Theresa's face. She was tired. I was tired. And we had reached out ten-mile goal.
Later on, we determined that we actually hiked 10.1 miles of trail, gaining the extra 0.1 miles on the new section of LaBudde Creek. By either measurement, it was victory.
Running Total: 816.5 miles of trail covered, 135.7 miles 'extra' hiking/biking. End of Day 117.
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