Day 120: Lapham Peak Segment, Waterville Segment (Part 1), Merton Segment (Part 2), Waukesha County

Day 120: Saturday, November 20th, 2021

Total Miles covered for the day: 9.3

Location 1: The Lapham Peak Segment

7.8 miles of trail covered

November 20, 2021. Opening day of Deer Season in Wisconsin. Day of the Snail. 

When we looked at the list of places we had left to hike that might be 'safe' during deer hunting season, Lapham Peak was the one that stuck out the most. It wasn't in a city (nothing wrong with city hikes, but frankly they can be done anytime) and there was absolutely no hunting allowed anywhere along the way. Perfect.

Today we woke up in our Airbnb and prepared ourselves for a potentially large group hike. We had a number of people who told us they might attend, and we didn't know if we'd be hiking with two other people or ten. The number ended up being somewhere in the middle. 

We've given up on explaining to people in advance how we hike. No one gets it until they go with us once, so we just told people to meet us at the Parking Area along CTH C, in Lapham Peak Park. We stopped by early, about 8:30, and we were scoping out the various places to park. This one was obvious, and we checked out the top of the hill, too, but opted not to use that one. Then we drove over to Hwy 18 and saw the ominous No Parking signs, which definitely gave us pause. Finally, we drove to the south/west trailhead parking area long enough to see that it would work out fine, and headed north to place our target vehicle at the north trailhead. That small parking area, on S Cushing Park Road, was completely jam packed when we got there, so we had to squeeze the car in along the edge of the road. 

And when we got back to the Lapham Peak parking area we couldn't believe our eyes. The parking lot was crammed full, with well over 100 cars there, and more pouring in by the second. We felt lucky to have gotten a parking spot at all. We were right on time at 9:30 am, and we had no trouble at all identifying the hikers who were waiting to meet us and to get their SnOTT patches. 

Mary Schwab was there, the same woman we hiked with the night before, and so were three new snails by the names of Laura Hinesh, Donna Hecht, and Julie Frechette.

Donna Hecht, Julie Frechette, Laura Hinesh

This was indeed a group of well-seasoned hikers, as their hiking gear would tell you. 

With everyone ready, and having given up on a couple of maybe's, we started our hike at 9:45 am, temperature 38 degrees.

From the Park, we took the tiny little spur trail one tenth of a mile south to intersect with the IAT, and then headed west across the road, across the marsh, and into the prairie. 

There was a great boardwalk that got us across the marsh.

Strike a pose

This first leg on the north, which is shaped very loosely like the number '2', goes over some low rolling hills of open prairie, which is undergoing intensive restoration. This included periodic controlled burns, and the grass was clearly charred in many places from recent activity. 

In my mind's eye, I can still picture the exact spot on the trail where the whole weekend nearly came to an end. We had just passed this delightful bench, with leftovers from someone's holiday decorations. 

I was catching up to the group...

And shortly after I took this shot I motored ahead, planning on getting a photo from the front. The ground was a little bit uneven, as you can see, and behind me I heard a crash and a collective gasp. Theresa had gone down - hard. 

I turned around to see her lying face up in the dirt. She was in a lot of pain, and she was still mentally assessing the damage for herself. One single step not quite aligned with the pitted pathway resulted in near-catastrophe. 

After a few tense minutes, Theresa determined she should get up and try walking. Her right knee was a mess, having somehow received a significant blow while falling. At least it wasn't twisted, with some kind of ligament damage. There was swelling, and there would be bruising, but the knee was holding solid, and she decided she could give it a go. 

Never underestimate the ability of a snail to persevere. 

Our pace, already less than typical for our three new hiking companions, slowed down now to a true snail's pace. To their credit, they showed no signs of dismay whatsoever, and gave every indication that they were having a great time no matter how fast or slow we were going. 

The prairie section of Lapham Peak looks a little like a pine tree when you peel the bark off after it's been standing dead for a couple of years. There are trails wiggling through all over the place, just like the trails left behind by beetle larvae as they eat their way through the delicious cambium layers. The IAT travels one of those trails, but we saw people all over the place, and on every which trail. Dozens of them, out walking dogs, jogging, carrying children on shoulders - it was a great day to be out in the sunshine, and everyone here was taking advantage of it before the snow came. 

We passed a bench or two, and I was surprised to see that Theresa chose not to sit and rest her knee. She later told me she was afraid it would get stiff and she felt she would be better off just walking. It turns out she was right, and by the end of the day that stiffness was in full force. 

Two of the people we crossed paths with were some that thought they might join us on the hike, but couldn't get there in time. Instead, they started at the north end and walked south in hopes of crossing paths with us, and we were able to greet them out there in the prairie. 

Welcome, Deanna Schneider and Brad Harkins! Congratulations on earning your SnOTT Patches!

Some of the prairie flowers were still in full seed. 

There is a nice view of a beautifully maintained barn. 

There is one small bit of trail that cuts through the woods and just before heading back into the field we passed by a pile of rocks that had been whimsically piled into little inukshuks. 

We reached the end of the first leg, and said goodbye to Donna and Julie. They turned around to hike back to their car on foot, and the rest of us piled into the van and headed south to Hwy 18. 

The place where the trail crosses Highway 18 is NO LONGER A PARKING AREA. It used to be, and someone had gone through the trouble of mowing a large area there, but there were so many cars parking there that the overflow was going onto private land. This resulted in the DOT putting up a string of no parking signs on both sides of the highway. The Resource Map lists this as a permanent closure and tells people not to park there. 

All of this is information we gathered after the fact. This morning, as we stared at all the no parking signs, we were a little befuddled. There was already a car parked there. There was a large clearing behind the No Parking signs. There were tire tracks everywhere, proving that many, many cars continue to park there. Did it mean that you couldn't park along the highway, but you could park behind the signs? 

We decided to chance it. Deep down inside I knew I was seriously risking a ticket, or even getting towed. In the end I got lucky and there were no problems, but that was just luck. Maybe the local deputies were all out deer hunting. 

The four of us started hiking north again at about 11:15 am. This leg of the segment was a beautiful, sunny stroll through a lowland oak flood plain along Scuppernong Creek. There were plenty of blazes, the footing was level and easy, and there were benches as we went. I don't know how warm it was, but with full sun and essentially no wind it was a glorious day for a hike. 

When we got to Boys School Road we passed Deanna and Brad again, making their way south. We were keeping our eyes open for another pair of hikers as well, but instead we got caught up from behind by a guy who was out doing a shake-down walk in preparation for hiking the Pacific Crest Trail next year. 

His name was Evan Hanna, and he was a very interesting man. He had been many places in the world, including hikes up famous peaks like Kilimanjaro. He didn't know anything about us (The Snails) but when we told him about our trek he was happy to take a patch for his collection. He was even wearing his snail colors. 

Another thing I noticed was his equipment. He had a great backpack, an Osprey Atmos AG 65. This thing was properly fitted for true and serious hiking. What I ended up with was a serious case of pack envy. Who's green now?

Time to keep hiking.

When we got off the level ground and started hiking uphill, we finally ran into Kevin and Sue Hanley, with a Corgi by the name of Lucy. We had been texting back and forth with them, so we knew we would meet up with them eventually. 

I kept trying to get a photo of the three of them together, and Lucy was having none of it. 

I finally ended up with this shot, where Lucy looks like a 200-pound monster. 

In the end I had to go with a photo taken later by the owners, as Lucy was enjoying a snack we gave her. 

Now THERE'S that Corgi smile!

Besides being the proud owner of a classic Corgi, Kevin is also an avid photographer and naturalist, whose photography was quite simply breathtaking. I add one here with full credit to Kevin and the statement that I, quite literally, could never. He puts a lot of his shots on iNaturalist. 

As we were hiking, I noticed this rock. The size can be estimated by comparing it with the oak leaves in front, and some of the holes went all the way through. 

This was evidence that we were hiking atop the remnants of an old coral bed. 

Now that we were headed west again, we started picking up some changes in elevation. At first, they weren't too bad, but then we took a sharp turn to the west and started walking up the east side of Lapham Peak, straight up a long set of stairs and to the foot of the observation tower. I said that in one sentence, but on the ground it felt like quite an achievement. 

We each took the stairs at our own pace, and there is a bench halfway up for those who need it. Laura and I decided we'd truck up a little faster than the other two, because we both wanted to hike up the observation tower at the top of the hill. 

From the top we took our obligatory photos of the world beneath us. 

And Laura was kind enough to snap a shot of me as well. 

We reached the tower at 12:49, and everyone felt good about taking a little break to eat a snack from our trail food supply. There was also the convenience of a restroom nearby, and we took advantage of that as well. 

We were back in the State Park. The trail was broad and trampled, with not too many rocks. Just as we started down the west side of the hill we ran into two new but serious hikers, Carly and Nadav, and we spoke to them a while and gave them some pointers. 

It was clear from their gear that they were taking the Ice Age Trail seriously. 

"Just keep following those yellow blazes," we told them. That was advice we wish someone had given us on our first day. 

From then on, it was downhill all the way. We made short work of the remaining distance and soon found ourselves at the boardwalk leading back to the car. 

It was 1:45 pm, and it was time to reposition ourselves for the last leg. I noticed Theresa was a little stiff getting into and out of the car. "Don't worry", she told me. "This is nothing. It will get worse."

I was more than a little relieved to get to Hwy 18 and see that the van was still there. Even so, we didn't want to risk leaving it there any longer, so we picked it up and took all three vehicles to the parking area at the west end, near the Waterville Field Station. Then Theresa took me and Laura and dropped us off where the van had been, and she went back to the trailhead to walk with Mary. We were doing a crisscross, and when Laura and I finished, it was my job to go back and pick them up at the Hwy 18 crossing. 

The entire pathway along this stretch is a paved bike route, and Laura and I were making great time, even catching a geocache or two along the way. Even so, we were surprised at how far we had gotten before crossing paths with Theresa and Mary. 

"On the plus side," Theresa said, "we didn't walk right past the car again."

"What happened?"

"We had a little trouble finding the trailhead. We ended up walking down Waterville Road a ways until we spotted the trail, then ended up walking the wrong direction for a bit before turning around and heading this way."

I pulled out my maps. "You got on the road, then got on the trail from there?"

"Yes."

"Well," I said, "the other good news is when we walk the Waterville Segment we have a half-mile less of it to cover."

I teased them ever so slightly, but told them they could look forward to a nice, level walk on a paved trail all the way to the end. I told Theresa I would go ahead and walk the extra half-mile just so we could log it, and I would be there in time to pick her up. 

When Laura and I neared the end, she excitedly pointed out the barn she loves to see every time she gets to this part of the trail. It's not much to see in the first photo, but as we got closer it was much cooler. 

We reached the end of the Segment at 3:06 pm, though Theresa wasn't done hiking yet. The temperature was 46 degrees, and it couldn't have been a better day. 

And directly opposite this sign, the barn was in full sunshine, across a golden grassy field.

This was my last view of Laura Hinesh. She went north on the blue spur trail and I went south, to knock off that half-mile of the Waterville Segment that Theresa and Mary had already hiked. 

Location 2: The Waterville Segment, between the east trailhead and - whatever you would use to describe the spot a half-mile down the trail.  

0.5 miles of trail covered

While Theresa and Mary hiked east to finish off the Lapham Peak segment, I hurried through the 0.5 miles of the Waterville Segment she had hiked by mistake. It was flat and straight, with a 90-degree turn in it that gave the impression we were walking the exterior of someone's lot line. There isn't much to tell that isn't showing in the photo above. It was a nice path through a very young stand of trees. I soon came out onto Waterville Road, and walked south just far enough to make sure I covered everything she had done. Then I hiked the road back to the car and our tiny little Waterville adventure was over for the day. 

I drove back up to 18 to pick up Theresa and Mary, and they finished their walk at 3:53 pm. It was still 45 degrees, and I snapped this photo to celebrate having covered the entire Lapham Peak Segment in a single day, all 7.8 miles of it, not to mention a little bit more. 

Location 3: The Merton Segment, between the west trailhead and the location where the trail crosses CTH VV 

1.0 miles of trail covered

This - was my idea. And it was a bad one. 

After a successful event today, I asked Theresa if she wanted to try to make more progress on the Merton Segment. What could go wrong, after all? It's just a road hike, or else on a bike path, right? We were geared up for it, and we both had headlamps. 

This is not the first time I have been snookered by a bike path. 

Against Theresa's better judgement, we dropped a vehicle off at the west trailhead, or rather the parking area just a bit west of that spot, and then drove partway down CTH VV to where the trail crosses the road. There's actually a pretty good parking area there, so it seemed like a good spot. This was only a mile from the end, and we were using it as a way of judging how Theresa's knee would respond, given that it had stiffened up considerably over dinner. 

We started out, sensibly enough, at about 6:30 pm. There were no signs right there in the middle, so we just started walking, and things were going pretty well at the start. The way was level and paved, and Theresa could just limp along without stressing her knee too much. It hurt, but on the plus side it helped her forget about the pain in her foot. 

The first road we crossed was CTH E, a mere four tenths of a mile into our walk. Across the road was a sign indicating that the trail continued forward down the bike path, and we kept walking.

And we kept walking. How far does this thing go? Have you seen a trail sign lately?

By the time we reached buildings, I knew there was something wrong. I stopped and pulled out the maps. We had blown by a turnoff we didn't know existed and passed it by three tenths of a mile. Had we gone the right way, we would have been done already. 

The Atlas maps aren't much help here. The detail is too fine to really see what's going on. The right way to go is to take the bike path a quarter mile west of CTH E, then take a hairpin turn to the right to climb up a steep embankment. From there, the trail goes two tenths of a mile through the woods to end up over on E Kilbourne Road, which is what we did. 

The missed turn was a real party-killer. Even though we only added six tenths of a mile to our trip, discovering that we had to hike up one steep hill and down another put an end to all joy tonight. The woods were pretty, I'm sure, but all we saw was a few big trees as we walked. 

At E Kilbourne Road there is a trail sign, and we did stop to take a picture there. 

Then we turned left and finished the road walk, which took us almost immediately under a tunnel bridge that had been beautifully decorated by enthusiastic paint artists. Spray paint, mostly. With no theme. Some might call it graffiti. 

The Segment ends on the far side of the tunnel bridge and the Monches Segment has a sign there, but we took the blue spur trail back to the parking area, a distance of about a tenth of a mile. 

There was no appetite whatsoever for us to do any more. It was 7:30 at night, and we had used up the last of our enthusiasm. Tomorrow would be another long day of hiking, and today was good and done. We only reached 9.3 trail miles today, but had to hike 10.6 miles to get there. In my estimation, that's another 10-mile day for the record books, and this marked the second time we had achieved this in 2021. 

And Theresa did it on a bum knee.

Running Total: 836.3 miles of trail covered, 141.4 miles 'extra' hiking/biking. End of Day 120.

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