Day 126: Gibraltar Rock Segment (Part 1), Columbia County, Connecting Route, Dane County
Day 126: Saturday, January 15th, 2022
Total Miles covered for the day: 4.5
Location 1: The Gibraltar Rock Segment, between the Colsac III Ferry and the crossing on State Road 113
0.5 miles of trail covered
We don't always get an early start on our hiking. This weekend we really had only one goal - get to the Steenbock Preserve on the Gibraltar Rock Segment and see the beautiful Red Cedars before the Mobile Skills Crew comes through to cut them down in the name of scenic beautification. I'll save the discussion on that for tomorrow's post.
For once in our adventure, we weren't in a hurry. That meant that even though it was Saturday, we weren't up at the crack of dawn, hurrying to get to the trail. I don't know what time we left the house, but we didn't get down to Merrimac until late afternoon. For today, all we were planning to do was walk off the easy bits along and on the road. The real hiking would be tomorrow.
With our cars in position by 4:13 pm, temperature a nice, windy 16 degrees, we parked at the large parking area for the Colsac III Ferry, known by all and sundry as the Merrimac Ferry, and started our day.
Both Theresa and I have ridden the ferry many times. This, however, was our first opportunity to walk up to it and touch it as it lay docked for the winter. This was important to me because - I have no idea why. It was like 'touching the sign', I guess. If I'm going to claim that I covered every last inch of this trail, well, those inches included walking down and touching the ferry.
The wind coming off Lake Wisconsin was brisk, but not ferocious. I noticed as I walked the official trail along the lake that ours were the first and only sets of footprints, but as we got up to the point where the trail leaves the parking area it was surprisingly well-traveled. Including by the wildlife.
Highway 113 gets a lot of traffic. I was happy to see that there is in fact a trail that goes through the woods alongside the highway, making it easy for hikers to pass safely. Given the temperature and time of day, I wasn't really expecting to encounter other hikers, but in this short stretch we actually crossed paths with a group of five hearty hikers who were finishing up an out-and-back up into the Steenbock Preserve.
Location 2: The Gibraltar Rock Segment, between the Slack Road parking area and the Gibraltar Road parking area.
0.8 miles of trail covered
In the middle of the Gibraltar Rock Segment is short bit of road hiking that gets you from the Steenbock Preserve hump to the Gibraltar Rock hump. This goes decidedly downhill in a north to south direction, and we saw no reason not to take advantage of that. So we dropped one car down at the Gibraltar Road parking area and then drove up the hill to the Slack Road parking area, which was fairly icy, but not so bad we were going to get stuck. Probably.
After touching the trailhead sign, we turned around and hiked the road.
Daylight was dwindling fast as we descended Slack Road. The wind had died down a lot, which was good, and we were able to enjoy more wildlife than we typically see on the trail, including a group of young deer ga-looping and cavorting across the field.
As we were topping the small hill and making our way down to the car, an owl started hooting off in the distance somewhere. It was quite peaceful.
We ended this leg about 5 pm, and it was still 15 degrees out. Time to get checked in for the night.
We drove to the Airbnb and checked in. It wasn't too bad, a basement room in someone's house. I wasn't all that great, either, so It's not going to make anyone's list of Hidden Gemspots. After having a little dinner, we decided we could still get out and do a little night hiking.
Location 3: The Connecting Route between the Springfield Hill Segment on the south to the intersection of CTH V and Buethin Road on the north.
3.2 miles of trail covered
Headwear is more challenging for people with long hair. Theresa was wearing pigtails, but the hat she needed to wear was designed for a ponytail. Rather than re-braid, we found that we could just shove the pigtails through the hat hole, because they were long enough.
This will not end up being a new fashion trend.
We had no intention of hiking actual 'trail' this late at night so we looked for some quiet connecting route to cover, and we found it between the Springfield Hill Segment and the Lodi Marsh Segment.
We dropped a car at the Springfield Hill parking area, then drove down the road a ways to find a place to park so we didn't have to walk it all at once. As it turns out, this was not an easy task. All of the land here is private, and with the snowbanks on the road, there wasn't anywhere to pull over. We ended up pulling into an unused drive that headed off into the woods, just far enough to get off the road. No one else had been driving there, and we were only going to be there for a half-hour or so.
Not good enough. We ended up explaining ourselves to the landowner, who had traveled down here in the dark and the cold to find out what we were up to. He was nice enough when we explained what we were doing, but I'm not at all sure he would treat all trespassers the same way.
With some haste we walked the road so we could get our other car and reposition for another leg. What I do remember about that walk was how magical the snow was. There was a light dusting of new snow, and a near-full moon to light up the night. We walked with our headlamps off, and the moonlight sparkled and glistened off of every tree branch while the fields lit up with the joy of a trillion tiny little diamond points.
Our second leg was another mile down the road. I literally pulled off into the snow in a spot where I figured I wouldn't get stuck, and was fortunate enough to be right. There was no wind, thank goodness, but this was where the cold started to seep in. It was only 10 degrees out, and I was dressed for 15 to 20. Theresa was doing OK, because she was dressed well, but I could have used another layer.
We had the road to ourselves. Not one vehicle passed us as we walked our second, and then our third leg down the road. This last mile was along Buethin Road, headed north to County Road V. My knee started to hurt for no reason I can think of, but Theresa was feeling great. She finally got a pair of boots that fit her the way she needed, and her whole body was layered and warm.
I suppose we could have kept going, but enough was enough. We ended the night at 9:45 pm, with the temperature down to 5 degrees.
I actually enjoyed it a lot. A moonlight stroll on a deserted road is always special.
Running Total: 867.7 miles of trail covered, 144.5 miles 'extra' hiking/biking. End of Day 126.
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