Day 141: Milwaukee River Segment, Fond du Lac County, Southern Kewaskum Segment, Washington County

Day 141: Friday, February 25th, 2022

Total Miles covered for the day: 5.4

Location 1: The Milwaukee River Segment (Fond du Lac County)

4.3 miles of trail covered

We're back. 

Ice. Snow. Hills. Cold wind. Perfect. Let's go hiking! 

Winter is really losing hold of the Wisconsin woods fast this year. Most years we can count on winter being around through March, even into April. Not this year. 

No - perversely, this year, when we need winter to last and hold the ice on the trails it is failing us, with intermittent warm spells to go with the bitter cold. Every opportunity we can find to go hiking while it is still frozen is an advantage to us, because the Kettle Moraine area has steep hills with badly eroded, treacherous tread, full of loose stones and rocks. Ice holds those rocks to the ground, and provides a coating layer that protects us from many of those projecting people-trippers. With our ice cleats, ice is not an issue.

So when we saw the forecast for more cold weather, we knew we had to come racing right back down to the hills of Kettle Moraine, to pick up from the south end of the Parnell Segment where we left off last weekend. 

We came down last night, Thursday, to stay at the AmericInn in West Bend. The AmericInn is literally a tenth of a mile off the trail, and affords pretty good road access to the trail both north and south. Theresa got down here a little earlier than I did, and managed to cover a couple miles of the West Bend Segment, but I promised her I wouldn't do any more of that half-hiked stuff, so I figured I would count those miles when I hiked them, too. The plan was to get to them this weekend sometime. 

 

We woke up to a few inches of fresh, fluffy white snow. Sunrise - 6:46 am.

We have never been famous for early starts. There are just too many things to do before we are ready to hike. Today was no different, especially since AmericInn has a fairly nice breakfast layout. It's a little heavy on the carbs, but at least they have good coffee. 

Today's target was to finish the Fond Du Lac half of the Milwaukee River Segment, a relatively short 4.3 mile goal. After that, we would see where we were and make decisions from there. 

The wind was blowing north to south today, so we leapfrogged the segment from south to north, allowing us to hike north to south with the wind at our backs. 

For our first leg we determined it would be possible to drop a car on Kettle Moraine Drive, so long as I did a little shoveling to make it possible. After seeing the weather forecast, I made sure I packed the shovel with us this weekend. It came in useful all day long. 

Then we drove up to County Road DD and had to shovel a place to park there, too. Parking secured, we positioned our cars and started hiking south from DD. 

We started walking at 11:00. It was 21 degrees, and there was a light wind, with mostly  cloudy skies. The forecast called for pleasant temperatures today, so we were dressed with fewer layers than usual. For me, that meant five. For Theresa - three. 

Like so many of the hikes through the Kettle Moraine area, the leg started with an uphill climb. I think this is basically always the case, because it's an extremely hilly region, and when the roads were put through they looked for gaps in the hills to lay them down. This means when you're on the roads, it's uphill in every direction. Frankly, that's how it feels sometimes when you're hiking out here, too. 

In this case we lucked out. The uphill part was fairly short, and this was followed by a long downhill stretch. We were hiking through roughly four inches of fresh powder, and we were the first to come through, It was a powdery snow, so it wasn't too terrible, but breaking trail is breaking trail. It creates a drag and slows you down. 

Just what we needed. 

On the plus side, we were walking towards the sun, so the snow was sparkling like a million diamonds. 

We were making good headway, and really enjoying the fresh air. Then we heard some other hikers ahead of us. We thought it might be Ice Age Trail hikers, but it turned out to be dog walkers on the New Fane trail system. New Fane is the closest town to where we were hiking, and they have an impressive trail system that follows a different course through the kettles and eskers. One of their dogs saw me; none of the people did. 

Then we ran into two people coming down the IAT in the other direction. Those two turned out to be Thousand-miler Jac Geidel and her hiking companion CM Norman. The dog, as usual for their species, chose not to be photographed. 

We had a good, long talk with Jac and CM. We talked about winter hiking, and summer hiking, and favorite segments, and what we love and what we don't love about the trail. Those two had already hiked four miles that morning, and were doing an out-and-back. We could have chatted much longer, they were such nice people, but we eventually needed to say goodbye and keep walking. 

A short while later we reached the end of the segment. It was 11:42, and we were 0.9 miles into our hike. The sign said, "Come hike again".  You never know - it could happen someday. 

The other side of the sign told us that we were 184.4 miles from the Eastern Terminus, and that we were entering the realm of the Lakeshore Chapter. Based on what we've seen so far, they do a nice job of keeping the trails cleared of windfalls. 

Driving to our next stop we passed this venerable old stone church that was built in 1871. It was the Deutsch Evangelical Lutheran St. Johannes Kirche, U.A.C. The 'UAC' part stands for Unaltered Augsberg Confession, and meant that this church would hold fast to tradition and not succumb to the influences of Americanism and the "New Measures". 

Wisconsin would not be what it is today without the influence of the German immigrants. Their hard work and dedication to this territory brought us the beautiful farm landscapes that still dominate these rolling hills, and left behind some magnificent buildings as well. This church is still in operation today. 

I have no idea if the New Measures have crept into their sermons. 

Hiking south from County Road S, where we parked the launch vehicle for the next leg (yes, I had to dig out a parking spot) we decided that sunglasses would have been good equipment to have. Bright sunshine and brand new snow made for some squinty southward views. 

South of County S there is a spot where the trail splits. One leg goes to the east, and another to the south. There are no blazes anywhere, in either direction. We didn't want to leave tracks going the wrong direction, since we were the ones blazing trail, so we made our best guess based on where we thought we were on the map. We went south, which turned out to be the right direction, but we had to go nearly a tenth of a mile uphill to find the next blaze. 

It was a lovely wooded walk, surrounded by crystal gems glinting out of the snow.

As we hiked, I made up a new verse to my Lovely Day hiking song:

It's a lovely day in New Fane; The weather sure is nice

There's half a foot of brand new snow to cover up the ice

There's at least six hours of daylight before the skies turn dark

I brought along a shovel so I'd have a place to park

I met some lovely people out walking with their dog

I even took their picture and I'll put it on my blog

It's winter in Wisconsin but that won't stop The Snails

It's a lovely day in New Fane on the trail

It was another steady climb until we got up on top of the hills and eskers again, and then we got to spend quite a while on top of the ridge. They are consistent through these hills, at least. For the most part, the course of the trail takes you to the top of the hills and keeps you there. 

There is a spot about 90 percent of the way through this leg where there is a bench to sit on and enjoy a fabulous view. This was one of those 'stop and smell the roses' moments, and we spent quite a while on this bench, snacking and basking in the bright sunshine. 

To preserve the beauty of the view we didn't walk out to the end, but we did leave behind some graffiti in the snow.

It makes me wonder if anyone else passed by and saw that, and knew that they had just missed the chance to get SnOTT patches. 

And if evidence was needed to show how much terrible hiking we're avoiding by doing this in the wintertime, here is a pile of potato rocks that had been removed in one small area. All of their friends that line the trail were hidden under the snow and ice. 

Just before the end of this leg there was a tree laying across the trail with many branches blocking the way. I spent a few minutes cutting limbs while Theresa made her way to the car. 

Another 1.9 miles covered; 1.5 to go.

The next leg was the final one for the Milwaukee River Segment (Fond Du Lac County). We parked once again at the State Park parking area just off of GGG. We met a woman there named Bonnie Conway who took a patch but declined to be photographed. She said she and her late husband used to walk all the time, and today she was just out here spending time in the woods and thinking about him. 

We also met a couple on snowshoes, who had walked nearly the entire trail we were about to cover, in both directions. Suddenly, we weren't breaking trail anymore. 

It was now 2:35, and the skies had turned mostly sunny. The temperature was a nice, warm 30 degrees. 

One thing we noticed as we walked was that there were very, very few animal tracks. With the fresh snow, we should have been seeing many more. We did hear the hammering of a pileated woodpecker, though. At least the woods weren't totally empty.

This last leg had us walking quite a while on the flat before heading up a large hill. At the top of this hill was a shelter, and I went over to check it out. 

This was a gorgeous structure, like all the others along this stretch, and I took this photo about three seconds before someone walked into the frame, laden with overnight camping supplies. He and his buddy, whom we met a little later on down the trail, were out here to spend the night. He said they do it every year. 

So after topping out over that last hill, which was almost gratuitously crested by the trail, we spent the next couple tenths of a mile making our way down to the car on County S. We got there at 4:01 pm. It was warm enough that Theresa had been hiking without hat or gloves for quite a while. 

So at 4:00, we could have decided to call it a day, but we were out here to make progress and make as much use of the winter conditions as we could while they lasted. Unfortunately (an odd word choice, but it fits) we made arrangements during the day to hike tomorrow with at least one other person, and maybe three. That hike would start at the north end of the Washington County half of the Milwaukee River Segment. 

If I had my choice about what to do next, that is exactly where I would have driven. 

"What about the last part of the next segment, west of where the bridge is out on County H?"

"No good - too far. That's two miles, and we don't know if we can break it in half."

With sunlight fading fast, we made for the Southern Kewaskum Segment, a 1.1 mile hop that sits just north of the West Bend Segment. 

Location 2: The Southern Kewaskum Segment

1.1 miles of trail covered

We dropped the van off on County Road D, where a number of other vehicles were pulled off the side of the road. Then we drove up to the parking lot on Wildwood Road only to discover no one had been in there yet. Four inches of snow on top of ice. It was downhill coming off the road into the parking area. We weren't going to risk it, and the shovel was in the van. 

RATS!!

With sunset fast approaching, we decided we would just do it as a crisscross hike. I started walking east and Theresa drove back down to D and started walking north. For her, the 'trail' walks along Friendly Drive for about three tenths of a mile before cutting west under the power lines. 

For my part, the trail was pretty much a straight line run under the power lines. I had started at 4:58 pm. and it was getting colder by the minute. 

I'm not sure what the history of this Segment is, but it must be interesting.

At the top of the hill there is a small section of trail that bounces into the woods for a couple hundred feet, then comes back out again. It's a funny little triangular jog that doesn't add much to the segment, but I guess it's better than walking the whole way on either the road or the right-of-way.  Actually, there is also a white-blaze loop trail through this small area, but we didn't have any time at all to enjoy it. 

Further east, I found a bridge built to get past a chronically wet area. 

I had been following boot tracks, dog tracks, snowshoe tracks and many other tracks, but for some peculiar reason, no one had crossed this bridge since the snow fell last night. 

There are information signs to tell people about the trail, and some of the important pioneers who helped make it happen. I took a snapshot of the Ray Zillmer sign, but missed the one talking about how the trail eventually got named as a National Scenic Trail, signed into existence by Jimmy Carter. 

When I crossed paths with Theresa she was moving fast. Dusk was here, and night was coming. This was my last view of her as she topped the hill, moving away. 

When I reached the road a short time later, I found an informational sign. 

It's a good thing there is a sign here, telling people where to go. Because from this point until you are well onto the West Bend Segment, there are nowhere near enough blazes. That little circle on this sign in the lower right hand corner, three tenths of a mile north of the actual location, is the only thing that identifies the Trail Head for the West Bend Segment. 

The detailed distances on the sign are generous to a fault. The whole segment is only 1.1 miles total, and barely that. 

When I got to the car, I came back to find Theresa just coming down the last bit of hillside. I had time to kick a little snow off the parking lot and pull the car off the road a little bit. Don't ask me why, but I forgot to bring the shovel with me again. 

It was 5:36 pm, temperature back down to about 18 degrees. We completed two whole Segments today. That was worth a little celebration. 

Running Total: 942.5 miles of trail covered, 147.5 miles 'extra' hiking/biking. End of Day 140.

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