Day 158: Connecting Route (x3), Kewaunee County

Day 158: Tuesday, April 12th, 2022

Total Miles covered for the day: 10.3

Location 1: The Connecting Route north of the Kewaunee River Segment between the parking area on First Road/Lakeshore Drive and the Kewaunee River trailhead

3.6 miles of trail covered

Today was another planned Snail hike and like the day before, we were meeting at the giant grandfather clock in Kewaunee. Since this was only a Connecting Route hike, we weren't expecting a large turnout. This turned out to be true, but still we got three great women to show up. 

We gathered again in front of the grandfather clock for the group photo at a little past 10:00, and then started ferrying people around for the actual hiking. 

One of the gals wanted to hike a much longer distance than the short leg we started with, so we took her north and dropped her off at the end of the Forestville Segment so she could walk the whole 13.7 miles. We, on the other hand, opted for the much shorter 3.6 mile hike from the parking lot on Lakeshore Drive near first avenue back down to the clock. We managed to get everything and everyone in place and ready to hike by 10:23 am. 

The other two women ended up hiking with us. One of them was Deb Jones, and she was busy taking notes and photos for the next Companion Guide, due to come out in the next year or so. It was interesting hearing more about what goes into the creation of all the content you see in the guide. 

It was a chilly day, but not too terribly windy, and it turned into a sunny and pleasant walk along the lake. We had raingear with us, but it never came into play. Below is a photo with Theresa in trademark short sleeves while everyone else wears coats. 

This was a charming little surprise along the road. Someone painted a picture of their house and farm by the lake on the side of their mailbox. 

We walked by this small area filled with red osier dogwood. It was so brightly red it makes the whole image look rose-tinted. 

Not the best photo of Theresa, but a great shot of Deb and her camera.

There was a lot of standing water around, and this small puddle was host to a couple of ducks, barely visible in the distance. 

Yup. Mallards. The original puddle-duck. 

And then there was the Silo.

Located at N 44 28.730, W 87 29.729, the iconic blue and yellow silo is noticed by every hiker who has passed this way ever since it was painted. It stands close to the road on the south side, and the very nature of it made me want to run up to the door to get my picture taken.  

It was then that I took a peek inside. 

"You have to come over here and look at this", I told my two hiking companions. 

"Why?"

"Just come. You need to look inside."

Neither Deb nor Theresa seemed eager to come over. It is on private property, after all, and I think Deb was hesitant to trespass. Theresa just wasn't in the mood to traipse over through the long grass and weeds. But I insisted, and this is what was inside. 

Right in the middle, on the wall opposite from the door, was this story. 

The silo, it seems, was painted a couple decades ago as part of a public art project. A number of artists and volunteers got together to paint the silo inside and out, and Bruce Vanderwest painstakingly scribed his poetry there for the world to enjoy. 

It was a wonderful discovery that really made the hike interesting. We walked around the outside of the silo too, and read about the artists and the project. I didn't take photos of that, but when you walk by you will want to go take a look for yourself. 

One of the charming things about the Lake Michigan shoreline is the lighthouses. There is one here in Kewaunee that is visible from the road as you hike. 

Here is is on maximum zoom. 

And this is what you see when you stand and look. 

It would be easy to miss the turn onto Hathaway Drive that is necessary to get across the river. Fortunately we had driven it often enough that we knew to walk that way, and we made it back to the grandfather clock shortly after noon. 

We didn't celebrate it at the time, because we didn't realize it, but we had just finished Map 101. 

We said goodbye to our fellow hiker, Deb, who remained with us the whole time. The other woman tried to walk slowly with us, but just couldn't master the pace, and so ended up leaving us behind. 

Theresa and I ended up having a little lunch, then driving back up to pick up our launch vehicle. Along the way we were keeping an eye out for Rick Dorian, a Thru hiker that was walking in the same general area, but we didn't see him. In fact, we kept driving the entire route, all the way back up to the Forestville Segment and didn't spot him. We were disappointed, because we take special joy in "bagging" thru hikers with our Snail patches. 

Location 2: The Connecting Route south of the Forestville Segment between the Forestville trailhead and the intersection of K and Longfellow Road.

3.9 miles of trail covered

Rather than taking both cars north to hike the remaining 3.9 miles of the Connecting Route, we went in one car, and needed to crisscross hike our way through Algoma. This turned out to be not as simple as a walk down main street, no matter what it looks like on the map. 

We started at 1:28 pm, and the temperature had dropped enough that I had my purple neck gaiter back on, and even Theresa was in a long-sleeved garment. 

The start of the hike, from the north end headed south, is simple enough. Follow the tire tracks. 

This leads into Algoma, where the trail takes an uncertain path along a road, on top of what looks like a snowmobile trail. Despite being a connecting route, we found that there were some blazes and arrows to follow through town. 

Right about where this beautiful mural is painted, the trail takes an unexpected bend to the east, and then darts behind a building and goes down onto a pedestrian walkway next to the water's edge. 

The walkway is full of interesting signage.

At the end of the walkway, you come to a beach. Straight ahead is the boardwalk along the beach, where more interesting signage can be found. 

Here is a view of the boardwalk.

After leaving the beach, we had to do a relatively short walk along highway 42. It was a very busy road, but there was ample shoulder that made for relatively safe walking. This rock was very close to the turn onto County Road K, where we had only 0.8 miles of additional roadway to reach the turn onto Longfellow Road marking the end of the hike. 

Location 3: The Connecting Route south of the Kewaunee River Segment between the trailhead on Sunset Road and a spot two tenths of a mile south of Luxemburg Road on Valley Road

2.8 miles of trail covered

Due to the lousy weather forecast for tomorrow our Snail Hike was canceled, so we picked up our second car and started making our way south to the time-share in Mishicot. However, we still had some daylight left and a little energy, so we made our way to the west end of the Kewaunee River Segment and started working our way south. 

We started our first leg at 4:43 pm. 

One thing we were concerned about was lightning, so we kept our stints short and our eyes on the sky. We literally leap-frogged our way south a half-mile at a time if we could, but no more than a mile. 

Even though we were hustling, we still stopped to take note of and enjoy the first spring flowers popping up from the soil.

The winds were picking up and the skies growing black. 

We found a spot to park on Valley Road, about two tenths of a mile south of Luxemburg Road. We had almost reached our waiting car when we started seeing lightning, and our day was finished. We had managed to chop 2.8 miles off of this 20+ mile connecting route, and that was just going to have to be good enough. Tomorrow, if the  weather holds, we'll come straight back up here and keep working our way south. 

It was a wild ride south, bucking around in the car as the wind howled by, but for the most part the rain stayed in our rear-view mirrors. It was black behind us, but we somehow managed to avoid the worst of the storm.

When we got back to the condo Jan Hincapie, Delores Olver and Sheila Meehan Gailloreto, were there waiting for us, happily chatting away with wine glasses in hand, and there was a fabulous chicken casserole dinner on the stove just waiting for us to gobble down. 

We sat down immediately to eat, which wasn't rude because the 'girls' had already eaten, and Jan was busy texting back and forth with Rick Dorian. 

"Where was he today?" we asked. 

"He did the Forestville to Kewaunee Connecting Route."

"He.. What?!? How did we miss him? Did he finish by noon or something?"

I'll make a long story short. It turns out when we were driving down the road looking for him, he was taking his only break of the day, having gotten off the road and closer to the water to enjoy his lunch. At present, Jan said, he was holed up in the hotel in Kewaunee riding out the weather. 

Theresa and I looked at each other. "You want to go?" I don't remember if it was me asking or Theresa we were of one mind on the subject. 

"Duty Calls!!"

Theresa and I jumped back in the van and drove the half-hour back up to Kewaunee to meet up with Rick and give him his Snail patch. 

We stood and talked to Rick for quite some time. He had been concerned about us driving up there, because the weather had been more vicious than we knew. When I looked down at our feet I could see the evidence of the storm. I thought at first it was snow, but when I got a closer look it was hail that blanketing the lawns and filling in the cracks. 

After a good long chat we let Rick get back up to his room for sleep (he's an early riser), and we headed the half-hour south again to the condo. It was a good day all around. We managed to knock off more than ten miles of connecting route, which was a great day for us, and everyone was safe indoors, sheltered from the cold and wet. 

Running Total: 1064.2 miles of trail covered, 155 miles 'extra' hiking/biking. End of Day 158.

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