Day 167: Connecting Route, Rock County

Day 167: Thursday, May 5th, 2022

Total Miles covered for the day: 6.5

Location: The Connecting Route between the Storrs Lake Segment and the Town of Lima Center. 
6.5 miles of trail covered 

Here we are, once again luxuriating in the cozy confines of a cottage on the south shore of Whitewater Lake, courtesy of our new friend Jan Hincapie. She has been more than generous in offering us a place to stay while we were hiking in this part of the state. Besides being an enormous cost savings, it also affords us the freedom to come and go as we please and not disturb anyone. 

Because Jan wasn't going to be staying in the cabin at all while we were here, we were able to come and set up shop long before we would have done otherwise in a hotel. That meant that here, on a Thursday night, I was able to leave work and head straight to a close-by piece of trail that I hadn't hiked yet. 

Quick rewind - this is our first hike in eleven days. That's something that hasn't happened since the end of February. Our April tallied up to just over 100 miles in 24 days, after a similarly busy but not quite so impressive 58.5 miles in March. Conclusion? We were pooped. So last weekend we actually chose to not go hiking. I know, right? Crazy. 

Anyway, we figured out that if we came down a couple of days early to Whitewater (our farthest drive from home), I could work during the day while Theresa went out and hiked off connecting route. Then in the evening, when she was worn out and I was jumping out of my chair looking to stretch my legs, I could go hike the part that she hiked. 

Which is exactly what we did. Theresa was able to hike off more than five miles earlier in the day and didn't have to double back on any of it. She would have, and had planned to, but she ran into people along the way who were delighted both to get their Snail patches and to give her a ride when she needed it. After getting help from two such groups, I had my work cut out for me. 

I dropped Theresa off at the town of Lima Center. There is a small parking area at the Town Hall that makes for a convenient stopping place, and she started walking west towards the parking lot on Willow Road where she had stopped earlier in the day. Meanwhile I drove to that parking lot and also started walking west, covering the ground she had already hiked. We didn't get to cross paths, but it worked out well.

I got started at 5:51 pm. 

I won't bore you with many details, but here are a few pictures I took along the way. 

The roads are level and mostly boring. But at least I was getting some full sun in the face to ward off the tiny bit of chill in the air. 

Eleven days of spring has brought many new flowers to the side of the road. 

Eleven days also brought out some new birds that I haven't seen in a while. While hiking north on KK I spotted some cattle egrets, a catbird and a couple of purple martins performing death-defying aerial stunts that would daze a Blue Angel. 

I also walked past a nesting Goose on the west side of the road. She wasn't in any mood to have me linger, and I'm just glad to have gotten past her without meeting the cob. 

In the meantime, Theresa had finished her short walk and was coming with the car to check on me. She passed me while I was walking on KK. I was moving fast, so I was able to give her the extra shirt layers I was no longer wearing and give her all the water. I was packing light and turning on the after-burners. She went a little further up the road and waited for me. 

We had seldom used this hiking method before, and it's highly efficient. One person walks as fast as they want or are able and the other just tags along with the car and plays support vehicle. We had done it often while bicycling on dangerous roads, and it was really handy to have that support while walking, too. 

The road isn't completely flat, or completely straight. It just feels that way. After crossing Otter Creek and turning south on Bowers Lake road I spotted this sign, which gets a lot of Facebook time. 

I like seeing cranes. 

With Theresa driving support and me having a good eleven-day rest, I was able to reach Storrs Lake by 7:15 pm. 

This was somewhat earlier that predicted, so rather than take this as an ending point, I had Theresa take me back up to the parking lot on Willow Road where I started, and I headed in the opposite direction, hiking into Lima Center. 

And I ended at the same railroad crossing sign that she had. 

Tomorrow would be another similar day. I need to work, but Theresa has the freedom to go out and hike at a much saner pace. Then at 5:00 when the whistle blows I'll be off like a shot again, covering as many miles as I can. 

Running Total: 1117.2 miles of trail covered, 156.1 miles 'extra' hiking/biking. End of Day 167.

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