Day 168: Connecting Route, Rock County, Whitewater Lake Segment (Part 1), Walworth County

Day 168: Friday, May 6th, 2022

Total Miles covered for the day: 5.7

Location 1: The western two thirds of the Whitewater Lake Segment from the Clover Valley Road trailhead to Easterly Road.  

2.8 miles of trail covered 

I'm starting to think that the cattle egrets I thought I saw yesterday were actually great egrets. To those who are familiar with both birds this may seem an inconceivable error, and yet I blame the distance, their behavior and the fading sunlight for the mistake. In the open agricultural flatland it is sometimes difficult to judge distance, and distance equates to size when observing physical objects. As to their behavior, I am not accustomed to seeing so many great egrets in one place, nor hanging around picking through an open plowed field together. And yet today I saw what could only have been the much larger great egrets clustered together in much the same way, and so I'm doubting my observations yesterday. 

Today was another day at work, hanging around in the Hincapie Resort, while Theresa went out during the day to put on miles. The plan was to have a fairly relaxing day of it, hiking off the last 2.9 miles of connecting route between Lima Center and the Clover Valley Segment. Theresa was going to hike it during the day, knowing she might have to hike both directions, and I was going to hike it after work. And this plan was going great right up until 4:00 pm when I was walking out the door and my phone rang. It was a call from work, and there was an emergency situation happening on the mainframe.

{sigh}

And so I logged back in and proceeded to spend the next three hours remedying that problem (details unnecessary) so that I could finally get out to do what I was really here to do - walk. It was Friday night, and I was really disappointed that I was getting such a late start. 

So - rather than waste time driving all the way over to Lima Center Theresa took me to the nearest point on the trail that I still needed to hike, which was the very close Whitewater Lake Segment. She had hiked the western two-thirds of it two days ago on Wednesday while I was still in Wausau, and I needed to hike it to catch up to her anyway. So tonight was all about Theresa playing trail angel to my turbo-snail and she dropped me off at the western trailhead about 7:15 pm. The sun was setting and it would be dark soon, but I was making the best of it. 

I started moving. Fast. As fast as I could reasonably go while still calling it a 'walk'. But I refused to completely abandon the idea of enjoying myself, so I did try to see nice things and even snap photos along the way. 

The hike started out with a very short downhill jaunt through open trees to a bench and a bridge crossing of the small Creek. I didn't see any Marsh marigolds, but I saw some skunk cabbage.

After that it was an uphill jaunt again through some fairly open trees, working my way up to the top of a ridge. There was a nice switchback that got me to the top. 

I saw a deer at the very beginning saying, "This way! This way!" as she ran off into the woods.

There's quite a few rocks and roots sticking up on this trail, but it's not too terrible most of the way. It's only really bad when it gets hilly, and then there are stairsteps to help you deal with it. I saw a carpet of wildflowers as I was hiking down the broad trail past the first road crossing at Hi Lo Road. 

After Hi Lo it was a wide open trail, but it started going uphill pretty steeply. When I got to the campground, I was really close to the road but never had to cross it. I saw a turkey dart across the trail just as I was cresting the top of the hill. 

Every time I got to a hilltop, the trail got really rocky with what looked to be ancient coral. This made for somewhat treacherous footing, especially given the roots, the elevation, the haste with which I was traveling and the approaching darkness. Fortunately, there were good blazes nearly all along the way so it was easy to follow the route. There are one or two turns where things get a little confusing, but if you pay even the slightest amount of attention you'll end up going the right direction. If you go the wrong way the blue blazes will clue you in a hurry.

Coming up to Lookout Point, there were two benches at the top of the hill, which were probably benches number four and five so far, as I think back. 

The way to the lookout is made easier due to a long series of steps. 

It was a nice view, but it won't make the cover of the next IAT Guidebook. 

The trail between Hi Lo Road and County Road P has a lot of ups and downs, popping over several small hilltops, and I feel disappointed that I didn't get much time to enjoy it. My only objective was to get done with 2.8 miles of trail before dark, and I had to half-trot if I wanted to make it. 

I heard a lot of birds as I walked, but they all seemed pretty distant. When I got to the stairs on the downhill stretch leading to County Road P I was surprised to find them quite steep, and full of rocks. There were some high steps, and hazardous going. I would rate this at least a three and a half for both elevation and hiking difficulty, though the Guidebook gives it only a 3 for elevation and a 2 for footing. 

There were a few places where there were deep kettles to the right or to the left of the trail. Those would have been fun to enjoy a little more. I also saw an abundance of Gooseberry, which made up quite a bit of the understory as I passed.

I broke out into the open and on the level for a while and I thought I was done with the steps, but I was wrong. It was just a terrace. Then the way went seriously downhill again, with more steps that have functioned as erosion control bars.

Theresa was waiting for me at the County Road P intersection, and I could see her from a ways off making the acquaintance of a nice couple out with their children on a late (late!) afternoon morel mushroom foray. He told me that the morels grew up near the top of the hill in and amongst "the firs". I found that curious on two fronts, because I didn't know morels grew around conifers and up until that point I hadn't seen any firs as I walked. 

Naturally they ended up with Trail patches. 

The sun was getting very low now (it was nearly 8:00 already), so I had to hurry on my way. It was a pretty good hike getting up to the top of the hill, but fairly level once I got up there.

And when I got to the top what I saw was white pines. Soft and furry, yes, but not firs. I kept an eye out for morels as I went but spotted none. Given my haste, I thought it extremely unlikely that today would be the day I spotted my first Morel mushroom in the woods, and I was right. I have since learned that there are 18 different varieties of morel mushroom, and some of them do, indeed, favor the acid soils found beneath conifer trees, and especially white pines. 

Huh.

Esterly Road was not far off, but neither was the darkness. 

I reached the crossing at 8:09 pm, with Theresa patiently waiting for me. The photo below in no way indicates just how dark it was becoming. Credit the auto-adjustment for low light on my camera. 

Location 2: The Connecting Route between the Town of Lima Center and the Clover Valley Segment. 

2.9 miles of trail covered 

So, given that I had just run through 2.8 miles of the Southern Kettle Moraine area, racing darkness and beating it to the finish line, I was feeling like just about anything was possible. I had exactly 2.9 miles of roadway left that would finish off maps 76 and 77, and it was the roadway that Theresa had covered earlier in the day. I have no problem with night-hiking, so Theresa agreed to haul me over to the west end of the Clover Valley Segment and wait for me at the end so I could cover the ground she had walked earlier and catch up to her on the maps. 

At 8:25, with the sun already down, I started walking past the cows and the fields, towards a western sky that was rapidly changing from amber to crimson to dead black. 

The walk is basically level. There is only one place where it would have been possible to take a wrong turn, at the fork where Sturtevent Road splits off from Pioneer, but other than that it's just heads-down, keep the feet moving. I was wearing my safety vest, or course, but as it turned out not one single vehicle passed me in either direction while I walked those three miles. Even crossing Highway 59 ended up being uneventful. I could see plenty of cars whizzing left and right as I approached the intersection, but when I arrived there were no headlights to be seen. 

During the last three tenths of a mile headed north into town I was guided only by the distant faint glow of the Town Hall outside light, where Theresa sat patiently waiting for me to finally feel like I was done for the night. 

So in the end I did manage to walk the planned 2.9 miles of roadway to finish off maps 76 and 77, and if it hadn't been for the three-hour delay I doubt I would have hiked the additional 2.8 miles of the Whitewater Lake Segment. On the other hand, tomorrow is another Snail Hike, so staying out this late makes it just that much harder to get ready in the morning. 

It's a tough choice to make. We are ever pressed to use every opportunity to cover miles, because leaving behind any small piece of trail or roadway means a return visit with more time and money invested, and yet the physical toll of always testing and stretching our endurance and limits is a high price to pay indeed. 

There are now only three and a third segments left in our quest, plus a few road miles. Well - for Quest 1, really. 15.7 miles of trail and another 65 miles of road-walking and we will have connected the dots from one terminus to the other. Then there will be the little matter of going back and walking all those miles we biked in our early pursuit of discovering Wisconsin one Rustic Rural Road at a time. 

Tomorrow is another day. Another Snail hike, another Segment to put behind us. Tomorrow is coming very quickly. 

Running Total: 1123.4 miles of trail covered, 156.1 miles 'extra' hiking/biking. End of Day 168.

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