Day 170: Stony Ridge Segment, Waukesha and Jefferson Counties, Connecting Route, Rock County
Day 170: Sunday, May 8th, 2022
Total Miles covered for the day: 12.0
Location 1: The Stony Ridge Segment
3.1 miles of trail covered
Waaayyy over on Map 80 in Waukesha County we had one last bit of hiking to do on the Stony Ridge Segment. It was on our hit list for walking during the winter season, when the rocks would be frozen into the ground. We wanted to hike all of the Northern and Southern Kettle Moraine segments during the winter but we couldn't pull it off. That left some bits and pieces, of which Stony Ridge was one. The other, the Whitewater Lake Segment, we completed yesterday.
That meant that once we were done hiking today we will have completed the hardest part of what we had left on the trail since completing the Devil's Lake area in December, and strung together an impressive line of maps along the east edge of Wisconsin that we will not need to revisit on our road hiking, from map 76 through 88.
The Kettle Moraine region is renowned for its beauty. The wild hills, the rich flora and fauna, the remote feel - all give it a well-earned mystique and sense of romance. It is one of the more challenging stretches of the Ice Age Trail, but not the hardest and oddly, not the most remote, either. It also boasts some of the oldest segments on the trail, and as such gives evidence to just how much we've learned about trail stewardship over the last 50 years.
When these trails were laid, they sometimes went straight up one hill and down the other side, giving little to no forethought to the long-term impact of physical and water erosion. Fifty years of increasing popularity have worn the trail badly, making summertime travel more dangerous than winter hiking, provided of course that one has the proper footgear.
I'm happy to report that Stony Ridge is not one of the worst in that regard. In fact, it's one of the nicest Segments in the Kettle Moraine string. Or maybe I'm just feeling proactively nostalgic, given that it was our last segment out here.
We met at the west end of the segment at the large parking area on County Road Z, and had a pretty good crowd show up for today's hike. By 9:30 am we had gathered a smiling and enthusiastic group, all looking forward to a little walk in the woods.
The photo op was in front of the Blue Spring Lake Segment sign, which offended someone's sensibilities and he covered a portion of that name during the photo shoot.
Someone decided I needed to be in the shot, so they stuck me in front and didn't bother to tell me I was blocking the gal right behind me. A few close-ups are always in order.
Unlike our usual hikes, Theresa and I were hiking the whole segment. Even more strange we were doing it in one lump, all 3.1 miles from end to end. This meant that we could all just pile in the cars and head to the other end of the Segment to start walking.
We told people we would meet at the parking lot just north of the trailhead, which is about three tenths of a mile 'extra' onto the Eagle Segment. We were the last car to leave, so we were a little surprised that there weren't more cars waiting for us when we got there. Nevertheless, we headed down the gravel walkway by about 10:00 am. We had five hiking companions today, three people and two dogs.
This charming pond is actually right next to that driveway.
At Hwy 59 where the two segments meet we met this couple who were looking for snail patches. They had enthusiastic plans for the day so they rapidly got ahead of us and we didn't see them again.
There wasn't anything resembling a 'Trailhead' sign on Hwy 59, so we did the best we could and touched a blaze. That was at 10:15 and we were on our way.
It wasn't long before we had crossed Antique Lane and then came to CTH S, and it was there that we found the trailhead sign, and the rest of the cars from our morning group. Apparently most of them had started from here, and that made perfect sense. There seems to be some ambiguity about the name of the segment. The signage all says "Stoney Ridge", but all other references I could find dropped the 'e', making it "Stony Ridge".
Just for appearances, we took a photo here with the group.
Despite its name, the Stoney/Stony Ridge Segment had very few ridges and even fewer stones. The path was mostly level and was well cleared of any offending people-trippers.
This section was interesting, because it was clear that the trees had been limbed and their branches turned to mulch chips and distributed in a blanket across the ground.
It was an amicable group, and we spent a lot of the hike chattering away.
For some reason today, interesting trees captured my imagination and my camera lens.
I'm not positive how to explain this section. If there had been a clear-cut, then someone was thorough about stump removal. It seemed more like an area that simply wasn't going to support large trees.
There is a one-mile loop trail called the Stony Ridge Nature Trail which intersects with and runs along the Ice Age Trail for a brief time. They claim to have a pond full of turtles on that loop, and I don't doubt that for a minute. You can also use this loop to visit the Ranger Station located just off of Hwy 59.
For the most part there is little by way of elevation changes, but there is one spot where the trail goes up and over the stony ridge that is the namesake of this Segment.
This is also the site of one of the most charming Shelters I saw anywhere through the Kettle Moraine Units, north or south. One must simply hike up a side trail to reach the top of the ridge, and then one is greeted with a delightful shelter overlooking the landscape on the other side of a split rail fence.
There is a picnic table, a fire ring, a vault toilet...
... and someone even left behind a tarp to protect the hikers who happen by and use the shelter for sleeping. If there is any one spot I want to return to on this trail to do an overnight camping trip, this is it.
After leaving the ridge, the trail goes back out into the open and stays that way for nearly the whole rest of the walk.
This was the view looking back up the ridge.
Eventually, the trail crosses a small, free-flowing creek of what looked like very clean water. As far as I could tell the creek has no name, possibly because it is at least in part man-made. The entire region is crisscrossed with dredged creeks, dug at some point in the past to reclaim what must have been soupy, unusable marshland and turn it into arable fields.
The loss of the wetland must have been devastating to the migratory wildlife that used the area for thousands of years. What is left behind is something more suitable for human use, but it is only in recent decades that we are beginning to understand the long-term cost of this type of land reclamation.
The rest of the hike continued on the dead-level across fields, along the edge of woods, and through a couple of right-angle turns. By the time we reached County Road Z, the end of our hike, we had walked off the edge of Waukesha County and stepped onto the easternmost part of Jefferson County. I thought back on day 154 that by hiking the Blue Spring Lake Segment we would have hiked the entirety of Jefferson County, but no. The first (or last) 400 feet of the Stony Ridge Segment is in Jefferson County. So by completing this last Segment out here today we finished not only the segment, the map (80), and Waukesha County, but Jefferson County to boot.
And - as the final bonus - we were finally done with what we perceived as the most daunting part of the whole trail - the Kettle Moraine region. The smiles on our faces were authentic. There was a genuine sense of achievement, having committed a huge amount of effort to getting it done over the last few months. We didn't finish in winter, but we finished, and it felt good.
We said good-bye to our hiking companions and walked into the parking lot where our car was waiting for us. We also ran into this very nice couple who were out making use of the trail.
Just north of the parking lot there is a curious fallen tree that looks like some sort of wild creature. Theresa says horse. I say dragon. If it had been closer to the lake it definitely would have been a sea serpent.
We found the Stony Ridge Segment to be very pleasant overall, and a great way to end our Kettle Moraine experience. And we'll probably be back to enjoy that shelter house someday. So here we were again, with time on our hands. It was only 12:46 pm and the weather was perfect for hiking. We weren't close to anything we still needed to hike, but we sure weren't going to waste the opportunity given that we were all the way down in the southern part of the state for another day. I took Monday off as a vacation day, after all, so we had time to kill.
Location 2: The Connecting Route between the Albany Segment and the Arbor Ridge Segment, between the intersection of Hill Drive and County M in Evansville and the intersection of Eagle Road and Wheeler Road.
8.9 miles of trail covered
Yesterday, after our snail hike, we came chasing down to Rock County to knock off some of that lengthy connecting route between Albany and Janesville. 8.9 miles of it, in fact. Today we decided to come right back down here again and just keep working our way west, starting where we left off, at the intersection of Wheeler and Eagle Roads. Once again we decided to use the crisscross method, which is most efficient when working with one car and two people.
Theresa dropped me off at the starting line and I started walking north. It was 3:15 pm and the temperature was in the upper 40s. Just perfect for a fast-paced road hike.
The first leg took us to Gibbs Lake Road, a mere 1.7 miles to the north and west. There are some elevation changes on the road, but they aren't severe, and to tell the truth we are both so used to the walking that the hills don't even bother us anymore.
The skies were gray, but there wasn't much wind, so we just kept walking. Today was all about the miles, and not the scenery.
I know it's just early May, but I still feel like the leaves are taking a very long time to come out.
But even if the leaves and flowers aren't as prevalent as I would have expected, another sure sign of spring is the Sandhill Cranes, and they were making their appearance right on schedule, cool weather be damned.
Gibbs Lake is a lovely open body of water with public access right there at the park. It is a total of 73 acres in size and reaches a maximum depth of 23 feet. There are abundant panfish, and anglers can also expect the occasional largemouth bass or northern pike. I'm told that in the park there are hiking and skiing trails open dawn to dusk, and amenities include bathrooms, water, and trash barrels.
None of which was on our agenda for today, but it made for a convenient parking spot anyway.
Next was a long, straight walk along West Gibbs Lake Road, and I walked past this big, handsome bovine. Kidding aside, whoever carved this was quite skilled with a chainsaw, and also knew cows very, very well.
I got a smile when I saw this sign.
And a little later on I got an up close and personal introduction to this little lady.
Knowing that cows statistically are among the most deadly animals in Wisconsin doesn't make them any less adorable to look at. And who doesn't let out an occasional mooooo when they're walking by?
As regards this farm we walked by, pictured below, there is nothing about this that doesn't belong on the cover of Rural Wisconsin magazine, right down to the missing blade on the windmill.
The sun kept creeping lower, and we kept working our way west. Two and a half miles here, one and a half miles there, and then along the long, flat curve of County Road M. We didn't have much traffic, which was good, but whenever a vehicle came by there was a broad gravel shoulder to step out onto.
At about quarter past seven I reached the edge of town, which would be our stopping point for the day. It was getting quite dark because of the overcast conditions, and the wind was up, so I had my hood up and my safety vest on. For the last time today I climbed into the car to go back and wait for Theresa to finish her leg.
Even with all the hard walking we try to take time to enjoy the sights along the way. Occasionally I am awed by just the setting of the sun. Today was just such a day.
It's hard to believe that we have only two Segments remaining. After that, everything is road walking and revisiting Segments that we were able to bike in the past, like Gandy Dancer.
It's almost as if staring at that sunset we could see the approach of the end of our walking on the Ice Age Trail.
Running Total: 1146.1 miles of trail covered, 156.6 miles 'extra' hiking/biking. End of Day 170.
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