Day 203: Connecting Route, Marathon County

Day 203: Thursday, June 30th, 2022

Total Miles hiked for the day: 6.1; Net Miles 0.0 

Location: The portion of the Marathon-Portage Connecting Route between Mission Lake and County Road C

6.1 Miles of trail covered

Tonight we were on a mission. A mission to get to Mission Lake. 

When we started the night we had two options. One option was to go down to Westfield again to try and knock off the 11.6 miles remaining on maps 52, 53 and 54, and the other option was to punch holes in the 50 miles of connecting routes that are staring at us from Marathon, Portage and Waupaca Counties. That was it. Two choices. When you start running out of miles remaining, you start running out of options. 

In a nutshell, We just didn't have another run to Westfield in us tonight. It was too far to drive.

So - for the first time since what feels like forever we were hiking again in Marathon County (OK, it's only been 45 days, but in my defense that was 240 miles ago.) 

This was another crisscross night. Drop-walk-cross-stop-reset-lather-rinse-repeat. Theresa dropped me off at the intersection of County Roads C and I, and I took to my heels. 6:00 pm. Cloudy Skies. Warm enough for a T-shirt. Ready, set... WALK!

Oh, man. That white line. It goes on for miles. That aught to be a country song. 

I won't be 'round this old town 
Anymore for a long long time
Gonna hit the road and start looking for the end of that long white line
Gonna hit the road and start looking for the end of that long white line
I woke up, my baby was gone, without her I don't need no home
Gonna hit the road and start looking for the end of that long white line
Gonna hit the road and start looking for the end of that long white line

I saw this mailbox and really liked it. So I did an image search on it. I couldn't find out who created it, which would have been great, but it does appear to have a name. I see it called 'Rainbow Tree of Life' or 'Colorful Tree of Life'. Indeed it is both, and I found it on everything from tapestries to mouse pads, and I'm not even sure that mailboxes are within that spectrum. 

Every time I have visited this rock at the intersection of County I and Pulaski Road it's painted a different color, or has different graffiti on it. 

Nestled in the hills between Mission Lake and Little Lake is the Crossways Waypost Camp. 

Back in 2013 when we started hiking the Ice Age Trail we were just coming off of another 

hobby. Both Theresa and I were square dance callers. Really. Well - I focused more on the square dancing and Theresa focused more on the line dancing, but we did great duets together. Bottom line - we were the people you called when you wanted a party. 

We have been to Crossways Waypost more than once in that capacity, calling dances for teenagers here at camp. They have no air conditioning. Dances were great, but frequently hot. Great times, though, and very nice memories. Tonight it gave me a smile, and then I kept hiking. 

Another great mailbox. 

And in seemingly no time at all, the end was in sight. 

I went back to pick Theresa up on our last leg and found her still smiling, despite the fact that she had just completed a self-imposed 10k fast walk. 

8:30 pm. Mission accomplished. 

Seven hikes remaining. We didn't finish before the end of June, but we did get darned close. 

The tally:

• 0 new Snails today
• Converted 6.1 miles of biking to the 'hiked' category
• 57.2 miles to go. 

Running Total: 1212.6 miles of trail covered (1079.8 hiked), 375.2 miles 'extra' hiking/biking. End of Day 203.

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Day 202: Connecting Route, Marquette County

Day 202: Wednesday, June 29th, 2022

Total Miles hiked for the day: 5.9; Net Miles 0.0 

Location 1: The Connecting Route South of Westfield between the Intersection of Fawn Court and 9th Avenue and the intersection of County J and County M.

5.9 Miles of trail covered

Before you start looking for the route we hiked on the maps, it's not the official recommended route. Nine years ago the recommended route went past Westfield on the east side of I-39, missing the town entirely while traveling on County Road E. The new recommended route now comes south on CH and 6th Court into Westfield, cutting east on 2nd Street and going under the highway on the main access point to town, rather than the quiet Dover Court underpass a couple miles north. 

I can understand why they wanted people to have access to the City of Westfield, where there is some amount of commerce available, but I didn't like coming that way before when there was only one mile on County J. Now the recommended route takes hikers 1.4 miles along J and along the very busy 2nd Street exchange, and that's just crazy. 

So instead of following the old route east of the highway (which would have been fine), or the new route that goes into Westfield on County J, we chose to cross the I-Road on County M and come into town from the south. County M still has a lot of traffic on it, but we think it's a better option than J. 

I traveled the route north to south today, because it was faster getting to the north end of the connecting route. Theresa and I spent the evening as usual, crisscrossing our way south and east. For the first hop, she dropped me off at the place where M become JM to the north, and I went south along M until it went under the highway. That was where I found the car the first time, Theresa having hiked it to the north. Three more hops got us to the end. 

First, I continued forward on Elk Road while it bent south towards Ember Drive. After a brief walk east on Ember, I cut south again on 8th Avenue, then west again on Fawn Court until I reached the spot where we left off three nights ago. 

This relatively short, direct route on the center of map 54 seemed like the best way through, and I stand by that decision even after hiking it. This is all still along the Eastern Bifurcation, and I look forward to the day very soon when we can get up to map 52 and get off the bifurcation entirely. 

As to photos - I'm trying to figure out what happened today. I could have sworn I had taken a bunch of pictures. I know I had my phone with me, because there were three photos when I was done. But what happened to the others? 

Obviously, I was so impressed by the stop sign at Elk and Ember I felt the need to take a photo of that spot. 

One thing I liked about this route is that it wasn't very hilly. There was a bump on M to get over before walking down to cross over Klawitter Creek, then really nothing until I got all the way down to 8th Ave. There was one hill on the north end, then it got just a tiny bit hilly on the south end before the short and enjoyable walk on Fawn Court. 

Here's what a photo would have looked like of 8th Ave, had I actually managed to get one. I stole this off of Google Maps Street View. 

It was a wonderful, quiet road with nothing but the trees and the breeze for company. 

I am really disappointed about Fawn Court because I remember seeing deer on that road, and I thought I got a shot of a doe and her two fawns. Alas, it is not among my saved photos, so it's just one more memory about the trail I'll have to keep only in my head. 

I reached the end, then went back to rescue Theresa and bring her back to the end for a photo. The sun had gotten very low in the sky indeed. This was taken at about 8:30 at night. 

Eight hikes remaining.

The tally:

• 0 new Snails today
• Converted 5.9 miles of biking to the 'hiked' category
• 63.3 miles to go. 

Running Total: 1212.6 miles of trail covered (1073.7 hiked), 369.1 miles 'extra' hiking/biking. End of Day 202.

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Day 201: Connecting Route, Langlade County

Day 201: Monday, June 27th, 2022

Total Miles hiked for the day: 6.2; Net Miles 0.0 

Location 1: The Connecting Route north of the Plover Segment, from the north trailhead to the intersection of Old 26 Road and Springbrook Road 

6.2 Miles of trail covered

It takes some doing to hike six miles after work. Theresa needs to plan where we're going (because I'm at work all day), Theresa needs to plan a walking meal (because I'm at work all day), Theresa needs to make sure the gear is prepped and the car full of gas (because I'm at work all day), and then when the 5:00 whistle blows we need to hit the door running. 

Theresa doesn't like running. She wears her Snail badge with honor. She would much rather walk slowly than have to hurry on down the road. So when we have to walk six miles in three hours or less, this is not her favorite kind of hiking event. On the roads this is possible. She puts her head down and puts on her 'I'm at Walmart and I want to get out of here' look, then marches down the road to try and keep up with me. It's frustrating for her, and I don't get any pleasure out of it, either. I'd much rather we had all day and were able to walk hand-in-hand, and only on days that weren't too hot, and weren't too cold, and weren't too rainy or windy, and where we had a car waiting for us at the other end. 

But with just 75 miles to go and with the crazy amount of walking we've been doing for the last three months (we've hiked 408 miles in the last 90 days, not including today) we're not about to throw on the brakes and take it easy. No - we're just going to go-go-go and get it done-done-done. 

Tonight was a case in point. Theresa dropped me off at the trailhead on the north end of the Plover River Segment and I forgot to even get a photo of me with the sign. It was warm, it was sunny, and it was just another day on the Ice Age Trail. 

The first half-mile along County Rd HH is right on the county line between Langlade and Marathon Counties. For simplicity's sake I made an executive call and counted the miles in Langlade County. Theresa mostly walked on that side of the road, anyway. 

West Bear Lake Road stays quite level for a while, then drops off a bit as it dips towards Carley Road. Then it stays low and level until the turn onto Old 26 Road. 

I spent nearly all my time either walking fast or driving back to pick Theresa up, so I didn't get a lot of photos. It's too bad, because this was actually a pretty nice road to walk, with trees close to the pavement and wildflowers in the ditch. 

I did get this shot of the wildlife, though. 

And as I was walking north on Old 26 Road I found this in the gravel on the shoulder. An authentic Snail on the Trail. Or at least the shell. Apparently the snail had left the building, so to speak. 

The only other shot I took before the end was of these flowering grass stems. I thought at first that these were bottlebrush grass, Elymus hystrix, but the seeds and flowers were in the wrong spot. I'm pretty sure it's a grass, and not a sedge. I'm wondering if this could be big bluestem, Andropogon gerardii, which would be really exciting since it was just growing alongside the road. In any case, it's proof that grasses have flowers, too. 

It would have been nice to have gotten to the other side of Highway 52, where I know there's a nice parking spot right next to the road. Real parking, with lines and everything. But that was another half-mile, and for once I listened when Theresa gave me a firm 'No'. There have been too many times when I pushed for the extra mile, and bit by bit it's been taking a toll on both of us. In order to preserve our sanity, and our aching limbs, it was best that I heeded her guidance. 6.2 miles - I can live with that. 

I took this photo, which would have been fantastic, except that the glass on the phone reflected a tiny sunspot onto Theresa's upper lip like she had a Christmas ornament piercing or something. 

So I had to take another. 

Nine hikes remaining.

The tally:

• 0 new Snails today
• Completed map 39
• Converted 6.2 miles of biking to the 'hiked' category
• 69.2 miles to go. 

Running Total: 1212.6 miles of trail covered (1067.8 hiked), 363.2 miles 'extra' hiking/biking. End of Day 201.

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Day 200: John Muir Park Segment, Connecting Route, Marquette County

Day 200: Sunday, June 26th, 2022

Total Miles hiked for the day: 10.8; Net Miles 0.4 

"How long did it take you to walk that far?" We hear that question a lot. When we tell people we have walked over 1000 miles on the Ice Age Trail, they want to know how long it took. When we tell them we did most of it over the last 15 months they are awed. And yet, when you go back and look at the numbers, it's not all that impressive.

We have been out hiking a total of 188 different days on the trail, including today. Twelve of our 200 days have been biking-only, so I'm not including those for this count. That means we have averaged a little over 5.6 miles of hiking per day. The most impressive part of that is that we've done 147 of those days over the last 15 months. It's the persistence, not the distance, that makes people amazed.  

Location 1: The new portion of the John Muir Park Segment north of the old loop trail. 

0.4 Miles of trail covered

Our furthest point remaining on the trail, made even more remote by where we have been hiking over the last three days, was the John Muir Park Segment. We had hiked this section in its entirety back in 2013, but since that time they shut down two tenths of a mile off of the loop trail and added four tenths of a mile on the north, extending the trail to the road. While we technically wouldn't have had to walk that new 0.4 miles to count towards our thousand-miler status, that would have meant walking 0.5 miles along the road instead, and that just didn't make any sense at all. So we chose instead to do a short crisscross hike, walking the 0.4 miles of new trail and the 0.2 miles of blue spur that got us out there. 

I started from the park, and Theresa drove to the end and hiked south. I decided to grab a few shots at the Kiosk before I got started. 

I started walking at about 12:55 pm. This was the first piece of actual footpath I had walked on since May 22nd in St. Croix Falls, and that was 194 miles ago. My feet were practically singing as I danced down the trail. 

The skies were blue, the clouds were a puffy white, and the earth was green. It was a warm and breezy summer day. What more could an IAT hiker ask for? No wonder John Muir loved these hills. 

All too soon I reached the end, where there was more signage next to the protected ruins of an old farmstead. 

I would have stayed longer, but we had many miles to hike. 

Location 2: The Connecting Route north of the John Muir Park Segment to the intersection of Fawn Court and 9th Avenue 

10.4 Miles of trail covered

After picking up Theresa and getting dropped off again at the parking area with the kiosk and ruins, I started walking north, and quickly encountered this snapping turtle in the middle of the road. 

She wasn't moving, and she was just over a hill, so I did what I could to help her cross the road. Let's just say that with the assistance of a stick and a scare that left me feeling happy to still have all ten fingers I managed to encourage her to leave the pavement. 

Next time I'm going to get a bigger stick. 

I took several photos as I walked. I'll let most of them speak for themselves. 

Standing by this field I was mesmerized by the way the wind was blowing through the grasses. I tried to take a video but couldn't quite capture the moment. 

So I tried taking another video, and this time what I got was something showing just how fast the clouds were moving that day. 

The route was actually quite hilly, though they were relatively low hills, one as high as 40 feet.  

We followed the recommended path north past Gem Avenue, then off of map 56 on 10th Road. But when we got to Gale Avenue we decide to take a different route. 

The official recommended connecting route goes an entirely different way now than it did when we came through in 2013. So instead of turning east at Gale Avenue and trundling off obediently to Montello, which would have added five miles to our trip, we chose instead to take the old route leading to... 

Keeping in mind that Theresa and I were crisscrossing our way along the road in 1- to 2-mile chunks, I keep writing as though this was continuous, which it was not. It's just too tiresome to keep talking about all the stops and starts along the way. 

Instead of turning east at Gale Ave and heading off to Montello, we continued north on 10th Road, turning left at County Hwy D. That's where we saw the sign above. Yet it was still quite a ways from the Fox River, which we still had to cross. 

It was a 70 foot climb on Hwy D, which had a little traffic but not too much, before dropping 100 feet in elevation to the water's edge. 

A gentleman pulled over when he saw me walking this way, and he told me about his current involvement in the land conservation effort for the trail. I wish I remembered more about what he was telling me. Apparently there are long-range plans to add trail in the Page Creek Marsh State Natural Area, or at least that's in the discussion stages. What that would to to the direction of the Connecting Route, I'm not sure. 

He's now a Snail. 

The crossing of the Fox River, wide enough here to also be known as Buffalo Lake, is accomplished by way of a causeway, whose first iteration was built in the 1850s. 

The causeway is wide enough today to allow for parking on both sides of the road, and people take advantage of that, often coming out to go fishing along the edge. 

The old route through Packwaukee headed north and east through town, headed to County Road C, which turns into ZZ and then 9th Ave. We passed this charming fellow on our way through town. You can't really tell from the photo, but this guy stands about 10 feet tall. 

Another turtle, on the way to Lake Emery. 

Apparently the people of Emerald Lake Estates  on Lake Emery are opposed to someone starting an Airbnb there. 

By the time we crossed Hwy 23 we had about two more miles to go to get to our end point for the day. 

We could have saved even more miles by walking out of Packwaukee on Liberty Street and walking the rest of the way to Westfield on County Road M, but that way was really, really busy, so we opted for the safer route. 

We reached the intersection of Fawn Court and 9th Avenue at 6:30 pm, which was the end of our hiking day. Nearly eleven miles was plenty. 

According to Theresa's schedule, we have ten hikes to go. Ten more times to go scurrying off after work or on the weekend to walk a few more miles. Ten more road trips, plus the one at the very end. Ten more days of pounding down the roads, step after step, ignoring the blisters and bugs. Ten more opportunities to meet new people and give away Snail patches. Ten more hikes until the last day - the last hike - the big finish line. Just ten more hikes. 

The tally:

• 1 new Snail today
• Completed the John Muir Park Segment (again)
• Completed maps 55 and 56
• Converted 10.4 miles of biking to the 'hiked' category
• 75.4 miles to go. 

Running Total: 1212.6 miles of trail covered (1061.6 hiked), 357.0 miles 'extra' hiking/biking. End of Day 200.

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