Brock & Theresa's Ice Age Trail Journey

Day 196: Connecting Route, Columbia County, Connecting Route (x2), Marquette County

Day 196: Sunday, June 19th, 2022

Total Miles hiked for the day: 6.4; Net Miles 0.2

Location 1: The Connecting Route north of the the old Marquette Trail Segment to the Columbia/Marquette county line

3.4 Miles of trail covered

We've been ping-ponging around the state for the last several days (not to mention the last year). The only reason this makes sense is that the cost of driving within 90 miles from home is less than the cost of overnight accommodations.

It's not that we're not capable of van-camping. We are. We've done it often on our journey. But we've reached a stage where that aspect of the hiking is more stressful, because it requires us to carry a lot more gear and spend more money on restaurants, and frankly it's too hot at night to sleep comfortably in a van in June.

Today's target was map 57. After finishing maps 18 and 19 yesterday, we now had gaps spread between maps 37 (south of the bend in Langlade County) and 57. The northern stretch of the IAT was done, the southern bend was done, the eastern stretch was done, and all that was left for us were the roads leading through the central part of the state. These were the closest to home, and I can't help but think that people would find it odd that all 100+ miles of hiking we had left to do were on the parts of the road closest to home.

Given that we had duly hiked the Marquette Trail Segment back in 2013, we felt it utterly unnecessary to hike the 'new' connecting route all the way down to where it T-Bones into the Portage Canal Segment. Instead, we went right back to where the Marquette Trail segment used to end at the end of Lock Road. There's even a Parking area noted on the Atlas map, and there's still a portable loo there as well, for the local fishermen, I guess.

There wasn't any sign that the Ice Age Trail used to be there, but there was still a well-used footpath leading down the Fox River. Lacking any signs to touch, we just hovered near the riverbank and snapped a selfie. It was 12:39, and the temperature was already 76 degrees. Another June day that would jump up into the mid-80's.

Theresa and I have gotten into a cadence that works well for us. When we don't have two cars we do crisscross hiking. She drops me off at one end, drives down the road to find a place to park, walks past me the other way, and when I get to the car I drive back to the start to pick her up. Often I will walk down the road to meet her, just to turn around and walk with her whatever short distance she has left to go. I don't count those as 'extra miles' because it's walking I do for pleasure, not to facilitate the hike.

Today was the same. She dropped me off and we started working our way north.

Lock Road is pretty steep, heading uphill from the river, but once out on Fox River Road there are fewer hills to contend with. I mean - there is one. The area is riddled with huge conical hills, and there is still one to go past north of Lock Road, but the road mostly skirts around the edge. After reaching the parking area near French Creek, though, it's flat as a swamp all the way to the county line.

Creative repurposing of an old door. Useful, too, I suppose. I wonder if this was at Erik's house or Alison's?

The hike offers several shaded views of the Fox River, one of the few rivers in the state that flows north.

Not only was it hot today, it was also buggy. Theresa had been hiking without, but I was using my bug net to keep the deer flies off. She told me I looked silly.

Fine. I can accept that.

I loved this view of the river.

Shortly thereafter the road intersects with County Road F, literally at the county line.

This was the end of Columbia County for us, and we turned our gaze northwards to Marquette County, the next on our list.

Location 2: The Connecting Route north of the Columbia/Marquette county line to the Intersection of 12th Avenue and Rainbow Road

2.5 Miles of trail covered

When we hiked the John Muir Park Segment in 2013 we had a little extra time, so we hiked a portion of the road on County F, County O, and 12th Ave down to Rainbow Road, so rainbow Road was as far as we needed to walk to close this gap. It was a mere 2.5 miles, and this was all starting to feel pretty easy-peasy, as long as I ignored the physical pain, searing heat and bugs.

I shouldn't harp on that so much. Yes, there was discomfort, but I was also doing this because I loved being outdoors and I wanted my thousand-miler patch. So there was an up side.

When I saw this photo I couldn't recall why I took it, until I looked a little closer and saw that the tree - a venerable old Oak - had apparently swallowed a bicycle.

I hope the rider got away.

We encountered a few more low hills once we got to Grouse Lane, the first being a climb of about 40 feet in elevation. There were one or two more, but nothing too strenuous.

We passed this bakery, but alas it was closed. We missed it the last time we came through, too. Bummer.

Location 3: The Connecting Route north of the Columbia/Marquette county line from the parking area on County Road F to the John Muir Park parking area.

0.5 Miles of trail covered

With the path to Rainbow Road behind us, we had one more silly little bit of road we had to cover to complete this connecting route. There is a parking area along County Road F that isn't on the map, but it was where we had parked to ride our bikes north way back in the day when the John Muir Park Segment was a loop. Now that the loop has been turned into a trail with a three-tenths of a mile extension to the north, that cut off a bit of road for us, but it also meant we needed to come back and hike the trail, too.