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.
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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