Day 213: End of the Trail, Door County
Day 213: Saturday, September 24th, 2022
Total Miles hiked for the day: 1.7
Location: The final 1.7 miles of the Sturgeon Bay Segment, ending at the Eastern Terminus
It is not the trail we conquer. It is ourselves.
This is a close representation of the famous quote by Sir Edmund Hillary, an adventurist and renowned mountaineer. For him, it was the mountains. For us it was the IAT. For both of us the greatest challenge was in convincing ourselves that our goals were both possible and worthwhile, and then taking that first step, and the next, until that final step has been achieved.
I have spent no small amount of time in life asking myself who I am. But every time I came up with a label, instead of bringing me closer to an answer it seemed to place a tiny box around some part of me, as though that part was forever tagged and bound, done and dusted, unable to reach beyond itself. No label - no group of labels - has ever been sufficient to describe the whole. I am husband and father, I am sibling and child, I am leader and follower, I am butcher and baker and candlestick maker, I am teacher and student, scholar and novice, artist and poet and a hundred more both good and evil.
What I learned on the Ice Age Trail was that no matter how well I defined and described myself as an individual, the most important thing I am is a tiny, little part of something much, much greater than myself. There is nothing natural that I see on this trail that has not been here for thousands of years, and will not be here ten thousand years from now so long as we don't manage to destroy it first.
This natural world which the Ice Age Trail allowed me to glimpse is one, gigantic, glorious interdependent whole, filled with life and stories of its own to tell, if we would only stop to listen. And I am but a passing thing, tolerated but shunned. I am and will forever be an outsider in this natural world because I have long ago joined the ranks of those who will shelter ourselves from nature rather than immerse ourselves in it. And yet I feel it calling to me. I thrive in the forests and fields. Some intangible part of what lives inside me feels the warmth of the sun on my face, feels the earth beneath my footsteps, drinks in the beauty that surrounds me and reaches outward with a sense of belonging whenever I am away from all things artificial. If I am a fleeting presence on this earth then nature is hospice for my withered and sheltered soul. Sometimes when I am walking, I get the feeling that if I were to step off the trail and drift into the woods for a while, it would be a very, very good thing.
How curious then, that I take such joy in crossing paths with like-minded people out walking the trail. Maybe its because there is an instant bond of mutual acceptance, an understanding of the rightness of being here, even if our reasons and goals are not the same. Hiking, as they say, is not for everyone. The wilderness is called such because there are very few people there.
We are the hikers - the people who will leave behind all but a few essentials and take to the forests on foot, to go places and see things that cannot be found in any other fashion. We will touch the earth and wonder at the things that grow there. We will embrace the trees and immerse ourselves in cool, free-flowing waters. We will stand at the edge of a cliff and allow our spirits to float with the birds who are soaring not above us, but below, for we at those moments are closer to the clouds than they are.
It is at those times that we become more childlike, doing something that will make us sweaty and dirty, then sitting on a rock with our smiling faces pointed at the sun, setting aside all other worries and considerations for at least that one, short moment.
We have met many such like-minded people along the way as we've been hiking the Ice Age Trail. Some of them arrived today to help us celebrate our completion of the trail. Some of them, I'm told, have been inspired by our story - Theresa's story, really - and are seeking out their own adventures on the Ice Age Trail because she was the one who told them it was OK to be exhausted. It was OK to be in pain. It was OK to feel like this was NOT the most wonderful thing in the world, all the time. And it was OK to reject the notion that if you couldn't dance across a beaver dam or race up a hill you weren't good enough.
We were humbled today at how many people showed up to walk with us. Thank you.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
The Hike:
We met as planned at the parking lot near the Shelter House that we rented for the day. The weather forecast was a little marginal. The high temperature today was only going to be in the upper 50's, and it was a little bit windy. The big unknown was rainfall. Would it rain on our hike? It was hard to know. We had a little rain overnight, a couple hours before dawn, but by 11:00 when people started arriving the early damp chill from the morning had pretty much vanished.
What didn't go as originally planned was that Theresa wasn't there at the start. In fact, I wasn't going to be there at the start either. In fact, the original plan was that we would meet at the Daisy Campground and shuttle cars down to the much larger parking area near the shelter but that all became a logistical nightmare. So at the last minute we decided that I would go down to the parking area and Theresa would stay near the campground and direct anyone who wanted the longer hike (2.7 miles rather than 1.7 miles) to meet me down at Parking Lot 2.
We also decided that at 11:30, Theresa was going to go ahead and start walking, and the other hikers and I were going to play one final game of Catch the Snail. After all, we were not at all sure if we were going to get rained on or not. The forecast said there was a fifty percent chance of light rain. Another meteorological coin toss.
Some people stayed with Theresa, content to walk only the shorter distance, mostly because they wanted the pleasure of hiking with her. I can't fault anyone for that - I feel the same pleasure. On my end of the hike I explained to everyone that Theresa wasn't there, but instead was starting a little ways up the trail. I told them that if they wanted their patch, they were going to have to catch up to her, and I assured them this wouldn't be a race they would lose.
At 11:31 am, we all hit the trail.
Coming around Hills Point, we left the lake edge and started up the hill for the first time. We encountered a large group of hikers just out having a ball and taking the hill as a photo op.
That short piece of trail goes up one hill and back down another one, avoiding what would otherwise be a tough piece of shoreline to walk along. Eventually, though, the trail went right back to the water's edge.
Ahead of us, Theresa was busy meeting people and making friends.
We got this image sent to us by some people who weren't able to attend the hike, but were waiting to join us at the after-party.
Meanwhile, my hiking companions and I kept making our way along the shore.
And just after taking the turn west away from the lake and heading up the bluff, we caught sight of the elusive Mrs. Snail. At the insistence of my fellow hikers, I was encouraged to hurry up and catch up to her so that we could walk together.
Of course, it wasn't long before the whole group had caught up, including one person who we didn't think would get there. Billie Burdick had raced in straight from traveling and gone to the end, hiking it backwards until she met up with us.
Notice the snail shirt Theresa is wearing. I had something similar on as an outer layer, though in a different color.
Despite all the people and all the cameras, there was a gap in photography as we made our way the final quarter of a mile or so across North Norwood Road and to the finish line. What follows is a collection of some of the many photos that were taken of us as we finished.
From our perspective, what we saw was a crowd of people with cameras, cheering and smiling as we broke through the tree line and the finishing tape.
This is Theresa receiving her bunting flag cape.
But someone was soon to remind us that we weren't quite done. There was still the little matter of the walk to the rock. Of all our pictures of the ice Age Trail, this is one of my favorites.
As we lay our hands upon this stone, let it be said that the thing was done, that it was done completely, and that it was done well. Let it also be said that in sharing this moment with others, our joy is not divided, but is multiplied. We may have encouraged and inspired some of you, but it was your encouragement and support that inspired us and helped us to the finish line.
Those were words I wish I had spoken at the time. I felt a deep sense of gratitude, knowing that all these people had driven to this remote spot on a hill in eastern Wisconsin just to cheer us on as we made our way to that stone.
Words were shared. Theresa shared some of her thoughts, and I, mine. I remember mentioning one or two of my road hiking thoughts. But in the end I pointed over to the trailhead sign, to indicate where I wanted to take the group photo.
Some folks got great pictures of the two of us.
And it wouldn't have felt right unless I got at least one selfie.
We got the tallest guy in the crowd to stand up on a boulder in the parking area to take the group photo. I still had to practically do the splits to keep from blocking the people behind me. Normally I'm not the guy they put in the front for photos.
There was only one thing remaining to be done before making our way down to the party. A long time ago I made a decision that when I finished the trail I was going to say goodbye to my walking stave that I have been traveling with for something like 1000 miles, nearly the entire trail. I didn't always use it on the roads, but on the trails I found it to be invaluable.
The hand grip area was worn smooth. It had just the perfect curve to it to make it easy to grip while going uphill, then change the grip to a different spot while going downhill. It was strong enough to support my weight as I leapt across small streams or balanced on the slippery edge of a puddle I was making my way across. I used it to flick countless thousands of branches off the trail in front of me, and to hold back the branches of the many trees that encroached the trail as I walked.
When I start hiking again, whether I'm on the IAT or on some other trail, I'll have to find a new friend to carry me along. This one belongs to the Ice Age Trail, and I am done with that for now. Like so many other walking sticks I have seen left behind at trailheads, I left my friend here, leaning against the sign. It is of this trail, and I felt like it needed to stay there. I hope whoever picked it up could feel all that good energy and would put it to good use. I left it here on this sign, and I never saw it again.
I give all credit for the success of today's party to Theresa. All of it. Theresa planned the event. Theresa got the word out and invited everyone. Theresa bought the party supplies. Theresa reserved the shelter house. Theresa arranged for the food delivery. Theresa bought door prizes and organized the bucket raffle. Theresa organized the matching funds donation drive. Theresa created the decorations. All I did was nod, give her encouragement, and show up at the end with tape and a staple gun.
Well - I laid the fire, too.
Seriously, though. If it had been up to me, we would have had a few people join us for pizza somewhere. This was much better.
It never really did rain this afternoon. A few drops fell from the sky at some point, but it wasn't even enough to wet the pavement. I know it rained both north and south of us. We just lucked out.
From the parking lot, we put up a string of yellow blazes for people to follow to the party. It was a small touch, not seen by everyone, but it was cute. This was the one thing I can truly say was my idea, but I could only carry it off because Theresa had already created yellow blaze bunting and had it with us.
Inside, the first order of business was food. While Theresa made sure everything was organized at the food tables, I had someone light the fire I left waiting in the grate. Then I took care of putting out the door prize raffle items the way Theresa had planned them.
Everyone sat down at the covered tables, each with their very own snail decorations.
We filled a lot of tables with people.
Theresa came up with the idea to hang some signs up as decorations. On one side it had a snail crawling up a graph showing our slow hiking progress before getting serious about finishing. It said, "In 2013 we set out to hike the Ice Age Trail". On the other side was our mascot 'Snottie', with the words, "Snailed it!"
I somehow completely missed the fact that this sign was at the finish line with us. I didn't see it until the party, and noticed it at the end of the trail only after seeing the photos.
Once the food was taken care of, our next order of business was to hand out door prize tickets and tell everyone how the giveaways would work. On the tables were buckets, each one identifying one of the many door prizes we were giving away. We had eight different IAT T-shirts, several coffee mugs, an IAT Necklace, window decals, hiking stick medallions, trail books, hats, a stuffed Monty Mammoth, a trail map suitable for framing - I don't even know what else.
Everyone was given five tickets and told to put each of their tickets in the bucket for an item they wanted to win - one ticket in each of five buckets, or all five tickets in one bucket. Any way they wanted to do it.
We also gave people a way to get extra tickets. In a particularly brilliant moment, Theresa came up with the idea for a matching funds donation to the IAT. We put out information about each of the chapters and told people that if they wanted to donate money to one of the chapters we would double their donation with matching funds. As further incentive, we told them that for every five dollars they donated, we would give them an extra door prize ticket to distribute.
This worked out exceptionally well. We were giving out the door prizes anyway, so that didn't cost us anything. We were planning to donate money to some of the chapters, so this was a way for us to effectively double our donation by getting other people to kick in a little something. In the end, over $1200 was donated to the trail with what others donated plus our matching funds. Win-Win-Win.
The giveaways continued until all the items were gone.
And then they turned the tables on us and started giving us gifts, which we did not expect at all.
For services rendered to a boy scout troop in connection with their Hiking Merit Badge, Theresa received a pink t-shirt identifying her as a 'hiker chick'.
We also got a beautiful metal-framed piece of art that shows the outline of Wisconsin and the path of the IAT. This now adorns Theresa's office wall.
We also received a very nice gift basket full of cheese and sausage from The Nana's and the Papa's, and the next day we got a charcuterie board to go with it from Delores Olver (the Original Snail on the Trail).
Finally, we opened a really, really heavy box. Inside we found...
Drumroll please...
A snail planter for the garden!
May I introduce to you... Montgomery Snott. We love this guy.
When the gifting was over, the party had pretty well ended. There was still wood for the fireplace, but folks were anxious to get to their long drives home, or their campsite, or maybe even some late afternoon hiking. It's what we would have done if we dragged ourselves all the way over here and had hiking to do. Once we said our good-byes, only the clean-up remained.
A late-arriving well wisher earning her Snail patch.
Our 'completion' date for our IAT Thousand-Miler status is recorded as September 24th, 2022. Regardless of when we may have hiked our last few feet of trail, we didn't really feel like we were a part of that club until today, when those who have gone before us, and those who will follow in our footsteps, were there to welcome and congratulate.
The group photo was taken just before we had people dig into the food, but it's only appropriate that this is the last picture. This is how we will remember our 'final' hike on the IAT. It's all that two old snails could have hoped for!
FINAL
Running Total: 1138.2 hiked on the Ice Age Trail, plus 71.5 miles 'Extra' hiking and 365.7 miles shuttle biking to make it all happen, taking up 213 days over the course of a little more than nine years. Someday we may go back and hike the rest of the western bifurcation, which will add another 72.8 miles to our totals. For now, though, this is...
The End
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