Originally printed June 16, 2016
Is this a good idea?
That was what was running through my head Sunday evening, the night before my hike on the Loew Lake Segment of the Ice Age Trail. My left foot had gone out from under me while hiking the previous Friday, causing me to involuntarily plant my right leg hard to keep from falling, and that leg was barking pretty loudly, particularly the muscles of my inner right thigh. Sometimes, such aches and pains go away with a slow, steady warmup. Sometimes, such aches and pains are my body’s way of warning me to stay home. Into which category did this pain fall? I decided to chance that it was the former. After hedging my bets by applying some Kinesiology tape to the affected area, I set off with Jane on Monday morning for Washington County.
By the time we reached the starting point at the junction of County Line Road and Washington County Highway K, I was feeling pretty good. The weather conditions were excellent: 65 degrees, sunny, and calm. After saying goodbye to Jane, I set off. The first segment of trail was a bit longer than a mile, and it featured a potpourri of beautiful scenery. I began with a walk through a section of pine forest. After the high heat of the previous hike, I really appreciated walking through cool shade, breathing in the pine scent and loving the cushion of pine needles beneath my feet. After about a half mile, the trail brushed along the Oconomowoc River. I found this section of river much less developed than further south. Here the river was pretty wide and ran very slowly. My side of it was mostly deep woods. Across the river from me was a lot of marsh land with reeds and cattails. It appeared to be an ideal place to fish, and part of me wished for my fishing rod and some waders. After a while, the trail bent west, away from the river. I passed by a natural spring and then hiked through a hedgerow, where I rounded a bend and flushed a couple of wild turkeys. Eventually, the hedgerow no longer was a canopy covering me. It was now on my right. On my left was a large meadow. After a while, I came to the first of three connecting routes between sections of the actual trail.
For the most part, the designers of the Ice Age Trail have chosen relatively quiet county roads as connecting routes whenever it was possible. What struck me about this section of trail was its overall beauty, including the connecting routes. This first one along Emerald Drive was less than a half mile long. For all practical purposes, it was completely lined with trees. There was little traffic, so the only sounds were birds singing, dogs occasionally barking at me, and my feet crunching along the roadway. After missing some trail cutoffs on previous hikes, I took great care this time to keep looking to my right for the next opening onto the trail. This was a good plan, as the signage showing the next section of trail was partially covered by branches. I left the road, climbed a small hill, and began the next section of trail.
Very quickly, I found myself in prairie country for the next mile or so. I had my first view of the Basilica at Holy Hill to the north. Soon, the trail brought me back to Emerald Road for a the second connecting route. This one was very brief, less than a quarter mile. The last section of trail, again roughly a mile, wove in and out of woods and prairie country. I saw lots of wild flowers along the way, and I had my first critter sighting of the insect variety. I’ve seen plenty of insects along the way – beetles, butterflies, dragonflies and bumblebees – but this was a kind of bee I had never seen before. I was taking a picture of some wild flowers when he landed on a branch near me. As long as he chose to photo bomb my picture, I thought the least I could do was take his picture. After this, I hiked the most hilly portion of this trail through deep woods before emerging on Emerald Drive for the last time. I had a 1.2 mile connecting route in front of me north along Emerald Drive to Donegal Road, and then west (This is in the Town of Erin; do you see a theme here?). Like the other two connecting segments, these were quiet, and beautifully tree lined. This one also featured a beautiful view of Holy Hill. For a change, I beat Jane to the end point of the trail. No problem. I munched on an apple while waiting, and Jane was along shortly. It was past one, and we were both very hungry, so we had lunch at the Sawmill Inn in Richfield, just off the junction of 41/141 and Highway 167.
Good Food and friendly service. I highly recommend it.
My Days on the Ice Age Trail 