Originally printed November 18, 2016
We have been blessed with tremendous weather this month. Thanks to Dolly, Trail Angel Par Excellence, I would get another day to enjoy God’s creation this Friday on the Ice Age Trail.
As has been my habit this month, I drove up to the area on Thursday, found the end point for my hike, and marked it on my GPS. Then I set course for my hotel so I would know how much time I needed for the drive to meet Dolly on Friday. After I checked in and got settled, I hustled to Luigi’s for another session of carbo loading, this time having linguini with shrimp and red sauce. Nothing out of the ordinary; a typical evening before a hike. Oh yeah, my sniffles were worsening a little bit, and my eyes were starting to water some. No biggie…
6:15 am. As I get up, I can feel tightness in my throat and upper chest(no, not THAT kind of chest tightness – relax!). Then I attempted to use my voice, and I sounded like a basset hound. That little cold had made a beeline for my chest. Do I hike or not? It was a cold, not a sinus infection, at least not at this point. And, other than the cold symptoms, nothing else seemed wrong. No fever or muscle aches. Well, I had made the trip, the weather was supposed to be good in the morning, and the hike was a relatively short 8.4 miles. The show goes on. I got dressed, scarfed down the leftover linguini, packed the car and headed north to meet Dolly.
The longest part of today’s hike was the connecting route from the East Twin River Segment to the start of the Tisch Mills segment. I began my hike shortly after 8:00. Temps were in the high 40s. The skies were painted with varying shades of grey(No, not 50 shades!) that reminded me of Impressionistic landscapes. Even with the grey skies and with the leaves down, there was still plenty of colors on which to feast my eyes. Best news of all, the activity loosened up the gunk in my chest, and I felt pretty good. After a couple of hours, I turned off the connecting route and began hiking the Tisch Mills Segment itself.
Tisch Mills(2.6 miles) is actually made of two sections of trail connected by a short connecting route that ran through the town of Tisch Mills. The southern part of the segment runs through what is called Weber’s Woods. I found a memorial to the family on the trail. It appears they were established in the area for quite a while, and that one member of the family served in the Marines. I’m very interested in learning how it was that this land came to be part of the Ice Age Trail. Did the family donate the land, or did they allow an easement so the Ice Age Trail could run through their property? What prompted this? Did it have to do with the Weber who served in the Marines? I hope to learn more about them, and I will update this entry once I do.
But, I’m getting ahead of myself. The big deal for me about hiking Tisch Mills was that this was to be the first time where I would have to get across a stream, Tisch Mills Creek, without the benefit of a bridge. Even after I saw a sign saying , “Wading would be safer than walking on Rocks”, I really wasn’t sure how I would proceed. I had asked other hikers how they crossed the stream. Some had stepped on rocks all the way across the stream, roughly 15 to 20 feet wide. Others had waded across. One person’s advice did stick with me – if you slip off a rock and fall in, more will get wet than your feet and ankles. And, I could hurt myself in the process. So, I sat down, removed my orthotics from my shoes, and started across. I stepped on the first rock, it moved, and everything instantly became clear. Why risk hurting myself? Since my very first hike, I’ve been carrying extra shoes and socks for precisely this situation. I stepped off the rock and into the water, and proceeded across the stream, stopping only to take a couple of pictures. I was in the water less than two minutes. It came up to just above my ankles. And, yes, it was bracing.
Once across, I quickly dried my feet, got into fresh socks and shoes, and continued. I soon came to the end of this portion of the Tisch Mills Segment, and I began walking to Tisch Mills itself. Aside from the mills themselves, which dominate the town, I remember three things. First was its welcome sign: “Welcome to Tisch Mills. No Mayor. No City Council. Life is Good!” Second, at the intersection at the center of town was a place called The Little Sandwich Theatre at the Historic Forst Inn, a turn of the century B & B. This appears to be an actual, functioning theatre that does plays. It seats 100 in its house, and 60 people can also be at the bar. Last, even though it was nearly noon, everything in the town seemed to be closed. And, that was a problem because I was in serious need of a bathroom. Ultimately, I found a farm supply company that let me use their bathroom. After a short walk north of this supply company, I came to the northern section of the Tisch Mills Segment.
This segment mostly runs along the western bank of the East Twin River. While their are some trees, my dominant image of the trail was a relatively open area with a lot of tall grass, bushes, and saplings. I really like walking along rivers and streams. They are usually very pretty – this area certainly was – and there are usually a lot of animals in the area. That was certainly the case here. Early on in this section, I spotted a crane walking in the river and then taking off. I also flushed a couple of mourning doves and a doe(Before I even started my hike, I saw a pheasant). The trail here was flat and a little muddy, and I saw many, many deer tracks. Soon, I could see my car ahead of me. Its thermometer said it was 63 when I started up. Not bad for the middle of November.
Afterwards, I drove to Two Rivers for one of those small pleasures, a Wisconsin fish fry. Then I drove home. And now I’m going to treat this chest cold with some medicinal Irish whiskey.
My Days on the Ice Age Trail 