Originally printed October 15, 2017.
Simply spectacular. That is my takeaway from Friday’s hike on the Gibraltar Rock Segment of the Ice Age Trail.
After Thursday’s tromp through the Lodi area segments and Fern Glen, I thought I would sleep like a rock that evening. I did get to bed at roughly 9:00 pm – earlier than usual – and I didn’t get up for good until 7:00 am. Unfortunately, the time between those two poles was broken up at roughly two hour intervals. Sometimes it was someone driving into the camp ground. Crystal Lake is more like a real estate development for mobile homes than an actual camp site. If you want idyllic camping in the wild, this isn’t your place. Sometimes it was a matter of going to the bathroom. Most of the time, it was tossing and turning to get comfortable. At any rate, I had a fitful night’s sleep. After a good breakfast, I broke camp, grabbed some coffee, and headed for the pickup point near where the Merrimac ferry leaves to cross Lake Wisconsin. I arrived in plenty of time to check my gear and stretch before the Trail Angel, Hannah arrived.
Promptly at 9:00, Hannah, her husband, and their border collie arrived. Hannah is the daughter of the segment coordinator for this local chapter of the Ice Age Trail Alliance. She and her husband are easily the youngest trail angels I’ve met on my hikes. My guess is that they are in their early to middle thirties. The other trail angels I’ve encountered have all been retirees. We chatted about our experiences on the trail while we made the short drive to today’s starting point, where Mary and I finished hiking the day before. After thanking them for their help, I saddled up and got started.
Today’s hike began with a 2.2 connecting route from the western end of the Fern Glen segment to Gibraltar Rock. The 4.8 mile Gibraltar Rock segment is actually two chunks of trail connected by an 0.8 mile CR. The southern portion is the rock itself, while the northern portion goes through the IATA’s Steenbock Preserve overlooking Lake Wisconsin. The entire segment was rated a 5 on the IATA hilliness scale, the maximum rating. I was in for a challenge. Weather conditions were perfect – cloudy and in the mid to high 50s at the hike’s start, with none of the previous day’s light rain. Periodically, the sun would make an attempt at burning off the morning haze, but those attempts were short-lived.
The first connecting route was along Columbia County Highway J, until it merged with County JV briefly before the start of the segment. It gave me a chance to size up Gibraltar Rock, which loomed to the north of me. 200 feet up, the “flat-topped butte”, as the Guide described it, was an imposing sight. At 1,246 feet above sea level, it is the highest point in Columbia County and easily the highest hill I had seen on my hikes thus far. As I stared at it from below, I wondered how I was going to pull this off. The face of the rock was a sheer wall.
The answer came about a quarter mile later when I turned right off the county highway and started up the trail – and I do mean UP! For 30 minutes, I did nothing but clamber uphill on the west side of the rock. Sometimes the slope would ease up a bit, but it never leveled out. I thought that the previous day’s hike through Fern Glen, a 4 on the hilliness scale, was great training for this challenge. Most of the climb was through woods, and they were truly beautiful. However, what struck me during the climb, outside of my burning lungs, were those sections where the trail broke into the open. During those interludes, the dominant images I carry with me are brilliant burnt reds from the sumac through which I was walking, plus the golden grass that spread out below me.
Once I hit reached the top, the trail traced the edge of the butte. There were lots of rocks and tree roots to trip me, so I made it my business to be very focused and deliberate. When it was time to walk, I focused on the 3-8 feet in front of me and on my form. When I wanted to feast my eyes, I stopped to do so. I took many such opportunities. The view was stunning. Such grandeur!
I encountered many people on this section of the trail. On one hand, I guess I should not have been surprised because of the its beauty. At the same time, it was quite a climb, no matter if one followed my steps up the hill or made the climb from the other end of the trail. Nevertheless, I encountered more people on the southern portion of the Gibraltar Rock segment than any segment since Lapham Peak, and that was because a fun run was in progress the day Joe Krechel and I did that hike. I passed couples walking, singletons, young and old – I must have passed 40-50 people. Along the way I passed a group of senior citizens making the trek with a guide. Most surprising to me, was that I encountered high school kids with photographers in tow to take graduation pictures. I don’t blame them; I would take advantage of such incredible country for pictures if I lived in that area, too. Hope those photographers were in shape. They were really earning their keep that morning.
If anything, I was more methodical during the descent to the end of this part of the trail than I was during the climb. I was hiking through deep woods, and between the rocks and the tree roots, there were plenty of obstacles to trip me. So I really focused on proper form, and I tried to make myself go s-l-o-w.
For those of you interested in doing this hike, I caution you to be conscious of the conditions before making the decision to go. If it has been raining a lot, I’d check with someone on trail conditions before making the hike. No sense slipping on wet leaves or slick rocks. There is a marked loop trail that stretches along the back side of Gibraltar Rock. Using this would be a safer route in slick conditions because it gives hikers an option to avoid those rocky cliff edges. Certainly, I would not recommend making this hike in icy or snowy conditions. There are no guard rails at the top of Gibraltar Rock.
I’m guessing the southern portion of Gibraltar Rock was just over a mile and change, much like Fern Glen the day before. But, it was the most challenging, fun, breathtaking section of trail I had hiked on my 48 days on the trail.
Between the southern and northern sections of this segment was a connecting route of 0.8 miles. A portion of it ran briefly along a county highway on a downward slope. Then it turned left onto the ironically named Slack Road. I say this because this road didn’t cut me any slack at all! It was a steep climb for about a quarter mile to a dead end where the northern portion of the Gibraltar Segment began.
While there were many challenges to this part of the segment, and some great views of Lake Wisconsin and the Wisconsin River to the north, I wasn’t as overwhelmed with this section of the trail in comparison to the southern portion. Don’t get me wrong – there’s a lot to like. I hiked through some very beautiful sections of prairie, plus some gorgeous oak forest. It just wasn’t as spectacular as the Gibraltar Rock section itself. The planners of this trail did a really smart bit of planning regarding the last quarter mile or so of the trail, which roughly parallels Wisconsin Highway 113 as it nears the Merrimac Ferry Wayside Park. Rather than have hikers walk on the shoulder of a pretty busy highway, the trail crossed the highway and dipped into land just between 113 and some railroad tracks to the north of the highway. It was much safer than walking along the shoulder.
Soon I reached my car. I was tired but very happy after a couple of days of hiking through some incredibly beautiful country. A short walk away, right next to the ferry landing, was an ice cream stand called Merrimac Scoop. I had earned a reward. Something sweet and cool.
“A dish of butter pecan, please!”
My Days on the Ice Age Trail 