Originally printed March 23, 2019.
Plan B turned out to be the best option after all.
When I first locked in a hike for yesterday, I had in mind a south to north, 10.2 mile hike with nearly equal parts of trail and road walking. But, the deep snow we’ve had followed by heavy rains played havoc with my plans. A fellow hiker sent me a note pointing out some pictures that another 1000 Mile Club Wannabe took while doing a road hike through the same area I was to hike. All the low spots in the farmers’ fields were either muddy quagmires at best or deep ponds at worst. Most likely, any off road trails would look the same way. The only way I would succeed is if I wore bib waders and brought an inflatable rubber raft. It would be dangerous to hike in those conditions, and it would not be good for the trail, either.
Enter Plan B, a road hike. Actually this connecting route – 11.8 miles through mostly farm country – was the next planned hike I had in mind immediately north of my original plan. On Thursday, I drove up from Shorewood to check out the route and to make sure it would be OK with a storekeeper to park in her lot for the duration of Friday’s hike. No problems there. I drove to Waupaca, checked in at my favorite B&B, and went to my favorite restaurant, T-Dubs, to eat supper and watch some NCAA basketball. After Marquette was throttled, I drove to the B&B, got my gear organized for the next day, and settled in for a good sleep.
At 8:00 Friday morning, I met Debbie, my trail angel. After a short ride, we arrived at the starting point for my hike. A quick good bye hug, and I was off. My plan was to hike from north to south. This was the opposite of Plan A, but, what the heck, we were in Plan B now. Going this way allowed me to park my car in that store’s lot instead of on the shoulder of the road where I was starting. Also, walking south put the northerly breeze that morning at my back.
Some of my road walks have had so many twists and turns that I’ve felt like I was in a road rally. That was definitely not the case with Friday’s walk. The first leg was a nearly seven mile straight shot south down Marathon County Highway I. Then a two mile jog to the east on Portage County Highway A, followed by another southerly straight shot of three miles to the hike’s end point. The temperature was in the middle 30s when I began and climbed into the low 40s by the time I finished four hours and change later.
I carry three dominant thoughts from this hike.
Unfortunately, the first isn’t pleasant. My knee was really hurting. This was the knee that was operated on last summer. It had been fine until a couple of weeks back, when it began to bug me a little bit. I didn’t think much of it. Some arthritis, perhaps, or some scar tissue. Well, for the first couple of hours of Friday’s hike, it was bugging me more than a little bit, and I gave some consideration to calling Debbie to pick me up. Instead, I compensated a bit by shortening my stride and really, really concentrating on proper form while I walked. In time, the pain went away, and I was able to stride comfortably. Looking back on my hike, maybe that is why I took so few pictures – only five over a hike just under twelve miles. I certainly did not want to dilly-dally while I was out there. Needless to say, I’ll have my doctor take a look at that knee this week.
The second dominant image was what that it was truly a beautiful day. Knee discomfort aside, I was extremely comfortable out there. As the morning wore on, it got less and less cloudy, and I relished the beautiful country through which I was walking, whether it was farm country as in the picture above, small lakes or streams. The brilliant blue sky and dazzling sunlight only enhanced all that I saw.
The third image was of the birds. Clearly, they got the memo that spring had arrived, and they were out in force! I guess I should have realized this when I spotted an eagle while driving to the hike’s pickup point to meet Debbie. At any rate , my winged friends were my companions throughout the hike, particularly when stands of trees came right up to the road’s edge. I would stop, look into the woods and listen. It was truly a joyful noise. I am no expert at recognizing bird calls, but I saw and heard mourning doves, cardinals, robins and red winged blackbirds, as well as countless songbirds whose tunes I could not recognize. While I didn’t see them, I definitely heard woodpeckers pounding away in search of a meal. And, I believe I spotted my first owl! It was a little hard to pick him or her out in the stand of trees, but it was a bird with a good-sized wingspread, but with a head too big to be a hawk.
My hike ended shortly after 1:00. Even not considering my bum leg, I made really good time out there, almost three miles an hour with a full pack. To reward myself, I stopped in a cafe in Rosholt for a bluegill fish fry. Barring any serious injury to my knee, I hope to be back in the area in a couple of weeks. There are a couple more road hikes I can do before I reach the Wausau area. Perhaps things will have dried out so I could resume knocking off some trail miles.
My Days on the Ice Age Trail 