Originally printed on March 17, 2020.
I admit it. Last Saturday I took my 7.6 mile hike for granted. Yes, I was happy to be outdoors. The weather was great for road hiking – in the 20s, overcast and dry with much calmer winds than the day before.
I was up a little earlier on Saturday to eat, pack and make my way to Otter Lake Bait and Camp Store on the western boundary of Taylor County, the end point for that day’s hike. Buzz was waiting to drive me to the starting point at Diane’s Back 40 Bar. At 8:11 I was on my way.
I was eager to see something noteworthy, something interesting to lodge in my memory . But it was not to be. Usually, I have 6 – 10 photos from a day’s hike to share. For this hike, I had only two. The photo above is of a hunting preserve I passed along the way.
I had some time to kill after I finished, so I used it to scout the next hike, which shaped up to be a long haul. Nearly 15 miles away, at the southern end of Pike Lake were two resorts. I wanted to (1) confirm if the access roads to those sites were passable and to (2) see if there was a point before those sites that could be a good stopping point for a day’s hike, perhaps splitting the remaining 26-plus miles three ways instead of two ways. There was an excellent access road to one of the resorts, Jim’s Shady Nook, which featured a nice restaurant. I could finish my hike and stroll right into a good meal. But, unfortunately, there was no logical earlier end point that would let me split the hike into smaller chunks. My next hike will be nearly 15 miles.
After a tasty lunch of chicken tenders at Shady Nook, I started for home. Outside of stopping to close my eyes for a while, I made good time driving, propelled in no small way by the Met Opera Sirius station – Flying Dutchman followed by a lot of art songs. I got home, stowed my stuff and called it a day. I had all the good intentions of journalling all three hikes on Sunday, but this one dragged into Monday. My intention was to write it up on Monday, just as soon as I wrote a note requesting a trail angel for the next two hikes. Before I started, I looked at a note from the Ice Age Trail Alliance.
No more Trail Angels for the time being due to the Corona virus.
Getting shuttled is the prime way I’ve arranged my hikes. An IATA member would meet me at the desired end point of my hike and drive me to the starting point. I would then hike from Point A to Point B, jump in my car and call it a day. A variation of this involved hiking buddies like Mary Lourich, the Bagwells, or Dave C. at the end point. We’d leave a car there, pile into my car, drive to the starting point, and do the hike. On one occasion, I hired a cab.
Now my options have been limited. Perhaps one of my fellow 1000 Mile Wannabees can be a hiking buddy for a day. Perhaps Jane can lend a hand, but I really hate to put her out. When she’s helped previously, she’d hang at a coffee shop or at a local library or knitting shop while I hiked. But those options might not be available in the current situation. If need be, I could do what some of my fellow hikers have done. Some have made every hike an out and back, doubling the mileage with each hike. Others have used a bike and their car in combination – park their car at Point A, ride their bike to Point B, hike back to their car at Point A, drive to Point B, pick up their bike and call it a day. But, that doubles the mileage again at a minimum. A segment might be x miles from start to finish, but the roads that I would use to get from Point A to Point B would likely be longer.
I’ll figure something out. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. But for now, my hiking has been brought to a temporary halt.
There’s no taking that for granted.
My Days on the Ice Age Trail 