There’s no doubt about it.
Wednesday, March 10, 2021, was my worst day on the Ice Age Trail by far.
No ifs, ands, or buts.
This debacle was the result of poor trail conditions, poor weather, and a bad decision regarding equipment needed to tackle this segment.
My journey to this awful experience began the day before, when I left Milwaukee Tuesday morning. I had the right idea – drive up Tuesday, take a short walk on part of the trail to get a sense of conditions, and make a decision on what footwear was needed. My choices were boots, boots with mini spikes, or boots with snow shoes. Based on my short out-and-back walk at the southern end of the Southern Blue Springs Segment(SBHS), boots with mini spikes was the best bet. The snow shoes could stay in the car’s trunk. Too much extra weight to carry.
Big mistake.
Wednesday morning dawned in the low 40s, with foggy, overcast skies and a steady mist. Not a big deal: more of an irritant than anything else. I left a message with Fred, today’s Trail Angel, that I was running late before driving to the rendezvous point on Old 14 Road. He didn’t immediately get my message, thought I was blowing him off on the hike, and started to leave. We passed each other going in opposite directions. Fortunately, he received my message, reversed his course and picked me up. Soon we were at my starting point where the Northern Blue Hills Segment meets County F. We said our goodbyes, he drove home, and I started walking south on County F. My goal was to hike the CR to the SBHS and then hike the segment from north to south. I estimated I would need 4.5 – 5.0 hours to hike the 8.5 miles. I made short work of the CR and turned right onto Yuker Road to start the trail proper.
I quickly realized there was much more snow in the northern portion of the SBHS than I had encountered in my Tuesday sampling. Later, I learned from Fred that reason for the increased snow cover was because the northern portion of the segment was a good 300 feet higher than the southern portion of the segment.
So, I had more snow with which to contend than I expected. There was some evidence that the rail had been broken, but that didn’t appear to have happened recently. My approach was to place my foot in the prints that had been left. It suddenly occurred to me that these prints might well have been left by Emily Ford. For those of you unfamiliar with her, Emily is a young lady from Duluth who recently became the first woman to through hike the IAT during the winter. She also is the first woman of color to through hike the IAT at ANY time. So, I was , in a way, literally walking in this lady’s footsteps.
That was all well and good, but I was ill-equipped to make this trek in wet, slushy snow. Sometimes I would have a “regular” footstep. At other times, my foot sank in deep snow nearly up to my kneecaps – the classic post hole. While walking on curves banked the wrong way, my downstage, outside foot would sometimes slide outward, and I would risk doing the splits. The worst was taking a step into what I thought was snow, only to find myself up to my ankles in ice water. Fortunately, I was wearing wool socks that allowed me to retain heat, even when wet.
In terms of terrain, my most vivid memory was the Hill that Seemed to Go On Forever. It was a steep grade covered in slush that stretched for an eighth of a mile plus. The picture above shows a part of it. Struggling uphill in the slush was a huge amount of work, and I was seriously sucking air all the way to the top.
Critters? I don’t remember seeing any. Those dumb animals were smart enough to know that this weather wasn’t fit for man or beast. The only dumb animal out there was me!
Of course, the weather only made this trek worse. The hike started in a fog-shrouded mist – eerily pretty, but an irritant all the same. Later in the morning, it began raining harder, well beyond the irritant stage. Around lunch, I began to hear the first rumblings of thunder. Splendid. Shortly after that, I could only smile as pellet-sized hail started to fall. Terrific!! What’s next? Locusts?!?
Eventually, I crossed some railroad tracks, which signaled the home stretch. After a six tenth of a mile walk through relatively flat country – my “sample walk” from the day before, I arrived at my car. I could not wait to get back to the hotel and have a long, hot shower.
My Days on the Ice Age Trail 