As I relaxed in my hotel room last Wednesday, I was reading Facebook when a post caught my attention. A through hiker, Ronald Rumpf, was taking a night in a Rice Lake hotel and was looking for a ride to the trail on Thursday. I contacted him to see if I could help. He needed a ride to the eastern terminus of the Grassy Lake Segment, which also doubles as the western terminus of the Bear Lake Segment. Bear Lake was my planned hike for Thursday. A plan quickly came into focus. I would drive Ronald to the parking area for Grassy Lake/Bear Lake. I would see him off, then catch a ride from my trail angel, Warren, to the starting point of my hike. I’ve been the beneficiary of trail angels more times than I can count. This would be my debut as a trail angel. All I asked was for him to wear a mask in the car and to give me a trail conditions report on Grassy Lake.
I was up bright and early on Thursday. Ronald was waiting in front of his hotel. He jumped into the back of my car, and we chatted during the half hour and change to the parking area on 30th Avenue. After meeting my trail angel, Ronald set off on the Grassy Lake Segment. Warren and I drove to the starting point for my hike on Barron County SS.
My plan was for Thursday’s hike involved walking the 5.7 mile connecting route between the Tuscobia and Bear Lake Segments. I would then hike the 5.4 mile Bear Lake Segment. It would prove to be an interesting hike through richly varied country. The weather was in the middle 30s with brilliant, sunny skies and the promise of temps in the low 60s before I was done.
After thanking Warren, I started my road hike at 8:15 with a 2.6 mile straight shot north on County SS into the town of Haugen( population 299). Visiting Haugen was a little like going through a time warp to some earlier, pre-Covid time. For example, the gas station at the “hot corner” of County SS and County V had an out of date Standard sign. The Village Grocer advertised selling Drugs and Sundries. You get the picture. In need of a pit stop, I went into the gas station. Inside, six to eight men were sitting shoulder-to-shoulder. Not a mask in sight, except for the one I was wearing. I quickly did my business, bought a candy bar, and high-tailed it into the great outdoors to continue hiking. Before leaving town, I passed a first rate baseball park( Haugen was the 2010 Wisconsin Baseball Association Champ.), and a Bohemian National Cemetery, also known as Cesky Narodni Habitov.
Aside from visiting Haugen, the other highlight of hiking the Connecting Route was the huge marsh area south of Bear Lake, the Bear Lake Natural Area. It looks to be a wonderful place for bird watching. For those of you who, like me, had no idea of what a Sedge Meadow is, here is a brief explanation.
Not too long after this, I entered the L. E. Phillips Scout Reservation and began the Bear Lake Segment. The Scout Camp is built around a cluster of five small lakes. One of them is shown at the top of this journal entry. To me, this looked like Kid Heaven. The most interesting thing thing I saw in this camp were pieces of an old airplane – I’m guessing something along the lines of a Piper Cup. I later learned that the plane is there as part of a Wilderness Survival merit badge area. The kids are supposed to use these parts to make a shelter for themselves.
Past the Scout Camp, the trail winds its way west and north through a mix of forest and marsh land in the Barron County Forest. The further north I went, the more narrow and muddy the trail became. In several spots, there was no way to get around the small lake blockng my path, and I had no choice but to plunge straight ahead through the slop. By that time, it had become quite warm, and the cold water felt pretty good on my feet. I thought of this as a tune-up for Grassy Lake, my next hike. It has a reputation for being a sloppy trail.
Speaking of sloppy, I got a serious case of “crazy legs” in my last hour plus on the trail. Although my walking sticks were a big help, when I wasn’t trudging through or tip-toeing around water hazards, I was on a very narrow path that wound its way up and down the most hilly section of the trail. No two ways about it – I was pooped. Finally, I emerged onto Shallow Lake Road. In short order, I was back in my car and returning to Rice Lake.
The special that night at nearby Lehman’s Supper Club was prime rib, and that sounded mighty good to me.
So did water. A lot of water.
My Days on the Ice Age Trail 