Author Archives: jbanello

Originally printed March 24, 2018. For a while there, I was wondering if Thursday’s hike would happen. I have been battling sinus trouble for better than a month. I am on my second course of antibiotics, after Old Reliable – Doxycycline – didn’t do the trick. This new prescription has a list of possible sideContinue reading “Day 55 on the Ice Age Trail”

Originally printed March 11, 2018. Three months. It felt like three years. In late November, I shut down hiking for the year. At the time, it seemed like a good idea. With the deer hunting gun season approaching and a ton of singing in December, taking a break seemed to be a natural response. IContinue reading “Day 54 on the Ice Age Trail”

Originally printed November 16, 2017. Fourteen degrees above zero. Wind chill five degrees above zero. Calm winds. Let’s go for a hike. That sounds about right. This was the challenge I faced on last Friday, Day 2 of my hike from the Devil’s Lake area to the city of Portage. I applied the same principlesContinue reading “Day 53 on the Ice Age Trail”

Originally printed November 12, 2017. Last Thursday’s hike promised to be a very interesting day for me. High winds and plummeting temperatures were in the forecast. I had never hiked in high winds, and I wondered how I would hold up in those conditions. The hike was to be a 12.9 mile chunk of theContinue reading “Day 52 on the Ice Age Trail”

Originally printed October 29, 2017. 36 degrees. That was the temperature when I met the trail angel who was shuttling me the short distance to start Friday’s hike on the Ice Age Trail. On tap today was the Sauk Point Segment. Compared to what I hiked the day before, this shaped up to be aContinue reading “Day 51 on the Ice Age Trail”

Originally printed October 28, 2017. “This is arguably the most dramatic Ice Age Trail segment of all, exploring Wisconsin’s largest and most visited state park and offering magnificent views from 500-foot quartzite bluffs overlooking a 360-acre lake.” (From the Ice Age Trail Guidebook). While I can’t speak for all the Ice Age trails, the Devil’sContinue reading “Day 50 on the Ice Age Trail”

Originally printed October 19, 2017. One is better than none. Over the past couple of months, I’ve fallen into a pattern of pairing my hikes. Basically, my reason for doing this is to make the best use possible of my time, given that my hikes are taking me further away from home. Usually, the pairingContinue reading “Day 49 on the Ice Age Trail”

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 –Continue reading “Day 48 on the Ice Age Trail”

Originally printed October 13, 2017. Surprise, surprise! That was my reaction when Mary Lourich, a good friend and singing buddy from the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus, asked if she could join me on Thursday’s hike in the Lodi area. We had previously talked about hiking together near Madison, her new home town. Unfortunately, the stars justContinue reading “Day 47 on the Ice Age Trail”

Originally printed September 20, 2017. Last Sunday’s hike was intended to be a “connect the dots” kind of day. Previously, I had hiked some segments of the trail west of Madison while staying in the Spring Green area to catch some plays at the American Players’ Theatre. However, I had not hiked the Connecting RoutesContinue reading “Day 46 on the Ice Age Trail”