Mini Hikes at Copper Falls, Table Bluff and Sturgeon Bay

As I was on my way back from a round of appointments in the far north of Wisconsin recently I made a detour into Copper Falls to check out their campground and think about spending the night.  The campground was okay and I will consider it for the future, but there was no flush toilets or showers and that is asking a bit much of a gal who has to get ready for work in the morning after sleeping in a tent at night!

So instead I walked the Doughboy Trail which is a little over a mile but felt much longer since I am so out of shape.  Once I crossed the Bad River (that's the name, I swear!) there was a steep set of stairs to climb and they threatened to beat me but I persisted.

I had the trail all to myself which is always a plus, and I learned a little history along the way as well.  Exploratory copper mining was done in the area as early as the 1860's, but it was in the early 1900's that a mining crew got tired of their shaft flooding so they decided to divert the river.  Blasting the riverbed improved their flooding problem but did not result in finding much in the way of copper so that was the end of the venture.

I've even had an opportunity to walk a few steps on the Ice Age Trail this season, including revisiting Table Bluff near Cross Plains, Wisconsin.

It was too early for the flower show that will unfold in the summer, but I did spy a nesting pair of Sandhill Cranes.  I was pretty happy with that and after a half hour walking around I hit the road again.

And the night before last I camped at Potawatomi State Park and wandered onto the Ice Age Trail there which is the Eastern Terminus for the statewide trail. 

Only a few campers at the campground but I didn't wont for company as hordes of mosquitoes were around to chase me.  They were gone in the morning when the temperatures dropped, but my tent was wet so it wasn't a fantastic trade-off!  On top of that I must add a warning to those interested in the REI Half Dome 2 tent.  It was a pain to set up even though it is small, and even harder to take down with a cross bar at the top that the rain fly fit too tightly and I had to struggle with for at least five minutes in the cold. If I had a scissors I might have cut it off so I guess that was a good thing.   Ah, well, not every day in Door County is perfect!  Luckily REI is willing to take it back for a full refund and I will just go back to last year's tent.

My legs got nice and tired climbing the tower for the view of Sturgeon Bay.  The clouds were rolling in because I was smart enough to enjoy the sunnier afternoon strolling around town after my slice of cherry pie.  Not much sun penetrating the trees as most are finally leafed out.  There were trillium all over the campground and in town I got wowed by a tulip display...not a bad way to spend the afternoon on a work day!

The pictures in this post were taken with my Canon DSLR which I'm trying to reacquaint myself with as it takes much nicer pictures than the iPhone.  I thought I lost the battery and charger and wouldn't you know it I found them in my laptop bag just yesterday after I already replaced them.  I also finally replaced my camera backpack with the Lowepro Flipside Trek AW250 and it is much too small (crazy small for a bag that costs $150!) so back it goes as well.  Speaking of things found, the police found my camera, I don't know if I mentioned that on the blog before.  They called a few months back with the news but asked to keep it for the investigation and I had no problem with that as I had already replaced it.  It showed up at a pawn shop and I don't know if they backtracked it to find out who originally took it and probably never will I would imagine.