Bookending the Eagle Segment

Light was starting to fade fast Friday night after I did my short hike on the Blackhawk segment, but the weather was still good so I continued to the south end of the Eagle segment of the Ice Age trail on Friday before going to the campground.

There is a gravel road entrance to a parking area right on Hwy 59 not far from the Forest Headquarters.  I lucked out and there was a brief break in the clouds just as I was parking so I got at least one shot with some decent light in it.

As I was taking my shot a truck pulled up and a hunter got out with his dog and his rifle.  He was out to get a shot of a different kind.  I was kind of relieved when he turned away from the trail and I continued on out into the open prairie on my own, hoping I didn't have to worry about stray bullets.

Orange is the new black?

I didn't expect to see much on the Scuppernong Prairie so I was surprised when I spotted a Blue Heron hanging out in a treetop.  Of course he wasn't thrilled about my presence and took off.

The only thing breaking up the prairie was a small spring which cuts through on its route from Paradise Springs which I visited two summers ago.

I'm a slave to fashion

I walked quickly because light was fading fast, but I eventually made it to where it crosses County Hwy N and turned back.  Past the halfway point there is an interpretive sign about the prairie, which gives information about the types of animals, grasses and forbs (flowers) that grow here.  Of course at one time this was a vast wetland-low prairie area that covered tens of thousands of acres.  The DNR has been doing controlled burns to restore this area since 1999.

I kept expecting to hear coyotes as I walked back in what was quickly becoming full dark, but they must have been busy elsewhere.

It only got down to 38F overnight and my new sleeping bag is the North Face's Snow Leopard which is rated for 0 and did a fine job.  I read the last of Edward Abbey's "Desert Solitaire" on my Kindle and enjoyed my unexpected text session with an old friend as I listened to a very overzealous nearby woodpecker.  Unlike the previous weekend I slept all night, only waking briefly once or twice but not due to the cold.  I had much more trouble disassembling my tent in the morning due to the cold wind on my fingers!

Flowers and Cake for Katrina's Birthday

Today is Katrina's 24th birthday.  Last week I mailed her some pajamas I picked up at Dillards down in Tennessee but today on my blog I have some flowers that I saw at Pinewoods Campground in Kettle Moraine awhile back.  And a gift card to the Night Owl Bakery for some treats she can pick up on the way home from work.

So cute, right?  I made some Birthday Cake flavored roobois tea from David's Tea a little earlier.  It was almost as good as a cupcake with a splash of soy in it.  Too bad it doesn't come with a side of frosting.

We'll be seeing her in two weeks to help her move out of her place in Menominee and come back here to live for awhile.  She posted on Facebook that someone got her a copy of Lena Dunham's book for her birthday...she gets the best gifts!   Wish we could eat those cupcakes with her...all we have at home is some ham and bean soup simmering on the stove.   Just not the same, right?

Kettle Moraine's Ice Age Visitor Center

The Ice Age visitor's center (part of the State Forest and not to be confused with the Ice Age trail) was my first stop after I got my tent all set up at Mauthe Lake on Saturday.  I wanted a map for the North Unit of the Kettle Moraine State Forest.

Mary Beth recommended some hikes and gave me some background info about the geology of the area, and we both agreed that even though the fall color was probably spectacular here a couple of weeks ago it's nice to come when the trees aren't leafed out.  The bare trees make it easier to see the glacial features when hiking the area.

I asked if there was a guide for tree identification available but they were out.  She ran in the back and got me a basic guide for Wisconsin trees that they probably hand out to school groups.  What a gal, right?

scrape marks on rock from glaciers grinding across it

 I wasn't a big fan of the movie they showed, it was pretty much aimed at "teaching" school children, though for that purpose it was pretty well done.  I watched for awhile but it wasn't telling me anything the signs in the display area couldn't so I just read those.

One of the glacial "hitchhikers" on display in the visitor center is a 365 pound piece of copper that made its way down here from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  I didn't take a photo, I figured you'll be more impressed if you see it for yourself.

It's a kame!

Something that was new to me in the North Unit that I don't remember seeing in the South Unit is kames. A kame is a conical hill formed from water flowing downward through fissures in glacial ice that carried sediment with it.

Outwash plain in the foreground, kame in the background

The whole area here is a result of an "end moraine" which logically enough is where the glacier edge ended.  An outwash plain is formed from meltwater and loose debris flowing out from the glacier.  If you look right at the middle of the map below just under the word End Moraine you'll see the town of La Grange.  La Grange and Little Prairie just slightly to the north and further north into the next town of Eagle is where I do my usual South Kettle Moraine hiking.  The area is at the Walworth County/Waukesha County line and I live further south at the Walworth County/Kenosha County line.

 

There is a "kame field" further north from the Ice Age Visitor Center that you can view from Parnell Tower but I didn't have enough time to do that on this trip.  Maybe I'll get up there this weekend if the weather looks nice...and if I get a warmer sleeping bag.

Wintry Morning

Yesterday the temperature was only 43F but there wasn't any wind and the sun was shining so it was a perfect day to go for another hike.  I also had a new sleeping bag I needed to test out so I thought it would be a good time to make my first trip to Mauthe Lake campground in the North Unit of the Kettle Moraine State Forest.  I usually stay in the South Unit because it's about an hour from home but I drove the extra hour because I've been curious and Mauthe Lake is one of the Wisconsin State Park campgrounds that does stay open year round.

Mauthe Lake is a large campground with 135 sites, including a teepee. Most of them are on the smaller side and only 36 have electric.  There is a modern (really clean, one of the newer facilities, but unheated) shower building in the 300 loop and I set my tent up there in case I wanted the luxury of flush toilets in the night.  But with a forecast of an overnight low of 27....I didn't plan on getting up to "go" and skipped my usual water bottle in the tent.

Only one other site was taken, I think guys out on a hunting trip, and when I first settled in with my new bag rated for 30F I thought I might be fine.  I even took my old sleeping bag and threw it over the top of me, and wore insulated Columbia sweatpants to bed with Smartwool socks and a Smartwool long sleeve shirt.  I read on my Kindle for awhile and even though I wasn't as warm as I would have liked I managed to fall asleep around 11:00 p.m.

But, alas, the bag was not doing it, extra "help" or not.  I woke frequently, once with my teeth chattering.  Almost every time I heard coyotes, and once I woke up to hear some animal pawing through leaves at my site.  Probably a raccoon wondering why I didn't have a fire and marshmallows like most folks do. When I checked my watch and it was almost 5:00 a.m. I thought enough was enough and dashed out to the car to warm it, and me, up for the morning.  That took almost 20 minutes alone.

It was only another 20 minute drive to the town of West Bend where wonderful things like Starbucks existed.  I took my time and kept my exhausted eyes peeled on the dark road, after all, I'd come upon 3 bucks in the middle of the road the night before who panicked and couldn't make up their mind which way to go while I stopped and they decided.

I got there shortly before 6:00 and couldn't figure out why they were not only closed but why it didn't look like anyone was in there getting it ready for the day.  I mean, I know it was Sunday, but does that really matter at a coffee chain?

I got on my iPhone to find out when they opened...and finally realized I'd forgotten about the time change.  They opened at 5:30 alright, but apparently I'd been up since 4:00...not 5:00.

What else was there to do but sit in the dark parking lot and wait another half hour?  I used the time to catch up on 3 blogs that I read (man that print is small on the iPhone...) before going in and ordering a hot water to make my decaf Chai.  Oh yes, all that hassle for a cup of hot water, folks!  I did buy a slice of lemon loaf too for later on because I'd eaten my breakfast out of my lunch box in the car.  Hikers need more than sugar.

small pond freezing over

Speaking of decaf tea, I ordered quite the variety from David's tea the other day.  A tea spree, if you will.  The flavor my sister-in-law gave me when we were in Newfoundland is almost gone and they have a kick-ass selection of rooibos, which is my favorite.  If you buy $50 you get free shipping, even though it's shipping from Canada to the U.S.

I ended up timing it perfectly.  After I left Starbuck's I got to Kewaskum and then Mauthe Lake just in time for sunrise light on all the frost coated plants.  I'm not sure if that makes it all worth it, but at least it's something!  I'll definitely be sending that sleeping bag back for something rated for colder weather.  I saw some stuff at the Ice Age visitor center yesterday where I toured the facility and went for a hike, and then of course I hiked the Ice Age trail this morning after the sun came up.  For now just enjoy the frosty post and I hope your night and morning were warmer than mine!

Starting the Blackhawk Segment

On Wednesday I headed back to the parking lot at Bald Bluff one last time to take the spur to the right that led to the Blackhawk segment of the Ice Age trail.  This Bald Bluff/Oak opening area is the only part of the Ice Age trail that travels through Jefferson County.

Bald Bluff is where General Atkinson was on the lookout for Blackhawk, remember?  The spur wanders through some low lying shrub that is relentlessly trying to overtake the dry prairie they are preserving and then starts gradually climbing a ridge that runs paralell to Hwy County H.  After a short walk it crosses Young Road and the Blackhawk segment begins.

I climbed along the ridge for awhile, trying not to get distracted and take too many pictures even though the scenery here was quite different from what I saw on my last two outings.  All the fallen leaves have led to great views of the skies.

naked oaks and me in my blaze orange - hunting season is here!

farm land in the distance

 I don't know if the ridge may be big enough to be considered an esker and but either way it is really a pile of debris left behind from the glaciers, which is why I imagine it is filled with so many of those pesky rocks!  There are a couple of different ways they are thought to have been formed, one of which being that it was where sediment piled up in a crevasse.  Pretty cool!

 typical rocky trail of the IAT in Kettle Moraine State Forest

Just one lichen shot, I couldn't walk past the pretty gold on a late fall afternoon.

And one shot of what is left of the year's wildflowers.

I wasn't up there long before the trail took a turn and wound down the hill to cross Hwy H.  Watch out for speeding traffic!

On the other side of the road I entered a pine forest and the trail was flat and easy, no more rocks!

Due to the leaves falling I was able to spot a small lake alongside the trail, maybe it was a kettle, yet another sign of Wisconsin's glacial past.

Even though the light was falling I kept pushing fast along the trail to try to make it to Oleson Cabin.

The two story cabin was built by Ole Oleson in 1846 out of Tamarack logs.  He was a Norwegian immigrant and lived there with his wife and 9 children.  This was the first time I've been out to this cabin which isn't far from the Pioneer Lime Kiln on the John Muir trails I visited 2 years ago.  

The logging sled was found next to an old foundation in the woods of the area and is estimated to have been in use around 1900.  This type of sled was what would have been used in the area to haul Tamarack trees they felled for buildings.  Tamaracks are coniferous trees that grow in swampy areas and there aren't many left because they were cleared and drained for agriculture.

This pretty shrub/tree wasn't far from the cabin and was my last photo op before making my way back to the trail.  I plan on having Katrina drop me off at the cabin and I'll hike my way back to Whitewater to complete this segment sometime before Christmas.

I wasn't worried about the approaching dark because I finally got a headlamp!  I put it on and had it ready to go but I made my return trip a little shorter and faster by cutting out onto the roadside so I made it back to the car right at dark.  It was nice to have a backup plan though.

I just packed up the car and am taking my first drive up to Kettle Moraine's North Unit.  I got a new sleeping bag that I'm hoping is warm enough for 30 degree nights that I want to test out and most of the Wisconsin state parks are now closed for the season, but not Mauthe Lake.  If I wake up freezing it's less than a 2 hour drive home.,. and I get to try a new section of the Ice Age trail today.

Back to Bald Bluff

When deciding what area of Kettle Moraine to choose for a hike on Thursday I picked a return to Bald Bluff.  I thought Barbara and Ron might enjoy seeing what it looked like in the fall since we hiked it together earlier this year.

The trailhead wasn't lined with Bindweed and Fleabane, but with going to seed Asters and Goldenrod.  It was like a bouquet of dried flowers!

The trail meanders up to the top of Bald Bluff and on the way up connects with the Ice Age Trail. To follow the IAT you can either continue up the bluff and then keep going down the other side, or take the spur to the right and head towards a camping shelter I mean to check out next spring.  I was all for conquering a new section of the IAT, so planned on hiking further than the bluff itself this time.

The trail leads through Kettle Moraine Oak Opening, a mixture of oak opening and oak woodland that is dominated by Bur Oak and Black Oak.  I thought an oak was an oak until I got a good look at all the different oak leaves on the trail.  I found a page with a good identification guide here.

View of trail from under a Black Oak

Like the trees I saw in Lake Geneva the ones along this trail were sporting colorful lichen as well as colorful leaves.

Even the rocks were getting in on the party!  If you hike this trail come prepared with decent hiking boots instead of sandals or sneakers.  The trail to the top of the bluff is quite rocky and uneven.

The Sumac had lost all their leaves, but left their berries behind.  Research indicates they are edible and you can even make lemonade from them!  Of course summer would be the time to do that, in fall just enjoy their splash of red color.

You might recognize this spot in the trail, I got a picture of Ron ascending it this summer.  Didn't notice at the time that we were moving through an oak forest because we were busy admiring the wildflowers.

As I neared the top I got this great view from a break in the trees.  The view at the top wasn't as nice, it looked over an area that had less color.  As you can see, our color season is winding down, at least half the trees down there are bare already.

At the top of the bluff I started my way down through the oaks to make my way toward the Stone Eleophant.  More on that tomorrow!