Ice Age Trail - Eleven Lake Segment

Most of the Eleven Lake Segment in Taylor County.
Coming Soon!

Ice Age Trail - Mecan River and Wedde Creek Segments

     A warm August Saturday found me travelling to Waushara County to tackle a couple segments of the Ice Age Trail.  The Mecan River segment starts on Buttercup Dr about 4 miles north of Coloma and generally follows the course of the Mecan River  down to Hwy 21.  A connector route (meaning pavement) through the corner hamlet of Richford leads to the Wedde Creek segment.  My hope was to have enough time and energy to finish both of them. 

     As usual this would include utilizing the bike as a shuttle.   By 08:15 I began the 7 mile bike ride from Hwy 21 to Buttercup.  The temps were already in the mid-70’s and a warm day in the upper 80’s was promised.  The last time Ruth and I made our way to this part of the IAT earlier in the year we were chased by rain.  Today would be no different on my solo journey.  The weather forecast was for scattered rain throughout the center part of the state.

Hwy 21 Parking

     I arrived at the Buttercup parking area at 08:55.  The hills were few and only one presented any challenge.  I walked up most of the hill that carries Chicago Rd to 7^th Ave.  Along the way I passed a family of five out for a short bike ride, a group of senior bike riders.  At the Buttercup parking area a younger couple was biking away as I was coming in.  At the start of the ride on Hwy 21 I passed a growing group of Trout Unlimited folks.  The temps were still low, the sky was sunny, and the roads were busy.

     The first part of the trail is a mown path between two private properties.  One is a prairie loaded with goldenrod, grasses, stunted oaks, and fir.  The other  side to the East, had scattered woods with several small structures in varying states of disrepair.  Once past the private lands the trail leaves behind prairie but is a mix of meadow and the stunted oak and fir and even one very small pine plantation where every tree is dead.  The terrain is very interesting.  While not exactly hilly the trail traverses over small hummocks with the meadow, oak, and fir.  Then quickly through a short stand of pine and into a thick oak forest.  I had the trail to myself with the exception of some deer that I spooked in the oak forest.  Very little road noise was present.  Quiet, pretty, and interesting in the first ¾ mile.

    A campsite for through-hikers can be found in the oak forest. 

    I look ahead to see that the trail leaves the oak and enters into a hay field.  I was expecting to quickly skirt around a hay field before entering more woods.  However, the IAT folks have a thoroughly wonderful  surprise for hikers.  On the bike I was able to see part of this hay field after rising to the summit of Chicago Rd hill.  I had no idea then, but the trail traverses a meandering diagonal across the entire hay field.  Rolling up and down, surrounded by crickets, bees, and woods this stands out to me as the most enjoyable part of the day.

     At 09:34 the hay field came to an end.  The farewell to the field comes within 5 feet of a another field where fresh manure had been spread.  Yum.  The trail crosses a border of tree there and enters a wide meadow.  The short 10 minute hike through the meadow was spent watching a hawk make repeated attempts to snare some critter.

     I crossed Chicago Rd and into another little parking area at 09:45.  This parking area sits above the Mecan Spring which begins the Mecan River.  When I say above, I do mean above.  The head of the river lies over 100ft below the trail and parking area.

High Above the river's source

     The trail parallels the road and continues to sit high above the river.  At 10:00 my tummy told me it was time for a break.   At this spot the trail is glued to the edge a pine forest that slopes steeply to the river.  Low ground cover offers occasional glimpses of the water below.  A quick 10 minute break was enough to stretch and eat a handful of trail mix.

    Soon the trail cuts through a brief prairie and it seems like every half mile I scare away a deer or three.   The river has coursed a little further to the East than has the trail, but we’d be meeting the river again and again before making the car.

    I crossed Cty GG at 10:33.  Not long after I ran into a hiker moving in the opposite direction.  As a retired farmer living nearby he hikes 6 or 7 miles a day on the IAT in the area.  He used to walk just the roads but a relative turned him on to the trail.  He has dreams of hiking parts of the trail farther away, but the commitment to do that is just a little beyond what he and his wife would be likely to do.  Still he thinks about it.  This is a similar dilemma with which I struggle as well.   At this point in my life there is no possibility of taking off three months to through-hike.  That means hiking the trail in segments.  There are not segments within less than 2 hours of my home, which means that any hike, be it 6 miles of 16 miles, is a full day event.  Trying to cover a number of segments in a long weekend is something we’ve talked about, but the ability, the commitment has not yet shown itself.  We had a good 15 minute talk on the trail and the importance of such “wilderness” areas.  We also talked about what a hidden surprise Waushara County is.  This is a usually a drive-through county between I-39 and Appleton, Oshkosh, Green Bay. 

     At 11:03 I met the intersection of the Mecan River Vista trail.  Taking the spur out to a high point above the river I found a bench about 3 minutes later.  Maybe in younger days I would have attempted the climb down to the river, but today that didn’t seem like a very good adventure to undertake.

At the bench on the vista

     After the spur the trail cuts through a pine plantation along private property.  There is no mistaking that you are next to private property.  There are nearly a dozen no-trespassing signs and every third tree is marked with orange tape. 

    I hit the first crossing of 9^th Ave at 11:37.  The temperature had definitely begun to rise, but I was able to keep well hydrated.  The canopy of the forest and a light breeze in the meadows was keeping the rising temperature a non-factor.  The sun was still the only weather feature with no clouds present.

    Crossing 9^th Ave the trail hangs within feet of a marsh section of the river, now on even elevation with the waterway.  Along this short loop through the swamp the bug activity increases dramatically and the flies make their first appearance.

     By 11:55 I was back out of the swamp and travelling along the pavement of 9^th Ave.  Along the way I had a short conversation with a few of the Trout Unlimited gang that were out along the river building new habitat.  By 12:06 I was back at the car.  I drank some water I’d left in the car (very warm!) and headed to pick up the bike – munching on food along the way.

    

      I was back at the parking lot on Hwy 21 at 12:35 with the bike and began the bike ride down the trailhead on Czech Ave.  At 13:00 I found the parking lot and stashed the bike.  The actual trailhead was still another half mile down the road.  Eight minutes later I was at the trail head making my way back East along the Wedde Creek trail.  The trail drives quickly through an old pine plantation.  The plantation looks to have been logged about seven or eight years ago and is now a scrub forest of oak and fir with almost no ground cover.    I crossed the bridge over Wedde Creek at 13:27.  This is a low swampy creek with abundant reeds and grasses.

Wedde Creek

     After the creek crossing, the trail enters a narrow prairie before heading into a pine plantation.

     I hit the end of the trail at 13:33 and was not looking all that forward to the 2.8 miles of pavement.  Thankfully, on this day, my usual hip, leg, and back problems were registering at their lowest level I can remember in months.  Still, I’d had a full day.  The heat and exertion were beginning to tell. 

     County JJ passes a game farm, a cemetery, and then through the hamlet of Richford.  As I made my was along this road I passed by a soybean field and thought that the sprinkler system was much too far away.  Hot sun, tired legs, and walking on pavement.

     I took note at 13:50 that clouds were beginning to overtake the western sky and that did provide some relief.

     I met the cemetery at 14:00 on the button.  This is a very well kept location and even from the road some stones from the 1800’s could be read.  Twenty minutes later I was back at the car.

     The total trip was 10.8 miles of hiking and 8 miles of biking.  For me, that is no longer a simple walk in the park.  My, how things can change in just a few years.

     There are still a few segments left in that part of the state to tackle.  Some of them are off in the woods and fields, while others are through rest areas along the interstate.  What has been great about these hikes here is that this area of the state has surprised me twice.  I very much look forward to return trips to complete other segments.

Black River State Forest - Tanner Flowage

GPS Track File

     Mid-August and summer was coming to an end.   There could be no better way to spend a Sunday evening in August than going for a hike.   I’d have a few hikes this Summer in the Black River Forest and looked forward to trudging through one more of the little two tracks that run off into the woods.  This time I would actually know where this one would lead. 

     The previous hike I wandered along a muddy overgrown path to the southern end swamp of a flowage – the Tanner Flowage.  The aim for this hike would be to take a two-track to the tanner flowage and then pick up the forest road back to the car.  

     I made the forest and parked just before 16:00, locking the care near the intersection of Kling Rd and Shale Rd.   I followed Kling Rd up a bit to where a two track heads straight east through a mixed pine forest.  I could not have asked for a better day with light wind, 75F, and a nice sun.  The flies, of course, made their presence known, but were a damn sight better than in previous weeks.

Kling Rd heading North

    The first three-quarters mile of the trail is dominated by a mix of pine plantation and thick oak forests.  Wildlife was out in plenty today as I spooked three deer (that I know of!), several turkey, and two blue jays that were not very happy to see me.

     The trail comes to a clearing where it’s apparent folks park their trucks for the day while hunting.  After the clearing the trail is wide, but is overgrown with wet swamp grass.  The going was still very easy and is still largely bordered by trees, though the flowage is no more than 50 yards to my right.

      

     Finally, after crossing a couple of small streams, the flowage comes into full view.  Blast my blundering ways.  Had I advanced on the flowage slowly and cautiously, more thoughtful perhaps, I would have been able to get some good pictures of several cranes.  They saw me and bolted before I could even get the camera off my hip.

     This time of the year there isn’t much to a flowage.  The water is blue and all the plants are green.  Flowers have faded and the nothing has gone brown , golden, or red yet.  I waited a few minutes in the hope that the cranes would come back or a turtle would come up.  I was rewarded with a groundhog sighting, but not long enough for a picture.  She was up, over the dike, and in the other side in rather a hurry.

     Leaving the flowage to east I picked up North Settlement Rd, then Kling Rd and back to the car.

     This short 5 mile hike capped off my summer adventure in the Black River State Forest.  I write  this in late October not knowing where I’ll be living next summer, knowing there are many other trails and forests, knowing this might have just been a once in a lifetime hike – this short 5 mile August trip.

Say hello to my little friend

Black River State Forest - Wandering

GPS Track File 08/08/2013

     A few days after a hike along a pair of sandy roads in the forest I went back for more.  I signed off from work at 4:15, grabbed my pack and boots, some water, and drove north to the Black River State Forest yet again.

     I had no real plan for a hike, except to get into the woods and see where I went.  That would be within some reason, though.  Arriving at the Wildcat trail parking lot at about 4:49 I had a little less than 3 hours of daylight to poke around the woods.  On the drive up I thought about an access road that cut through the trails.  That might be a good path to follow.  The path is gated from vehicle access and must go somewhere into the woods.

This plant is all over on Shale Rd and Kling Rd and smells great!

     I picked the Red Oak trail this time and hiked in.  I did not make it very far, maybe 200m, before I saw a two track heading off to the north.  I picked that up and paralleled North Settlement Road for a short bit.  After a 1/4 mile the track ended at an old, not recently used logging road.  I followed that back to road.  The road took me north for another 1/4 mile before a two track went into the woods to the west.  I followed that a very short distance where it ended in an overgrown clearing.  In the middle of the clearing was a rock-encircled fire pit.  The fire pit looked to have seen use since Winter, but the state of vegetation gave that time as probably earlier in the summer, if not Spring.  Turkey hunters?  There were two other tracks from the clearing.  One of them I surmised went back to the road.  I followed the other that went west, but after about 200yds the trail turned into nothing, but trees and bushes.  I went back and took that third track which did head back to the road.

     From there I took the road up to the intersection with Shale Rd and turned to head west on Shale Rd.  There were a couple of very overgrown tracks that did not look to go very far.  One of them I could see from the road went in about 100ft and ended in bush.  I kept along Shale Rd for a 1/4 mile (ok 0.23 miles) until I hit a more prominent track at the edge of a pine plantation.  I took this north to see where it would go.
     The track cuts through a pine plantation for a 1/3 of a mile.  I stepped off the track once to see if there was a view of a marsh area.  I heard a heron just on the other side of the pines and could see there was a marshy area.  I could only get about 100ft out before I hit swamp.  No heron.
     The track was well worn, seeing rather frequent use during the summer.  After a 1/3 of a mile, though, a medium size tree was across the track and immediately the track went from well worn to something not traveled in years.  The grass and weeds went from none to 4ft high.  I began bush-wacking.  The trail was now an old two-track, but at times it was difficult to even discern that this was a trail except for the distance between the tree.  There were many wet spots along the way and the grasses and plants growing on the trail soaked my boots and tore at my legs as  I trudged along.  I brought out the head net as the mosquitoes now made their presence well known.  Another 1/3 mile of pushing through the growth and navigating an increasingly broken and swampy trail, the path ends at the edge of a large swamp forming Tanner flowage.
     The blue sky, the wildflowers in the swamp, the blue jays screeching in the trees and that same nearby, but hidden, heron, made that wet and rugged jaunt more than worth the effort.

Swamp of Tanner Flowage

Swamp of Tanner Flowage

     I stood for as long as the flies and mosquitoes would let me, and knowing I was pushing daylight, I turned back.   Once clear of the brush I took a quick 5 minute break to stretch and get some water in me.  Then I followed yet another track west along the northern edge of the pine plantation.  Shortly after the pine plantation this path fell apart into brush.  On Google Earth it appears that this path might continue a little west before turning south to meet Shale Rd, but in reality there is nothing navigable after 200m.
     I followed the same path back to Shale Rd and turned west.  A good part of the forest on this section of road was harvested just last year.  A short ridge is visible and I took a side trip to the top of this to get a view.  I had a notion of following this ridge west to the paved part of Shale Rd, but quickly gave that idea up.  The top of the ridge is littered with stumps, branches, holes, and left over branches.  Traveling through this terrain is challenging to say the least and there is no straight path.  I went back to Shale Rd. 

Top of the cleared ridge looking south

     The rest of the trip was somewhat uneventful.  I took a 10 minute break at the same berm at the same intersection of Shale and Kling before heading back to the Red Oak trail and the car.  I made the car by 7:41, just shy of three hours and still with some daylight remaining for the drive back home.

Black River State Forest - Logging Road

GPS Track File 08/04/2013

     This summer my boots saw a good deal of the Black River State Forest.  There was a three week period where my weeknights were entirely my own and the forest is only 40 minutes away.  The days in late July and early August are still long with sun-down somewhere in the neighborhood of nine-o-clock.  Logging off from work at 4:15, the backpack already ready to go, I’m out the door by 4:25 and in the woods by 5:15.  I couldn’t do that every night, but I can tell you I was quite tempted.

     In all I made my way to the forest for six different hikes.   Previous blogs have detailed two of them and in this entry I’ll cover another one.

     The first of the previous hikes was on a swampy section of snowmobile trail.  The second took a route along a two mostly paved forest roads.  It was along this second hike that I found some a logging road that looked interesting.  During that hike some other two-tracks showed promise.  These kind of routes are always curious to me.  Where do they go and for how far?

     Sunday August 4^th was cool summer day with bright sunshine and a light breeze.  I made the Wildcat trail parking lot and was ready to hike by 10:20.  The plan was to follow the Norway Pine trail to its intersection with Shale Rd.  A small bit south of that intersection the route would leave Shale Rd and follow a logging road generally north to Kling Rd.  Kling Rd, an unpaved forest road, leads back to Shale Rd, followed by the north loop of the Red Oak trail and back to the parking lot.

     Previous hikes had been very bad for flies and mosquitoes and for this hike I brought along a small mosquito tent.  I’d tried it out in the backyard and although far from ideal I thought it might just do the trick to allow me 20 minutes of rest without being eaten alive.

     The Norway Pine trail climbs to the top of two ridges right out of the gate.  These are not steep climbs but for those of us who are not well trained endurance athletes, they will elevate the heart rate.  A great deal of the forest can be described as swampy and flat, flat, flat.  However, the area surrounding the Wildcat trail system is a meandering series of ridges.  These ridges can be as much as 200ft around the surrounding terrain.  After a couple of small ups and downs the trail sticks to the top of a ridge and runs fairly flat along the top.  The trail is well maintained as it serves as groomed XC ski trail in the winter.  Some benches are set out and there are occasional views to the south available through breaks in the trees.  These views are quite nice and worth a few minutes of rest.

View from Norway Pine trail

     At 10:54 I made the intersection and the familiar pavement of Shale Rd.  Two minutes of walking south a right turn put me on the sandy logging road.  Although there is no machinery visible at this point there is clear evidence of machinery running through the road.  The first sign is that there are tire tracks in the sand that look recent.  We had rain in the last two weeks since I’d been in the forest and these tracks are not eroded at all.  The most telling sign, though, is that there are many crushed carcasses of bugs.  There is some kind of iridescent green hopping bug in the forest.   They are everywhere.  There are hundreds of them every within a pebble toss.  With every footstep they hop away or into my legs.  These critters were not here two weeks ago.  I’m expecting some cutting ahead.  But being a Sunday I’m not worried about walking into active operations.  

What bug is this?

     Speaking of bugs, the mosquitoes are not so bad, but the flies are in force.  I turned around to find a small cloud of 8 to 10 flying behind me.  So, the hat is on.  I may have to use that bug tent after all.

     The woods are very quiet today.  A little bit of birdsong, and no sound of humans.  There was one other car in the parking lot, but I’ve not seen or heard them.  The forest is the usual mix of old pine that wasn’t ever logged mixed with oak, maple, hickory and assorted ground cover.  The road does go through a very short stand of plantation pine and then back into the mixed forest.  The plantation seems out of place.  Most of them border a more substantial road than this.  I’m sure in a few years this will not be here any longer.

     There are parts of this old logging road that show signs it was paved, at least partially, a long long time ago.  Chunks of broken blacktop rise out of the sand in small stretches every so often.

     A mile into the road, at 11:23, the road forks.  Equipment is visible on the right fork.  I’m not certain which fork to take, but the fork on the right is being logged and may be a newer cut.  I decide to follow the left fork and continue heading west.  I’ll know if I’ve chosen poorly if 

A.      I run into the intersection of the old ATV and snowmobile trails

B.      This road simply does not head straight north in a couple minutes.

Along the logging road on a Sunday morning

     11:28 – I am at the intersection of the ATV and snowmobile trail.  Well, time for a break, a stretch and then I’ll head back to the fork in the road.  Interestingly, the ATV and snowmobile trails are gated off.  They would make for some good hiking without four wheeled monsters tearing them up.  Maybe another trip, eh?

     Heading north along the logging road there is a substantial amount of the forest that is being logged or about to be logged.  After 10 minutes of walking from the fork in the road there are areas on both sides of the road where activity is taking place.  This will be a very different looking forest in four weeks.

      I got a glance of the western sky at 11:46 and could see a bank of dark clouds rolling in.  The wind has died down to almost nothing.  The birds are taking a siesta and the only noise I hear is my feet and the attack of a fly who drew the short straw.  I’m hoping this doesn’t mean rain.  I left the rain jacket at home and I’m going to still be out here for a couple hours more.

     Two turkey made themselves very briefly visible trying to cross the road.  They didn’t stick around long enough for me to get a picture.  By the time I made it to their crossing they were deep in the ground cover.

     I hit the intersection of the logging road and Kling Rd at 11:55.  There is a substantial plantation of fir trees at that corner.  I’ve seen that in a couple places now; here and in Monroe County forest land.  The fir trees are planted so close together you could not walk between them.  They are an interesting choice that I don’t quite understand.  But, I went to school for computer science and not forestry management.

     This was to be my long break.  High noon was a good time to break out the PBJ sandwich, an apple, and some luke-warm ice tea.  Yum.  The road has been cleared of trees on both sides.  This yielded a nice open area with stumps to sit on.  Also a chance to catch what little breeze there was.  Also a chance to see the gray skies heading my way.  This would be tight.  I estimated that the storm was about 90 minutes away and I had about 120 minutes of hiking left. 

     I was expecting to have to break out my bug tent.  I was determined to take a good 15 to 20 minute break and give my legs, hip, and feet a proper rest.  I’d found this was critical to managing my ability to hike more than a few miles in a day.  Oddly, though, as soon as I came to a rest the flies backed off and left me alone.  I sat on a stump and ate my food, listening for the occasional bird, but otherwise just enjoying a quiet day in the woods.

Taking a break on Kling Rd

    At 12:25 it was time to head off and follow Kling Rd back to Shale Rd.  As soon as I moved off that stump, the flies multiplied.  I would turn around quickly and could see what I can only describe as a cloud behind me.  20?  30?  Can’t tell.  Apparently I need a shower.

     The hike along Kling Rd revealed several other little unpaved tracks heading into the woods.  One had a sign, the others did not.  I would have to come back and follow some of them.  The likely case is that most of them would duck in about 200yds and end.  The walk along Kling was interesting.  In addition to the several paths into the forest, the forest itself changed frequently.  A fir plantation gave way to new forest, cut maybe 3 years ago, then a marshy area.  That morphed into scrub forest around the marsh, a pine plantation about 15 years old, a clear cut area, another mixed forest of old and new trees.  

     Right at 13:00 I took a little break at the intersection of Kling and Shale.  I parked on a berm left behind by the bulldozer that created the roads.  This made a nice little seating area and, once again, I stopped and so did the flies.  The sky actually began to clear.  Whatever rainstorm was threatening decided to skirt north and skip the forest.  After a 5 minute break to take off the boots and socks to the air the feet, I was back on the road and heading for the Wildcat hiking trails.

     I met the trail at 13:20 and had only a mile and half remaining.  Along the trail I found a $5 bill.  If you can claim it I’ll take you out for a $2.50 drink.  At 13:53 I was back to the car.

     I mentioned to my wife that it seemed very trite to note the age of tire tracks and crushed bugs to determine that there was probably logging activity in a state forest on a logging road.  A most excellent deduction Watson.  Bravo and my most sincere congratulations.  Not often will one fine logging operations on a logging road.

    Then again, the interesting part is that during a hike your thoughts wander to these small things.  These things mean little outside of the context of the moment.  That is certainly one of the more endearing aspects of getting out into the woods; that your concerns revolve around tire tracks, clouds of flies, and peanut butter sandwiches.