Weather forecasts on the island of Oahu lack drama of any manner save for those rare moments when a hurricane limps towards the island chain. Most Summer days in the central plains of Oahu will top out at 85F and fall perhaps as low as 69F. A major change in temperature is a 4 or 5 degree change. Winter brings rain and high temps of 81F, lows of 67F. Every days forecast was much like the day before. The two years I spent in the central plains I don’t recall the seasons changing. The waves on the North Shore would grow larger, gradually, until Waimea Bay was a sculpted bowl. After a few months, gradually, the waves would shrink and the bay would return to a larger sloping beach. All this happening so slowly, the change simply part of the background until you suddenly realized the rain had not really stopped in 3 days. I recall one stretch in the Winter of 1989 where the central plains had 11 straight days of rain. Our 6 day rotation of midnight shift fell right in the middle of that. The clouds hung low between the two mountain ranges catching us right in the middle. Gray and wet. Work in the dark of night. Sleep in the dark of curtained windows.
The seasons in the upper Midwest are felt much more acutely. Winter and Spring overlap for a few weeks in April with sleet, rain, and mud, but there is that one day when the snow cover disappears for good under soaking gray skies. All that is left to remind us that Winter was once present are the dirty chunks of snow and sand on the side of the roads. The rain stops by morning. When the sun rises the woods have taken on a slight green tint in patches of new buds.
Summer takes over from Spring with the first thunderstorm in May. By then the flowers are bloomed, the leaves are fully green, and on one warm day black clouds roll in from the Northwest and lightening fills the skies.
Fall is the most special season in this part of the world. The changes are not sudden, but they are not dramatic. There are days where the hot Summer gives way to high temperatures 20 degrees colder. Then a new front passes in and Summer is back perhaps for a few days. The trees begin to turn, slowly, a few trees in the valleys first. If the weather is peaceful and the windstorms are kept away, there is a marvelous show of color on the hills, bluffs, valleys. Those who have only seen the Fall colors from their TV sets are missing one of life’s best moments.
Still, the moment when Summer ends and Fall begins, that day, is tricky. When did the first leaf turn? Not today. Today’s high temp was 82F. Fall has a tell, though. During years of cross country practice I’ve learned that tell. Years of spending 3 hours of late afternoon and an hour walking home in twilight taught me when Fall really starts. Summer ends and Fall begins with a smell.
Maybe, on that day, a tree of two have a few leaves that are no longer their Summer red or green. Maybe on red leaf is now ever so slightly orange. On stressed tree shows several yellow leaves that were a weak shade of green during the hot months of July and August. These are false signs and mean little. August smells of sweet and green, a sticky, sometimes cloying scent. Fall smells of broken and dry vegetation like when you collect pine cones and dry them over the fire.
Wisconsin’s last day of Summer in 2012 was Saturday September 8th.
The official last day of Summer was still 13 days away when Ruth and loaded the bikes on the car and made our way to Parfrey’s Glen by Devil’s Lake State Park. The goal was to hike two sections of the Ice Age Trail. If you’ve read previous blogs you’ll know that I’ve tried this a few times before, the last time ending very early in a sprained ankle.
The week before had been a warm week, with highs in the low 80s. Not very warm by late August/early September standards, but far from cold. I had been looking forward to this hike for a week and there were a couple times when I thought Ruth might back out of it. Actually, right up until we left the driveway I was not certain the hike was going to happen. I spent some considerable thought on how to express my extreme displeasure. I figured the best way would simply to have just gone by myself. Fortunately, that was wasted thought.
The morning broke as usual with me watching a dog do what dogs do first thing in the morning. The day was crisp, around 55F but still did not have the bite that comes with a Fall morning. As I walked the old shepherd to the end of the road I had to stop because there was the tell. I smelled that smell I know so well. Fall was making it’s way to Wisconsin. If I could get Ruth out of the house this would be a great hike.
We did get out of the house, but an hour late. This would mean that if anything out of the ordinary occurred and delayed our hike further we’d finish the hike in the dark. That’s not a terrible thing, but something I try to avoid, except on purpose. Rain was forecast for the evening hours (after 7pm) so I really wanted us off the trail by 17:30. We left the house at 9:50 so we would be pushing things.
The drive down was mercifully quick as traffic was very light for a Saturday morning. We arrived in Merrimac and had the bikes off the car at 11:39. The plan was to bike 2.5 miles from Merrimac to Parfrey’s Glen. We would then pick up the Ice Age Trail for the Sauk Point segment. We would follow that across the highway where we would pick up a ski/hiking trail in the state park. That would lead us to the Merrimac segment of the IAT. Then a mile and a half of pavement would take us back to the car. The bikes were again a critical component in allowing us to save a few miles of backtracking on pavement. Instead of 4 miles of pavement we had only 1.4 miles. The only backtracking would be done on 4 wheels.
The ride up Baraboo St out of Merrimac is straight as an arrow, but has three long hills. I tried to remember good shifting strategy and found that my hip and leg were doing well on the bike. Far better than the previous ride in Chippewa County (man, do I want to get back there!) We negotiated the hills well and on a couple of downhill parts sought to coast. A steady West wind had other ideas. Sadly, there was little coasting on the ride to Parfrey’s Glen.
We made the parking lot in about 20 minutes, maybe 18. Uncharacteristically, I did not time the ride. The parking lot was full already, with families taking advantage of cool sunny day. There were only a few clouds in the sky and by Noon the temp was 66F.
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| Trailhead at Parfreys Glen |
By 12:12 we had the packs on and were on the trail, heading East. This first part of the trail sports a long steady climb. The climb is never steep, but is over a mile long. That can take a toll of those who do not care for uphill segments (Ruth!). On the voice recorder I made a statement that although long I did not find the climb all that challenging. Ruth made a little face at the comment. We still did average 1.5mph which is pretty average for us on a climb.
We passed Solum Ln at 13:22. We didn’t bother checking out the parking lot and kept hiking. A couple minutes later we popped out of the woods. The trail skirted a hummocked prairie. Unceremoniously, Ruth dropped her pack and we took a 10 minute break. A perfect spot for a breather. The prairie was in a late Summer state with numerous aster and goldenrod; several other wildflowers I did not know. The prairie was a pond of yellow, green, and brown. Looking closely red and bloom made smaller appearances. Sumac and smaller shrub trees hung back from the trail just over our heads. A telephone pole older than my first dirty diaper stood sentry next to a trio of cedar, reminding us that this area has to put up with us as more than just visitors.
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| Sauk Point prairie |
That trio of cedar would be our welcome back into the woods. This next section of the trail proved to be rather rugged. Travelling slightly downhill we began to encounter a rockier trail. Finally, the trail begins winding downhill for certain. At this point the trail winds around small boulders of quartzite, but the trail itself is a jumble of sharp and angled rocks. Footing was quite treacherous during this section, but the woods were very pretty with large and small rocks scattered among ferns and other greenery. After crossing a creek we stopped quickly to say Hi to the horses and then we found ourselves on Cty DL and the end of the Sauk Point segment. We had covered 4.2miles just less than two hours. 14:04.
The IAT crosses the highway and abruptly head uphill. There is a trail to the left immediately after the highway. That is the not the trail we wanted, but we, ah, just wanted to check out the parking lot. Yeah, see, just check it out. The ski/hiking trail is about 200m up the hill. The going was pretty smooth with wide trails groomed for skiing. We too the Uplands ski trail for about a mile. The trail went from smooth to rocky, almost as rugged as the section just before Cty DL. We took a short break on a bench at the intersection of the IAT and the Uplands trail. Instead of putting a rock on the cairn by the trail we thought we’d be clever and balanced a small rock on the top of the sign post.
At 14:28 we started back on the IAT and a couple of miles on the Devil’s Lake segment. The trail descends immediately and is again a rugged trail splattered with quartzite. We were to learn at a sign later that these are called talus slopes. Devil’s Lake is known for these formations of boulders and sharps rocks. I’ve hiked in the state park on the East Bluff trail in November. When those rocks are wet and especially when those rocks are icy they are very dangerous. The Merrimac segment begins where the IAT crosses South Lake Rd, at the bottom of the slope. By 15:05 we had crossed the road and were at Roznos Meadow. Roznos Meadow is at the point where the glacier ended and began it’s melt into Devil’s Lake. The ice wall at this point was over 1500ft high. A moraine lies at the West end of the meadow and then Devil’s Lake. Standing in the middle of the meadow, with South Bluff on the left, the south face of East Bluff on the right and meadow between me and the lake I was struck with the thought this Devil’s Lake might be considered Wisconsin’s Yosemite. Yosemite is larger and mightier to be sure (I’m writing this while wearing a Yosemite t-shirt!), but the similarities between this valley and Yosemite, visually are not a hard stretch.
The meadow was fantastic. The grasses, at times, were higher than our heads. Some clouds had begun to thicken, but the sun still held sway over the wildlife in the meadow. About 15 minutes we lost the trail for a bit. A wide area of the trail had been mown for some reason. A rectangular area about 50ft wide and a few hundred feet long had been cut down to nubbins. Along the trail in the meadow there had been yellow blazes painted the occasional tree and even one time on a fallen log. Once or twice there was yellow trail tape in the tree. We came out to the mown area with yellow trail tape on a scrub tree and then… no trail. The trail was not visible, so I started by walking to the upper right corner and was going to walk along the length of the mown area until we found the trail. The trail was in the upper right corner. I called over Ruth. We found some red trail tape on the tree that had one spot of yellow paint on it. The tape had been painted yellow and tied to the back side of a bush. The paint had almost completely worn off and the green of the bush obscured the tape besides. From that point to the parking lot the trail was well marked.
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| Roznos Meadow |
We made the parking lot on Cty DL by 15:35. We had been making good time, but did not feel we were hurrying. We had already planned that this parking lot was going to be our long break of the day. While waiting to leave that morning I came up with most brilliant plan to stash a cooler with sandwiches and pop in bushes by the parking lot. We did just that on our way to Merrimac. The parking lot is right at the turn we would take to go to Merrimac. There were bushes right by the lot that perfectly hid the cooler from less honest eyes. That cold pop was very welcome. We took off shoes, socks and shirts. Well, I took off my shirt. I tried to convince Ruth that despite the four cars in the lot and the well-travelled county highway, there would be no problem. She wasn’t buying it and my hopes of an easy thrill were dashed. We munched our sandwiches, dried out, stretched out, and by 16:00 were on our way through the Riverland Conservancy land.
The IAT through the RC is through marsh land, but at this time of the year and especially this drought year was dry and easily travelled. The sights of the bluffs and Roznos Meadow were still visible as the trail wound through the marsh near the roads. The Sauk County chapter of the Ice Age Alliance is to be commended for their excellent work on the boardwalk that was used in a few places of the marsh. Ruth had to stop and see how it was built. Very nice job!
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| Boardwalk through marsh |
We could not get close to the cranes in a small pond behind some trees, but we were still able to see them and hear them complain about our intrusion. At one point the trail climbs a small hill and turns North. The cloud formation was telling us that while we would not be chasing daylight, a storm would be chasing us. Not a nice storm either. Since the early morning I’d noted Fall’s tell a few times on the trail. A different smell that was sharper than Summer, mustier. The clouds were Summer’s statement that although today was it’s last day it was going to go out in dramatic fashion.
The trail after crossing Parfrey’s Glen Creek is generally flat dipping in and out of woods while also skirting fields and pastures. The local trail chapter must be planning some work as the trail on the East side of Marsh Rd was dotted with small utility flags bearing trail maintenance instructions.
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| Skirting a field |
We hit Marsh Rd for the last time at 17:35. We had 1.4 miles of pavement into Merrimac to the car. The sky to the West and South was still sunny, but the Northern sky was black. We were going to get wet. Summer was going to have it’s last song and at our expense. We dropped the packs in the car and made our way to the public bathrooms by the ferry by 18:04. We males have a profound advantage over females in the woods. There are activities that simply require us to find a good tree that simply does not work for the women-folk. The bathroom at the ferry was a welcome sight for Ruth. We hopped in the car and picked up the bikes. Then we made our way back to the parking lot to retrieve the cooler. Here we decided to change clothes in the car as well. The sky above us was very dark and lightening was bouncing around to the North. The first few drops hit as I put the cooler in the car and began changing socks and shoes. I had just tied the last shoe and had pulled my foot into the car when the deluge began. We made it by a half second.
12.11 miles (plus 2.59 miles bike) 5h 52min. A very good long hike.
