More Ice Age Trail Hiking

 

Today Jilly Moose and the Single B-Boy joined Rich, Travalon, and me at brunch. The Single B-Boy was saying that he flew up to Manitowish Waters this past week to bike on the bike trail Travalon and I had hiked on, and he said there was a line that went right through the town where north of it the autumn colors were spectacular, and south of it they were starting but not peak yet. (Which reminds me, I saw an obituary recently in which it said the decedent would study any subject that "peeked" his interest.) I felt a bit wistful, thinking I'd like to see Manitowish Waters when the colors are peaking, but I did just get to go there last month. While talking at brunch, I realized I had also neglected an important detail about the swanky dinner and dance last night: there was one guy there who wasn't in swanky clothes but was dressed more like a pirate, even having a big green parrot named Diego on his shoulder. At one point I came face-to-face with the pirate and Diego, and when I asked if Diego was friendly, the pirate said "Yes" and Diego said "Hello." The live music was provided by a man who played a keyboard with one hand and a trumpet with the other, and he did a really great job covering Herb Alpert's version of "Taste of Honey." When he started, he said he took requests, so I said, "Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White." He claimed it had been a long time since anyone had requested that song, but he played it, and Travalon and I danced. Maybe dancing half the night after hiking half the day was a bit much, because I was very footsore by the end of the night! How will I ever do the Camino? 

However, today Travalon and I went to another section of the Ice Age Trail, this one passing through a wildlife reserve just south of Cross Plains. We didn't see much wildlife, but there were lots of cool rock formations.

There was also an obstacle on the path.

Here we are, happy to be on the trail!

We came out of the woods to a field from which you could see fall colors and beautiful vistas. I see Blogspot loaded these photos in the wrong order again, so this is an old stone house at the end of the segment we did. It seems to be an official Ice Age Trail building now.

Here are the fall colors and the sweeping vistas.

We did all of that segment and then hiked back to the starting point. Then we went to the nearby Valley View segment, which has lots of wonderful boardwalks, and did a little of that segment.

I don't know what happened to this young tree to make it zigzag like that.

I took this picture of a frog. It turned out pretty well.

We saw fall colors on that segment as well.

And of course wetlands, which is why there were boardwalks.

Now we have hiked over twelve miles cumulative, out of a total of forty-one, so we're well on our way. Then we went home, and I skipped Irish class to watch the Packers beat the Steelers at Lambeau. I think we can forgive them for rolling over and playing dead when they met the Saints, since they seem to be back on track now.

Famous Hat