Summary of Our Mammoth Challenge on the Ice Age Trail

 

I worked from home today and have nothing to say, other than we went to the optician's place to get new glasses for me, and the optician was overwhelmed with people so we just left. In the evening we went to Bierock and listened to a guitar-heavy band, but they cranked the volume and we left. We went to the rail yard, but nothing was happening there. However, I submitted our Mammoth Hike Challenge completion form this evening, and it occurs to me that the narrative I had to write for the form would make a good blog post. So here goes:

Every year before this, we have succeeded in hiking all the miles of the Mammoth Hike Challenge, but this year we only hiked 37.6 miles because Famous Hat lost a whole week going to a wedding in Philadelphia. The first weekend we spent a lot of time on the Lapham Peak segment, and the weather was so beautiful that Famous Hat had to take off her Lapham Peak hoodie, but she did wear her Mammoth Hike Challenge T-shirt.

One of our favorite segments is the Verona Junction one. The expansive vista has us feeling like we're on top of the world. Famous Hat never particularly liked autumn until that first year, during the pandemic, when we hiked there and she beheld the world splashed in vermilion, gold, and scarlet. Now October is her second-favorite month after May, which not only looks beautiful but smells wonderful too.

Travalon hiked several segments while Famous Hat was in Philly, and because he starts work later in the day, he hiked some mornings to try to make up the lost miles while Famous Hat was driving with Tiffy through the mountains of Pennsylvania at their color peak, astounded by the sight of the Penn State campus. Though to be fair, the Madison campus on the edge of Lake Mendota is just as beautiful.

On Halloween we hiked on the Blackhawk Segment. This was the first time we had hiked on this segment,  and were amazed at how beautiful the lake was. Famous Hat wore her monster hat and found a tree that also looked like a monster. (Photo attached.) 

We loved the view of the lake, and Travalon said it looked like Maine, and he half-expected a moose to come charging out of the woods. There was apparently an ultramarathon going on that day, so every now and then a very tired runner would pass us and say, "Have a great hike!" Guess they could tell we weren't ultramarathoners! Not sure what gave it away... 

We just love that first weekend in Delafield! It's like a great big, fabulous Mammoth Challenge party! We got a ton of Trail Magic that day and attended a local event. We even got our photo taken with the Mammoth! Shared plenty of photos on MyFace, since we are Gen Xers and don't do the other social media.

We visited the Black Earth Creek Bridge by the Ice Age Trail Headquarters in Cross Plains, Historic Clock Tower Square in Delafield, and Nixon Park in Hartland. Travalon visited the Greetings from Portage mural, the Old Indian Agency House in Portage, and the Slinger Historical Museum. He enjoyed watching trains at the Portage rail yard and by the Slinger Historical Museum, in the Rail Fan Pavilion. He also went to the Historical Janesville Roundhouse. We are both rail fans as well as hikers and bird paparazzi (Travalon's word for it).

In Delafield we both got coffee at Blue Collar, the commemorative cup at Voodoo Brewing (full of their sour beer), a patch and a book at the local event, lunch at Guiseppe's Pizza, and Travalon bought a T-shirt at Clearwater Outdoors. We also took our photos in the big yellow chairs there and in Hartland, and we had the Mammoth Challenge sundaes at Here's the Scoop. (Good thing we hiked some of those calories off!)

Famous Hat missed a weekend for the wedding in Philadelphia, but Travalon got Trail Magic with a protein shake from DeWitt Street Nutrition in Portage, coffee and a brownie from Birch and Banyan in Hartland, coffee from the Common Grind in Lodi, and a Brewers smoothie from the Daily Dose in Slinger.

We both got lunch and coffee from the Crossroads Coffeehouse in Cross Plains, and coffee from Icki Sticki in Verona. The most fun Trail Magic was making glass magnets at the Vinery in Whitewater.

We tried to go to Center Street Cafe, but it was unexpectedly closed that day. Since it was Halloween, we couldn't get Trail Magic the next day.

We saw an Ice Age Trail license plate in our church parking lot - good to know there are other Catholic hikers! Famous Hat also sees one every time she gets in her own car. She wore her Mammoth Challenge T-shirt every Saturday on the trail.

We missed registering by September 7 by one day. Will try to do better next year.

So do you feel like you joined us on the Mammoth Hike Challenge? I had an infused drink for the first time in weeks - can you tell? Do you think the Ice Age Trail folks will be able to tell? "Man, was this lady ever stoned when she wrote this!" One thing I never tried was hiking while stoned. While the Ice Age Trail is not particularly dangerous, it does seem like the sort of thing where you'd want to have your wits about you completely. There are some steep drop-offs along the trail now and then.

Famous Hat

Famie's Birthday at the Elks Club

 

Today I worked on campus, and in the morning I went to a meeting that made me feel really stupid. I have a large vocabulary, and I understood all the words people were using, but not the sentences they were making with them. One person would give a long answer that didn't say anything, and then another person would say, "Good answer!" Did everyone understand but me? Then in the afternoon I went up to talk to a colleague about work, then we started talking about other stuff until it was time to leave.

After work I went to the Elks Club for the monthly Irish session, and I wasn't sure how many people were coming so just before six I snagged a larger table. Then I sat alone for forty-five minutes at this large table while people looked at me funny. My colleague had said she was coming at six, but there was no sign of her. Celtic Lass was planning to come around six, but she got delayed and arrived just before Travalon. Famie said she was coming at seven, and then at seven my colleague arrived. She seemed to get along well with everyone else. Celtic Lass had to leave just as Famie arrived, because she was meeting her cousin and another friend who were going to help her move, but then they came back and our whole table was full. It was Famie's birthday, so we celebrated that and the election results and the Brewers win. It was so much fun! It was totally worth waiting alone for almost an hour once the party got started! 

Travalon picked up our finished magnets from the Vinery. Here's mine:

And here's his:

I think they turned out pretty well! Trail magic at its best!

Travalon also went to Watertown and saw a train. Here are screenshots from the video:

This is some quality graffiti. There was plenty that wasn't quality, but I didn't bother including that.

Famous Hat

More Train Art from Slinger

 

I don't have much to say about today. I worked on campus and walked with Hardingfele, since Seabird is in China right now. There was going to be a victory rally at the Capitol, but then it was canceled, and then there were only two of us on the shuttle so we chatted with the driver. 

I realized yesterday that I'd accidentally brought my cool little outdoor rosary with me to Adoration, but today it was no longer in my pocket, so I retraced my steps but found no trace of it. So sad - I loved that rosary! Why didn't I put it in my bag when I found it in my pocket? And how did it fall out of my pocket? And how did I not notice?

Here are some screenshots of graffiti on a train Travalon saw in Slinger on Kayhu's birthday.

Here are some from another train he saw that day.

He made several other videos, so I may be posting more train art soon.

Famous Hat