Hiking in Mazomanie

 

Yesterday was very cold and windy. Travalon and I went on a hike by the Yahara River, but the wind was so fierce that we could barely stand it. We went home to thaw and have some hot cocoa, and then we braved Jackson's Landing, which is more woodsy and sheltered so not nearly as bad. After that we went to Rich's house for the usual Thanksgiving crowd of about a dozen random people, and we had the turkey Travalon and I brought, lots of interesting sides, and several desserts from the person who always brings them... although no pumpkin pie. I had been thinking of making one, but I knew there would already be way too many desserts. There was a new guy there who was fascinating; he had studied years ago in the department where I now work, so we knew a number of people in common. We had a lot to talk about.

Today was cold, but not windy like yesterday. Travalon looked up places we could safely hike during deer hunting season (since the Ice Age Trail tends to go through land where hunting is allowed), and he found a county park in Mazomanie that sounded promising. When we first got to Mazomanie, we saw some bridges that looked interesting, so we found our way to the trailhead of the Wolf Run Trail. It went along Black Earth Creek. Travalon took some photos.

We could see another trail on the other side of the creek, so we found that trailhead and followed it to Lake Marion. There were intriguing rock formations along the trail.

We both thought Travalon had taken a photo of Lake Marion, which is a very small lake, or maybe a big pond, but if so, it didn't upload to my computer. We'll just have to go back.

Then we went to our original destination, a county park called Morton Forest after the family that donated the land. There were cool rock formations there as well, as we climbed a bluff.

At the top of the bluff, there were a couple of stunning overlooks.

The cloud on the lower right looks as if God is giving the view a thumb's up!

Here I am, with the sweeping vista behind me.

We drove along a road that gave us an incredible view of Blue Mound, so we drove to Blue Mound State Park on the top of the mound. The views were amazing, but we were so hiked out that we didn't bother getting out of the car to take a photo. Then we drove back to Madison to get coffee beans at EVP, since there was a branch of it right on our way. First we split a delicious margarita pizza at Luigi's, then we went to the Chocolate Shoppe for ice cream. We channeled our inner children and got the special cones with sprinkles on them! I had Snap-o-Lantern ice cream, which is pumpkin with ginger snaps in it, and Travalon had Malt Amore.

Then we went to EVP, and I was overjoyed because they had Brazilian beans. Those are the best! As longtime readers of this blog may remember, when I had a previous job right by a branch of EVP, I used to get Brazilian beans from them all the time. Sometimes they wouldn't have them, and I'd have to settle for Ethiopian or Nicaraguan or something else, but there's just something special about EVP Brazilian beans. It's still the best coffee I've ever had, except for the stuff from the Johnny Cash museum. I will never understand why that is the best coffee ever, but until I get back to Nashville, I'll settle for Brazilian beans from EVP.

Famous Hat