Mammoth Hike Challenge 2026 Kickoff: Delafield

 

Today we had a very relaxed morning, and I did a lot of DuoLingo. It was a very palindromic day for me on there.

Eventually Travalon and I headed to Delafield for some "trail magic," which is stuff you can do to get "bonus miles" in the Mammoth Hike Challenge. We have always legitimately hiked the whole thing, but this year I will be gone one weekend, and also we have to do forty-six cumulative miles. That is six more than when we started. Our first stop was Blue Collar Coffee to get (more) caffeinated (we had coffee at home), then we had someone take our photos in the big yellow chairs. We do this every year.

We also went to the outdoor clothing shop, where Travalon bought an Ice Age Trail T-shirt and we got two-for-one energy bars, and then we had our photo taken with the Mammoth.

We went to Guiseppe's Pizza for a discounted lunch (coffee was also discounted), and this page from a coloring book made me laugh.

I know it says "Hello Spring," but am I the only one who sees "Hell Spring"? Plus the pizza flowers are killing me. Then we went to Voodoo Brewing and bought a cup (sorry, forgot to take a photo) which supports the Ice Age Trail Alliance, and so we got a free pour. Like last year, we chose an incredibly delicious sour in a beautiful green color. This photo is a little misleading, because it's not the cup we got but one of their own glasses, and also sorry, we had drunk most of it before I thought to take a photo.

It kind of tasted like grape soda. So good!! There was an official Ice Age Trail event there, and we bought a book and a patch so they gave us a raffle ticket, but the drawing was at two and you had to be present to win, while we really wanted to hit the trail. We drove down the road to Lapham Peak, but by then it had warmed up so I had to take off my Lapham Peak hoodie. (I still had on my Ice Age Trail bucket hat and last year's Mammoth Challenge T-shirt.) The weather was perfect. Here are some photos from our sun-drenched afternoon on the trail.

I had pulled a muscle in my back picking something up off the floor in the pizza place, but fortunately I felt fine during the hike. Since then I've been walking like a hunched-over old lady. Hopefully this issue is resolved by tomorrow, which is usually true for me when I've pulled a muscle in my back. After all that hiking, we went to "Dupeyville" to watch trains, but we waited for forty minutes and never saw one. We decided to head back to Delafield, stopping in Hartland which is another Trail Community... and then we heard the train! We went to a park where we could see it, and Travalon made a video of the tail end of it. I'll provide screenshots later, since this post already has so many photos, but this one is so cool that I have to include it today.

My regular readers know how much I love single eyes. Maybe it's because a bunch of people on my dad's side are named O'Sullivan, which is literally "one eye" in Irish. Suil = eye and amhain = one, which is pronounced "sool - awan." After that we went to the Hartland Library, which was already closed, but did you know they also have big yellow chairs for you to sit in and take a photo to post on social media? I didn't, but now I do.

Then we went back to Delafield and had sundaes at the local ice cream shop. Mine had peanut butter cups and little pretzel balls and pieces of chocolate chip cookie and whipped cream and hot fudge on it. I'd say I earned it with that hike, but no way did I burn that many calories! We headed home, but the sun was shining right in our eyes, so Travalon was having trouble seeing where he was going. We pulled over at a rest stop, and by the time we finished powdering our noses, the sun had set.

Now that the Cubbies are out of the picture, I am all in for the Brewers. They are playing right now, and Tiffy and our other college friend are there. Tiffy sent a photo.

The Cubs won it all ten years ago, which is a while now but not like their previous drought when they were under the Curse of the Billy Goat. The Brewers have never won it all, but maybe this is their year. I can now cheer for them with a clear conscience.

Famous Hat