Ice Age Trail

We mainly wanted to put a good number of miles under our tires today. But I had one planned wish, and that was to at least put my feet on the Ice Age Trail. We chose Janesville, Wisconsin, because it was on the way to where we were staying for the night.

I did a total of 0.7 mile. But my 20 minutes had just about everything a trail adventure can provide. Some was dirt, some was paved. A turn wasn't marked and I ended up at a dead end in a golf course. I needed a bathroom (but did find a porta-potty- Lon's Jons, actually). Once I went back and found the turn, I saw this. The Ice Age Trail has yellow blazes.

I followed the blazes down some beautifully made rock steps to the Rock River.

So now I have at least put a foot on 4 national scenic trails. Am I trying for all 11? Probably not; my chances of getting out west are low. But if the opportunity arises, I'll take it.

The day started with a fast look at a place called End-O-Line Railroad Park. We were not there when it was really open. That's probably good, or Diane and I would have seriously wanted to take the tour. It was much more than a village park with an engine. Basically, they are recreating a small village from the past. As far as I'm concerned, the key feature is an old turntable. I've seen some old ones, but never one that still has the rail down in the pit that allows the table to turn.

Here are some of the buildings in their historic village.

I was sadly thinking I was not going to see white pelicans on this trip. But we found some!

And just a quick shot out the window as we crossed to the east side of the Mississippi "where we belong."

Staying with friends for the night. Didn't have to set up the tents!

Hiked 0.7 miles, some of it on the Ice Age Trail.

Miles hiked in 2025: 350.3

See Dignity of Earth and Sky

People and Places

Isn't that the title of one of those grade level readers we had in the 1950s? Well, we were people on the move with places to visit today!

We started with breakfast with our host Lorana and long-time Marquette Chapter volunteer Jan.

Because multiple generations of Diane's family have been firefighters and EMTs, she wanted to stop at the Marquette Fireman's Memorial which is right on the NCT!

Next stop was a little hike to see the new Tyler Forks Bridge where Bill and I waded on the big hike in 2022. It's certainly a unique bridge. There's not another like it anywhere along the NCT. The hardened ford is so a property owner can get access.

Time for quick stop at the Soo Line Station building in Ashland, WI. It had been made into a fancy restaurant (where we were taken to eat long ago), then it burned. The city raised money forever to restore it. We wanted to see how that was going. The first floor is all fixed and has businesses operating. The second floor is still being worked on. It's an amazing building.

That left us just the minutes we needed to get to Kevin and Ellie's house. They hosted Bill and me on the big hike. Murphy in the middle is making sure we all know he's there.

"Come for lunch- we'll just have sandwiches and fruit," said Ellie. It was a lovely smorgasbord!

Another long-time NCT volunteer met us there too-- Peter. He came so I could get his new book A Place on Water, a nice collection of essays about rural Wisconsin. We had a private author reading! I'll share more after we read more of it.

Then we drove some more and are now settled in for the night in Minnesota.

This was not planned, but I was delighted to discover that the campground is on the Mississippi River!

Do we know how to stuff a day or what?

Now it's dark and I can't see they keyboard, but I've said enough for one day anyway.

Hiked 1.6 miles on NCT from WI Rt 169 to the Tyler Forks and back.

Miles hiked in 2025: 329.2
Miles hiked on NCT in 2025: 190.2

See One Last Peep from Paradise

Stop Three - Gary

 And... another virtual friendship bites the dust and becomes transformed to an in-person one. This is Gary, a man I met through a Facebook group focused on fiberglass trailers. He helped me overcome so many difficult fixes on my trailer, Sunny! Not only does he have a fiberglass trailer of his own that he did extensive repairs on, he has a lifetime of experience working on vehicles and figuring out ways to do things that aren't standard by-the-book repairs. We have several other things in common, and also a shared faith. Turns out... he also likes jigsaw puzzles. He had one started. Of course, we had to finish that while we visited. The puzzle is called "Cafe on the Water."

Best happenings of the drive... These are the cooling towers of a nuclear power plant. For one thing, I thought it was just interesting how the steam suddenly flattens out into the cloud layer. Must hit a layer of air that is a different temperature. I also thought the contrast of the high tech power generation with the farmland was interesting. If I'd stopped I could have gotten a much better picture, but I just did a bunch of point and shoot. This is the best one.

If you have any doubts that railroads are alive and well, just come to the plains. Long freight trains loaded with containers are a common sight.

I crossed the Mississippi River today too. There wasn't any real place to stop even if I'd been willing. I did a bunch of point and click attempts. This is the only one worth anything, and you can only see an edge of the river.

It was almost dark when I got to Gary's house. His neighbor has a small prairie he's restored. There are trails through it. There was just time to take a little walk which was perfect to get out the kinks. Again, not the best season of the year to showcase the plants. but it was enjoyable.

Just in time for a sunset on the prairie. Then he fed me stew and apple crisp. So yummy.

Turns out that Gary has a history of many skills using his hands, not just working on vehicles. For a while, he made mountain dulcimers. Here are two of them.

Once more, I'm very happy to have met this person for real. Of course, not every internet "relationship" works out, but I don't think it's all that different from the old "pen pal" idea. Some of those turned into real friendships, and some faded away. In either case, our horizons are always broadened a bit.

Thanks, Gary, for your help and your friendship!

See Stop Two- Ken

2-24 Game

 
The actual day was dreary, beginning with thundersnow and ice which changed to rain. I worked all day and am soon headed back for the Friday night routine.

But I'm reading a book about conquering fear and hiking. The author mentioned a study where hospital patients healed faster when they could view nature scenes through their windows. Even seeing pictures of natural settings promoted healing!

So, I'm playing that game where you take some numbers and look in your computer files for pictures. The date is 2-24. So I looked on my second SD card after I started taking digital pictures that were stored on them. Here is the 24th picture. I took a chance that it would be something outdoors, and I win that lotto.

This is a multi-use trail in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. Marie and I hiked it in August of 2009. It's part of the North Country Trail connections. When I first saw this picture I assumed it was part of the Mesabi Trail, which goes north from Grand Rapids. However, this was the day we hiked into town from the Chippewa National Forest. That was mostly road, but there must have been some small piece of paved urban trail.



Since I never really blogged about any of this (very hard to get internet connections on the road then), I'll put the picture in some context. As we connected from the Chip to Grand Rapids, we generally followed the route of the Mississippi River.



That same day we also walked past some lovely wetlands filled with water parsnip (Sium suave).



If there is any one flower that says northern Minnesota in late summer it's fireweed, Epilobium angustifolium.


We camped for several nights at the City Park where the sites were very reasonably priced. The alpenglow on the trees that evening was gorgeous.



The joke was on us a couple of nights later. We found out the park was right next to the speedway race track. On Saturday night we literally could not even stand being in the tent, so we took our book and drove to a different park many blocks away where we read and then talked till long after dark and it was "safe" to return to our tent.

Here's hoping this little nature moment from a few years back made you smile.

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