I started on Shannon Road, the same place where Mom and I ended our first short hike a few weeks ago. From there I head north for the last part of the Holy Hill section.
Surprisingly the trail is in great shape, considering all the rain we had received the whole week before. The other thing completely different from the hikes going back to March....LEAVES the trees and bushes are in full glorious foilage! So neat, sun peaking through, color other than gray and brown.
Up trail, a bit gnarly
Finally I reached the Pike Lake section of the trail.
The other interesting item to note here is how flat, wide and generally large the trails are in this part. You can see by the trail post this particular trail section is shared by Pike Lake brown, blue, orange and green with the yellow blaze of the Ice Age trail at the bottom.
There is an observation tower on Powder Hill. I made it to the base had a little lunch. That consisted of an Epic meat bar (pretty gross, wont have those again) Peanuts and chocolate chips an energy gel and a few cookies.
Next the climb to the top. I did not count the stairs but there was some info on how this is the second highest point in Southeastern Wisconsin. The tower is on an elevation of about 1300 feet and itself is 60 foot tall. Look at the elevation graph at the end to see if you can figure out where the tower was.
Pike Lake
Zoomed in
Actual distance
Pike Lake trails are busy. With the campground there as well as being so close to Slinger, its an easy hike for most people in the area.
I was not paying too close of attention to my trail markers apparently. Since so many wide trails and the Ice Age Trail shared them I missed the part where it finally split off. I only noticed it after hiking some time then looking at my GPS. Grrr It added over a mile to my hike to backtrack like that.
When I got back on track, I found that Pike Lake also has campsites exclusively for trail hikers. 3 sites that you do need to reserve in advance, but very cool. Gives me some ideas to try my chops at overnight backpacking. I just need a real backpack. The day pack I have is not big enough for such a expedition. Food shelter etc.
The trail crosses Hwy 60 dips into the woods and then pops back out on the streets of Slinger, about 4 blocks from Hwy 144.
I hike to the Slinger House where I left my car. Utilising all my willpower to not go in for a burger and beer. I had bison steaks waiting to be grilled when I got home.
All in all it was a nice day. A little under 4 hours total and 3 hours 15 minutes actually hiking with a distance of 10.4 Miles. The longest hike to date by at least 2 miles. Only one more section to complete the whole county section. Then I can go north or south after that or redo some now that they have all the leaves!
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