Due to too much going on for a lot of people, there will be no weekend long, brother, son, father, daughter river trip this year up in the Northwoods of WI. Just didn't work out and Tracy isn't quite ready for it yet.
With the week open for me I did a overnight hike I had been thinking about for a few weeks now. The weather was perfect 60's sunny some breezes. I decided to go for it.
I have hiked the entirety of the Kettle Moraine Northern Unit Ice Age Trail, more than once sections at a time. Today we would start at the top and do the whole enchilada in 1 day. Thats 3 counties, 31.6 official miles.
This was not as much as a get out and see the sights as a personal challenge. As mentioned, I have done this whole thing multiple times never much more than 12 miles in a day.
I packed up my gear Friday night and Saturday morning Tracy dropped me off at the County Hwy P trailhead just before 11 AM. I know seems a bit late but my intent was to go about 16 miles and as it got dark camp somewhere. All the 'legal' campsites were booked, so the less I was seen the better.
I got started and was just cruising, feeling great. I crossed Hwy 23 and started the half-mile road walk, this is where Joel and I started seeing all the storm clouds last time we hiked through here. Not today. I did pass a bar that was having a pumpkin chunkin charity thing. Most of the time I don't carry cash and today would be no different. And it was unfortunate. They were serving up all types of food and beverages and it would have been a great little treat. As it was I walked to the fields in the back and watched pumpkins get shot out of air cannons and trebuchets. Cool to see on TV even better in person, you could see and feel the machines do their thing.
After watching this for a bit I walked back to the trail. Stopped to turn my pants into shorts and reminisce about Joel and I scrambling to get pack covers on as the rain started pouring on us. This is the exact spot that happened.
I hiked for about 2 hours before getting to Greenbush Group camp. Lots of people here today, bikers, hikers and horse riders. I stopped to eat a little bit and get some water from the well they have here.
After that I got back out and set my sites on the next stop, Butler Lake. Hiking was still very easy and I averaged over 3 miles per hour. Granted this is not a hard hike, there are a lot of elevation changes but my pack was not that bad either.
Eventually I got to Butler Lake, just around 4 PM. Way ahead of schedule, by almost 2 hours. I took off my pack, my shoes, my socks, changed shirts and made dinner. Some old dehydrated beef stroganoff and noodles I had from 2014. It was surprisingly good.
I eventually put my shoes and socks back on to head out, I had so much daylight left I had to keep going.
Eventually I got to the campsite that I tried to reserve. I kept on walking. Next up was Mauthe Lake state park. Possible I could get a walk up site there. The sign said 5.4 miles. No problem.
Sunset was at 6:37 tonight and I walked through that and then some. I eventually got to the state park, which was actually 7.5 miles! Either I missed something or there is a mixed up sign. No matter, the ranger station was closed at 7 pm on Saturday. No camping here either. I put my headlamp on and kept going. The next site was 2 miles away. Would I see anyone, would I squat if there wasn't any one there? We will never know. When I got to the trail that takes you to the site, I remembered I had stayed here before and it was not good for hammocking. All the good trees were on steeper slopes, which sucks when you forget and get out of bed in the morning. I kept going. Eventually, around 8 PM I found a suitable place and stealth camped off the trail. Over 25 miles.The most I have ever done in one day. Hell, I have had 3 days to do less. I honestly even contemplated trying to go farther or even do the whole thing in one day. Although, I did not want to put Tracy on call to come get me at 11 PM or later. I was starting to tire and night hiking is not for the overly tired.
I slept pretty good and was packed up and on the trail before 6:45. Today I only had about 7 miles to go. I did about a mile before I came to a bench to make coffee and eat some breakfast. After that little bit of waking up I got back on the trail and eventually made it to the end at 9:45 AM.
My feet were a little beat up, but other than that, wasn't too bad. With a lighter pack and earlier start I could have easily done the whole 31 miles in less than 12 hours straight. Although not sure I would want to. It was a good test for me to try to bite off a bit more trail on my next multi day trip though...
