Overnight

It's been a long time since I posted anything, almost 2 months to be exact.  Not because I don't have much to say more like I have not had the time.

Continuing on the outdoor theme, Joel came up from Chicago to do an overnight backpack trip with me in the Northern Kettle Moraine.  

I picked him up from the train station Friday night and we went to REI to find him some decent shoes and see if we could fit him to a pack size.  Spent about an hour there and then headed home.

On Saturday we packed our bags, and waited until afternoon to head out. We were only doing 8 miles each day and there was no reason to go too early. The weather looked pretty good. Only a slight chance of rain and only short bursts. Based on this we only brought pack covers and no rain gear like ponchos, jackets or extra socks.

We dropped my car where we would end at Butler Lake, then Tracy took us to the trail head on County Hwy P. The northern terminus of the Kettle Moraine here. 

Twinning!

The day seemed nice, sunny and not too hot as we headed to our campsite for the night, shelter #5 just south of the Greenbush picnic and group camp area.

As we went the clouds became more ominous, but I felt pretty good that we would miss most of it. As we crossed Hwy 23, it looked worse, we were headed right to the dark stuff. It caught us unprepared, and we had to hustle to put the covers on our packs, get my camera in the bag without taking on too much water. It rained, it rained hard.A thunderstorm cell that followed us for at least 30 minutes. The trail turned to streams, mud everywhere and well we got soaked.

The sun did come back out later that afternoon and about 4:30 or so we got to the Greenbush camp area. We took over a picnic table, took off out nasty wet shoes and wrung out our socks. They have a nice water faucet here too so we filled up all of our containers here so we wouldn't have to deal with fetching water at camp.  

We decided at this point, we should eat as well. We had the space, the sun and a good water source, why not?  We had a happy hour Mexican fiesta. I had picked up this pack of Queso, Salsa and Chorizo bean dip. All dehydrated, should be interesting. We had a bag of tostitos as well.

Everything rehydrated really well. The salsa was tasty but had a bit too much lime flavor, the queso was also good but you got a bit too much of the cheese powder taste. The bean dip was the best, good flavor and texture. (of course they no longer carry the bean dip).

We ate,  relaxed a bit and then the clouds started coming back. We packed up and finished the less than one mile to camp just in case it wanted to rain on us again. Cold damp socks and shoes suck, let me tell you.

We made it to the shelter and it occasionally sprinkled on us. But we set up our hammocks and changed into our dry sleeping clothes and hung up what we could. With so much tree cover and humidity nothing was going to dry out completely.

BigFoot!

The sun came out one last time just in time to get dark. We then took a little side hike to a kettle lake behind the shelter. According to the guidebook it is one of the deepest symmetrical kettles in the area. We went far but couldn't get much closer without a lot of bushwhacking. Since it was getting dark and the mosquitoes were coming out in force we headed back to camp.

We both retired to our hammocks and it was sooooo good to get the wet shoes and socks off. My feet were so happy. I tried reading but fell asleep within 15 minutes.

The next morning we got up and it was after 7. I don't sleep that long in bed. I will take 10 hours anytime.  We both got up put our wet shoes on but with our dry sleep socks. That helped keep the feet happier and at the same time helped draw out moisture in the shoes. Since we would't need them again it was a solid plan. We had breakfast of this southwest corn pudding dish and a triple berry crunch that was supposed to be dessert last night.  We were starting to pack up when a group of 6 came walking into our campsite. Said hello and proceeded to take a break in our shelter. Ummm hey yeah it's fine, whatever. I paid $27.00 for this site just make yourself at home. They were quiet and left after about 10 minutes. We lazily packed up and it started to sprinkle. This time we donned the pack covers right away so not to have to scramble like yesterday.  

Just like yesterday it started out fine but by the time we got close to the next shelter, the rain started again. Any bit of drying out we did in our shoes was quickly wiped out. Squishy feet all over again. We took the side trail to the Parnell tower and proceed to ascend the lookout tower. Because why not. Pelted with rain we took it all in. We got back on the trail and when the rain slowed the bugs came out, not sure what was worse. Near the end we had to traverse a mud bog. It was no big deal, feet were soaked so just go for it. Joel tried to keep above it with no luck and went into a little tirade, I was laughing the whole time. Can't recall seeing him lose his cool like that in a long time. We both had a chuckle.

On the last mile I took my only fall, one knee down telemark style, full of mud. So graceful.

Between the rain and the tall grass, the mud was gone in 100 yards. As we came down the hill to the parking lot, the rain stopped.Because of course it did. We dumped our packs changed into dry clothes and grabbed a adult beverage of choice, left on purpose in the cooler in the car. I have done this before.....

We headed to the hamburger haus, a favorite place for burgers and ice cream for folks camping at Long and Mauthe lake. We ate some burgers and headed home. 

A fun overnighter despite all the rain. Hell, if Joel had fun know just think how he may enjoy it when it doesn't rain all weekend. (Kind of like our last kayak trip).

Enjoy the video I cobbled together out of clips and occasional photos in between rain showers.

From the Trail

Last week was long, last weekend went by in a blur. I had been up the Minneapolis area for work Monday through Thursday. When I booked the trip last month I felt cabin fever creeping up on me. I needed to get out. To add to that pressure, I had started watching people on YouTube who were vlogging their 2107 through hikes of the Appalachian Trail and Pacific Crest Trail. Inspiring and maddening at the same time. Must be nice to be able to trip for 6 to 8 months and not have the rest of life get in the way.  Someday.

Which brings me back to work. Since I was already in Minnesota, why not add a little time and scratch an itch. Back to the Superior Hiking Trail on the North Shore. Had to be quick, I would only have a half day on Friday and half day on Sunday.

I selected an 18-19 mile segment from Silver Bay to County Road 6 trail head and parking. Coincidentally, Silver Bay is where Mike and I stopped on our 3 nighter last time up here. Perfect! I will then have completed over 50 miles of continuous trail.

I made arrangements to leave the hotel by work and meet the shuttle at 1:00.  Mind you its still a 3 1/2 hour drive to the trail from the hotel, but that's better than 8 coming from home.

The week of work was fine, lots of good interaction and after work activities. I have been part of this team for almost 15 years so its always good to catch up occasionally. As the week wore on I constantly obsessed about the weather. Rain and cold, not the optimum for a backpack trip. Strangely in the back of my head, I actually welcomed it. It had been a long time since I had to deal with any weather adversity while being outdoors. Helps keep you sharp, makes you appreciate things just a little more and is often an added test of my already large repertoire of skillz.

Thursday night we had a team dinner, I said goodbyes and was on the road early Friday. When I got to the trailhead I met Susie, my shuttle driver. A sweet old lady with some good stories. I tipped well, and Mike if you are reading this I made up for us not having cash to tip last time. Told her to share it with the other drivers, only if she wanted to, she smiled and left me on my way.

Most of my weather worry was for nothing. It was overcast, but low 50's no rain. Quite comfortable actually.

The biggest issue is that it had pretty much rained all week, the trail was more than just wet, it was soggy. Within the first mile my boots were covered in mud.

It took me awhile to warm up. I had not hiked any distance since January and it would be last year since I had a pack of any significant weight on. It was only 25 pounds, but that was heavy due to extra clothes, warmer, bigger quilts, bigger tarp just to be safe.

This trail segment I chose is listed as one of the more difficult segments of the entire trail. Of course it is. I seem to gravitate to this it seems. It didn't feel much more different than last time I was up here. Up and Down, lots of good views and lots of water crossings.

After about 2 and 1/2 hours I made it a little over 5 miles to the East Palisade creek campsite. It was a nice site with lots of trees and the creek rushing could be heard from camp.

I set up camp, had dinner (Tortilla soup, Fritos I snagged from a box lunch and a kit- kat bar) I even had a campfire. The sun came out for awhile too, just to taunt me.

When it started to get dark I went to bed.  

I finally got out of bed around 6, had breakfast, packed up and hit the trail. There was about 9 miles to get in today and supposedly the rain was going to start around 3. Today was a lot of the same, up and down, muddy swap areas and nice views. It was a bit windier which helped to keep me cool. 

The trail was poorly marked at one point and I followed what I thought was the more obvious path. Only to see that I was on some feeder trail. Pulled out the gps, took a bearing and said I can either backtrack or bushwhack. Bushwhacking was a straight line and so seemed obvious. OFF TRAIL young man. I eventually got back on the trail but second guessed that I saved any distance or time by the time I crawled over every downed tree in my way. 

Today the trail went into Tettegouche State Park and had two cool things. The first I ran across was the 'drainpipe' a very vertical piece of trail. I was coming down it, which may have been harder than going up.

These pictures do not give the scale or the steepness of this section. 

The second cool thing happened maybe a half mile after this. High Falls, at this time I thought it was the highest falls on the trail, but come to find out that it is the highest waterfall in all of Minnesota. 

There also was this suspension bridge over the Baptism River that was very bouncy and swaying. FUN! but the sign did say only 4 people at a time and NO JUMPING.  

After spending some time here I got back into the trail and around 11:15 made it to camp. Made lunch, filtered some water, set up camp and waited for the rain.  

Well not really, I washed my pants to get the mud off them and did a few other camp chores and side explorations.

The precipitation started around 5 in the form of hail. I was all cozy in my hammock, so I really didn't care. I had my Kindle and read for several hours. I didn't bother with dinner at this point.

I got up around 5 or so when it started getting light. It had rained all night and everything was wet and foggy. I had breakfast sitting in my hammock then I packed up everything while under my tarp. Everything stayed dry, except for the tarp, obviously. That was saturated.  So I stuffed it in the bag and stuck it on the outside of my pack. That would have to wait until I got home to dry out.

As I prepared to leave, my pack cover decided to give out. So much for keeping any rain off the pack. 

I headed out into the wet and fog. In a few minutes I warmed up and it wasn't too bad, I had rain pants and jacket to keep me dry.

The trail today was less than 5 miles and since I left at around 6:15 I figured I would be done by 9 at the latest. Plenty of time to make my 3pm flight.

The trail was quiet, foggy and I found it very different than the other 5-6 days I had hiked this trail. The views were gone, but at the same time left to the imagination it made for a interesting change of pace. I rather enjoyed it.

Well I made it to the car and swapped wet clothes for dry and since I was so early, I decided to have second breakfast at the Vanilla Bean in Two Harbors. Fresh made, warm, cinnamon rolls? Yes please.  

After third breakfast.... I drove to Minneapolis, and took the flight home.  I got to see the reverse cloud cover on the way home....

All in all a good trip but I was ready to be home. I am sure I will plan another trip for this area again soon.

All the Pictures can be found here

Video can be located here

Well it was bound to happen. Vicci the Civic that I bought brand new on Joel's 5th birthday in 1998 may have seen it's last few miles.

A few weeks ago the brake lines rotted out and as I went to replace them I noticed a lot of other things that are really rotted out.  I was torn. Do I tear it all apart to replace the things that need fixing or just let it go.  It was going to be a largish project and I have neither the time nor the space to do this. If I had a 3 car garage maybe. With some sadness Vicci is being retired from service.  19 years and over 270,000 miles for a car I paid under 14 grand for brand new is not bad.

Lots of good times with it. Fishing trips to Canada with Dad, Took it to the top of Pikes Peak with Joel on our Rocky Mountain road trip, both kids using it as their school transportation after they each got their licence. Teaching them to drive manual transmission, E-brake slides... Just to name a few.

And that time I demolished that deer.

It was never meant to be a museum piece, it was meant to be used. Only the assault of time and weather finally getting to it.

The only problem is I need that extra car for the kids and work and school and everything else that goes on.  I scoured Craigslist for a replacement.

Meet Lucille.

A 2004 BMW 325xi

It's high miles, but kept great with maintenance records for most of its life. It is a 5 speed as was Vicci and Mackenzie seems to love it. Seriously who would't.  Seat heaters, sun roof, all leather with power and memory seats and it all works.  It has a few boogers like missing passenger sunvisor, a few spots of rust and a odd ball replacement rear view mirror. But for what I paid for it I am not complaining.  Runs great.  It does get 12 mpg less than Vicci though. Insurance costs less. Close to a wash.

License 666-ZMX, Yea 666! The DMV actually asked if I was ok with this licence. 

Hard to believe it was one year ago that Mike and I started a very ambitious hike of the Arizona Trail.

Man that was a good experience and has only made me hungry for more

Its been forever since I posted. Last weekend was getting nice Soon real spring will be here.

Here is a cardinal

My broken fire pit

The replacement....

Great weather this weekend, I probably went hiking.  Nope.

But I did try my new fire pit out a few nights. This will replace the chiminea.

Venus rising in the West

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Pike Lake by Candlelight

Four years in a row now we have done the winter Pike Lake candlelight hike.

This yea there was no snowshoeing, no skiing, no cold. It was a bit muddy and slushy though. I think the also shortened the loops for the hikes as well due to the conditions.

No matter its always nice to get out of the house on these kind of days.

And after we left the park, the three of us stopped for drinks at Dublins in West Bend.

After Thanksgiving Trip

Last week I tried to get permits to a bucket list outdoor destination. After 2 plus days of circuits are busy and busy signals I was about resigned to quit for 2017. Then I got a notice on my phone, the place sneakily opened up online reservations the night after they started taking phone reservations.

No matter, pretty much everything was booked up. As a last ditch attempt, I looked for dates in November. Late November. Bingo, there they were 3 night the week after Thanksgiving. The 26th through the 29th.

typical picture of one of the falls

This is more of a summer destination with swimming and many falls and side canyons. That late in November the highs will be 60-70. Lows in the 30's Just like September/October around here. I will still swim. The only concern is the lack of daylight. This time of the year it will be sunset around 5:30 with darkness around 6.  Should make for some nice stargazing though.

The other bonus for that time of year is the lack of crowds. The campground holds about 300 people. it has no vacancy most of the year. The reservation site says there were currently 70 people taking the week I have. That will be nice. Another plus with those temperatures, hiking won't be overly strenuous. As you do have to hike from a parking lot to the Indian village which is 8 miles and 2 more miles to the campsite. 

I did grab 2 permits. Who wants to go? 

Snow, we finally got some snow yesterday. I never thought it would happen anymore this year. Seriously, its because of those snowshoes I bought.

All day I watched it fall and when work was over I headed outside to clear the driveway. This was wet heavy snow, snowball snow. Snowman snow. Neither Joel and Mackenzie were home at this time so when work was done, time to play.

I made two, over six foot tall snowmen. The neighbors snowblowing must think I was crazy. Maybe, its doesn't feel like it to me. 

Another Hike

Today is MLK day and I get the day off as do a lot of people. Usually I will make a pilgrimage to Cascade Mountain for a day of snowboarding. I had Joel to go with me. I even bought a pair of wrist guards. But the weather of sleet, freezing rain, rain and more freezing rain made me decide to shelf that idea. Too far to drive in bad weather to be outdoors in bad wet weather and be miserable. It was going to be bad enough I was snowboarding.

So to keep active on Sunday before the Packer game I decided to go on a hike. I had a route planned for my winter snow/camp attempt (if that ever happens) and I decided to scout it out and see if it was too much to do.

I started at Butler Lake. This is a little known recreation area in the Northern Kettle Moraine. Lake access, well water and a few picnic tables.  I was through here on a previous hike in 2015. 

Its actually a little farther than I wanted to hike but they have a nice parking lot here, it's a no brainer.

I head out on the trail at exactly 10 AM. About 22 degrees and full sun. I was amazed at how much snow that was still on the ground. Around my house it's pretty garbage. The last hike I was on was garbage. Icy, rutted, messy. Here it was solid snow. Trails were solid snow. This made me a bit happier as I would not be fighting the ruts and twisting knees and ankles.

Right out of the parking lot there are are stairs. Makes for a nice lake overlook. My goal was to get to Parnell Tower Shelter area about 4.4 miles away and then come back for about 9 miles total.

It was sunny and while not warm, it was not windy and I was plenty warm. The trail was easy to navigate.

Finally I got to shelter #4. This is where I would camp out for the night when and if I do a winter trip.

Not much to look at but it is a designated campsite in the area. i suppose nothing would stop me from going off trail to do my own thing either (other than being illegal), but there is an outhouse about 100 yards away if you need that.

This was where I was supposed to turn around and head back. I did scope out the Parnell Tower loop prior to coming up so I headed north about 100 ft and took the purple trail loop for Parnell. This trail had not seen half the traffic the Ice Age trail sees and it showed. I could have used my snow shoes for this one. Deeper snow and not packed down much at all.

Much less travelled for sure. They were also doing some forest thinning and logging here so the trail was a bit wild at times. I was wearing my trail runner boots and they state they are waterproof, but after getting into the snow for a while I could feel my feet getting wet. That's never good. 

The Parnell loop is about  and extra 3.2 miles. I finally reach the tower at around 12:40. Take a walk up the 80 or 100 stairs to the top of the tower. Looks really different with no leave on any trees, You can really see the kames now.

I am also stupid hungry and eat the few things I brought. A snickers bar, and a some bit o honey's. I finish the loop and get back on the Ice Age Trail heading back south.

I make pretty good time and am back at the car by 2:30. My three hour under 9 mile trek turned into a four plus hour 12 mile hike. Home in time to shower and watch the Packer game!   2 weeks into the new year and I have 17 miles in. Pretty good start.

ALL PICTURES HERE

Year in Review

Well here it is 2017.  2016 was interesting to say the least.

Mackenzie turned 16 and started driving. I did a ton of work to the civic to get her a car that will make it two years. She's not thrilled with it, but it beats the bus and,  hey, she now knows how to drive stick shift.  She also had her other hip operated on. Thus effectively killing her 3rd high school basketball season in a row.  Disappointing for sure.

Joel graduated from college in May. I still have a hard time with this one. Makes me feel really old and often stupid and lazy, but good for him. Unfortunately, the job market for him has been tight and it's been very difficult for him to find work in his field. He has more interviews coming up so we keep our fingers crossed.

My bro Jim and I took as many kids as we could for a fantastic day at Great America er I mean Six Flags.

No doubt I have kept active. I did a few larger longer backpacking trips this year. One in Arizona and one in Minnesota. Did an overnight river trip with Kiki on the Wisconsin River and a weekend overnight river trip with Joel on the Namekagon river. Both firsts for both of them. They said they enjoyed it and are willing to do more. This doesn't include the day trips, hikes and single overnight trips I did as well.

Finally, we finished up the year with a family trip to New York City in December. That was really nice and makes me wonder how many more of these full family vacations we will have.

As for this blog, well it was a bit neglected. Only 25 posts in 2016. lowest of the 8 plus years I have been doing this. However, the content of a lot of those posts, was much greater.  We will see what happens this year.

In my little side bars I track a lot of things. I figured I flew for work and vacation over 17,000 miles. Southwest sent me an email last week that said I did over 32,000.  Not sure about that.

I did hike 128 miles and paddled almost 60. A bit short of a personal goal of 300 total.  I think I will try for 300 or 325 again this year. I have already started researching places to go. I get an extra 5 days of vacation this year, but realize that some of that will be used if Mackenzie want's to tour out of state schools this summer.

I only read 10 books this year, a bit less than I like to, but I would go in streaks.

How about grilling? over 100 pounds of meat went through my grill this year and 8 square feet of pizza as well. That is a lot.

Whats in store for 2017? Only time will tell.

Thanks for reading.
-Jeff

Cabin Fever

Well here it is 2017. The weather is typical.  Snow, melted snow, ice, and rain.  As if it weren't grey enough.

The dogs were getting feisty with each other and I had a touch of cabin fever. Sunday I grabbed one of them and we did the Culver's out and back hike here in West Bend. Thats starting at Hwy D, traversing the Ice Age trail for about 2 and half miles where it pops out on Hwy 33 behind Culvers. Its ok if you want Culver's and with hunting season going on for another few days, this section hunting is prohibited, so that is a plus.

Where are we going!?!

Trail crossing at Beaver Dam road

This time though because I had a furry companion, there would be no Culver's,  We just stopped had some water shared a few pretzels and headed back.  Although I am sure Beamer would have loved a burger or 3.

Frozen marsh

Where does he get the energy?

Obligatory selfie.

Being out in the sort of snow made me want for a snow storm. I think it would be perfect to snowshoe this trail after a good snow. Also since I bought Tracy snowshoes and poles for Christmas, (Am I an awesome husband or what?) As is sat, it was half melted, then frozen with foot prints and icy ruts. I did not take my trekking poles and wish I did. I didn't fall but it may have helped my balance. With snowshoes and more snow pack it would have been fun. Then I thought about an overnight in a snowstorm.... Now I am planning one night in the Kettle Moraine when snow is forecast. probably needs to be perfect timing,  but snowshoe/backpack in, camp the night and hike out the next morning. Just think of the quietness of the forest while snowing. Yea I am a weirdo.