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Hearty souls on a cold-winter hike

Photo at left: Hikers on the Ice Age Trail. Click photo for gallery.

After canceling walks during the past week due to bad weather, we had very nice hiking this week. The temperature was rather cold, but otherwise it was sunny and beautiful in the great outdoors.

Only five hearty souls turned up for the cold Tuesday evening walk.

Since I had an Ice Age Trail meeting to attend, I needed a short walk and everyone agreed to walk around Lake LaGrange from our meeting via the Ice Age and snowmobile trails for a 2.7 mile fast paced event.

I used a hand warmer for the first mile, and after that I was plenty warm.

We found one ice fisherman also braving the cold at the north end of the lake, and there were lots of animal tracks in the snow.

The next day, ten of us started out on the white blazed Muir trail. This is a path that zigzags back and forth through a variety of wooded terrain in a very pretty part of the Kettle Moraine.

We found that the sun was warm on the face and there was no wind. We were very comfortable hiking even though the temperature was in the single digits when we started out.

During the first part of our walk, we found a large fresh excavation by an animal next to the trail. By the size and shape of the hole it may have been made by a badger.

It had been made since the last snow while the ground was still soft and there were no tracks in the now frozen snow that remained. Dave Nowak observed that there was condensation on some vegetation at the entrance indicating that the builder was still inside.

At the intersection with the old white trail, Norwin led a contingency of seven on that trail to add another 1.5 miles to the walk while the other three of us continued on course for a total of 3.3 miles.

The hills were very pretty with the snow cover and fresh animal tracks could be seen in the snow.

The trail was open for biking but no bikers were braving the weather this day. We did meet one other person on snowshoes during the walk.

After the walk we regrouped at the LaGrange Country Store for soup and sandwiches.

Happy trekking, Russ

Activities

Friday Jan. 1, 1:30 p.m., New Years Day hike/snowshoe: Meet at the John Muir Trailhead about two miles north of LaGrange on County Highway H. Potluck appetizers afterwards at the Eileen Harris home, 213 N Church St, Elkhorn. Contact Eileen Harris (262) 723-3716.

Tuesday Jan. 19, 7 p.m., Annual Meeting, Walworth/Jefferson Co Chapter, Ice Age Trail Alliance: Meet at US Bank, Elkhorn. Contact Russ Helwig (262) 473-2187.

Weekly Walks

We meet at 4 p.m. Tuesdays and 10:30 a.m. Wednesdays at the Highway 12 Ice Age National Scenic Trail crossing located about four miles east of Whitewater.

We include two or more walks of different distances on Wednesdays, and also do this on Tuesdays when desired.

All ages are welcome.

Note that a state park pass is required to park a car at the Highway 12 meeting place.

A daily or yearly pass may be purchased at the meeting place provided correct change is available.