Today is a busy day. I spent all of my time yesterday catching up on blogging and doing laundry but I still have one more day to post. I get the last day posted and then head down to breakfast at about 6:45. Too sad little biscuits some chocolate milk and a banana are on the menu for I grab another banana for the morning walk.

It takes a while to get everything packed and ready to go. I decide to use Uber today instead of Lyft to compare their prices. As expected Uber is about $5 more but the driver arrives pretty quickly.

By the time I get back to the grocery store and on the trail it is about 8:20 in the morning. It’s about the same schedule as earlier in the hike so it should be a casual day.

I have two targets for the day. The first Target is the headquarters of the Ice Age Trail in Cross Plains. The second target is the distributed campsite just a few miles outside of town.

I am also curious to see the distributed campsite that is in the Town of Verona only about a quarter of a mile from the grocery store.

I am hoping for mostly bike trails this morning but it turns out to be mostly Meadows. The Meadows have been mode recently so the grass isn’t really high but it is totally saturated with dew. My feet aren’t getting soaked but they’re definitely not dry.

When I get to the distributed campsite it’s a bit of a joke. It literally is just a little wider margin around the post where they’ve mowed the meadow back a few extra feet. If I had pitched my tent here my guy line would have been staked in the middle of the trail with the back of my tent all the way against the meadow. About four or five more feet of mowing would make the site usable for up to four tents. I am guessing this site rarely gets used.

There are small sections of bike trail in between the meadows. They are more like connector sections to the meadows. I take a quick break on a bench to eat my banana and drink some water.

After a few miles the meadow turns towards the Wisconsin Badgers golf course. It must follow the golf course for over 2 miles. I have a very slight headache so I stop by the clubhouse and grab a soda to see if I can knock it out with caffeine. Well, caffeine and sugar. I down the Pepsi within about 2 minutes.

For the next few hours I definitely had more energy. But the headache is still lingering in the background.

There are one and two mile road walking sections to link up different meadows and wooded areas. I find some apple trees along the way so I ate two or three apples while I walk.

I decided to stop for lunch at about 1:00 in a wooded section just as it emerges into a meadow. I take my shoes off and let my feet hang out in the sun to dry while my body stays in the shade. As I am eating the sun is creeping up my legs so it is my built-in timer to let me know when it is time to go.

It is 1:30 when I get up to leave for lunch. I have seven and a half miles to the headquarters and that should get me there at exactly 4:00 p.m. which is perfect because they stay open until 5:00.

The rest of the afternoon is uneventful. Instead of stopping to make hot coffee I just pour my coffee and sugar into the remainder of my water bottle at 2:30. I do this well still moving on a road walk. It goes by 198 acre farm that is for sale. Anyone interested? It has a really cool looking stone house.

Just about a half a mile before hitting the headquarters the trail crosses some train tracks. I can hear a train in the distance so I make haste to get to the tracks before it arrives. I want to make it across the tracks in case it is a long and slow train. It turns out it was one engine and only two cars so I hurried for nothing. But I got some good video footage.

They have routed the trail literally right up to the front door of the headquarters. There is no way you could miss it. I go inside and chat with a few of them for nearly an hour.

It is fun sharing my perspective with them and hearing their perspective and reasoning behind some of the road walking routes. One thing I had not considered is that they own property that just doesn’t have trails on it yet. So when I show them on the map one of the alternate courses I did instead of their suggested course, they point out the plot of land they own adjacent to their route. In a few years time their route will make far more sense once you see the trail section.

After bidding them farewell, I had to the other end of town to grab something quick to eat for dinner from the gas station. A prepackaged burger and chicken sandwich it will be. I also get a Starbucks doubleshot for tomorrow afternoon and an ice cream for the walk back to the trail. The ice cream is long gone by the time I make it back to headquarters.

The trail leaves the north edge of town by walking down some neighborhood roads. I checked the map to see how far before we turn off onto a trail and I am surprised to see the dot is right on the trail. I look up to my right and see a sign in between two houses leading me up the hill. Talk about perfect timing.

It’s a little bit of a climb up the hill but not too bad. It should be about a mile and a half further to the campsite area. I am taking my time because I have plenty of daylight left and I’m not exactly hungry after the ice cream.

When I get to the distributed camp area it is one of the fanciest I have seen yet. They have a designated tent pad and three other areas designated for cooking, disposing of dish water, and hanging bear bags. The tent pad is just gravel but at least it’s flat.

I set up the tent and then walk over to the food prep area to eat my sandwiches. The mosquitoes are not horrible but they’re bad enough that I basically just walk around in circles while eating. The sandwiches are still warm so they’re not too bad. I doubt I will get these again in the future though. One of the ladies at the headquarters had given me some cherries so they end up being dessert.

Emotion of the day, excitement

While leaving the hotel was not exciting the rest of the morning and afternoon was. I was eager to see the DCA near the grocery store. It turns out that one was a disappointment. By the way, DCA is distributed camping area.

Walking along the golf course was really fun. It seems like the course went on forever and would never end. It looks like a really fun course to play, but I haven’t played golf in close to 30 years.

Normally meadow walking is not my favorite thing to do, especially in the morning when everything is wet. But these Meadows were groomed well enough that it was really quite exciting. The flowers right now are just huge. And it was rolling hills all day. It wasn’t exactly a Julie Andrews moment but it was close enough.

And then getting to the headquarters and being able to chat with them for such a long time was exciting for me. They said they only get about 30 people a year to stop in and talk. I know more people through hike it than that but maybe more people hike after hours or on weekends when the office is not open.

I’m glad they were open and I’m glad that I stopped in. It will give me different perspectives on the rest of the trail.