It was really cold last night. The forecast said 42 but it felt even colder. I had to wear my beanie and mittens to bed. And this was the first night I was inside the sleeping bag as soon as I laid down.
The cold morning had me getting up a little bit later. I am in no rush today and it would be nice to have the sun a little higher to warm things up once I get walking.
Hunting season started yesterday and I can hear shooting in the distance. I would also like there to be daylight before I’m wandering around in the woods.
I did not get rolling till after 6: 45. My first job for the morning is to head to the lake and fill up with water. There is a steep trail down to the water and there is steam coming off the water into the air. As I am filling up the water bladder, I can tell the water is actually on the warmish side. This is definitely not a stream.
But the water tastes good so I camel up and fill up both bottles. I really only needed to fill up one of the bottles, as I never touched any of the water in the bigger bottle. With the cool weather yesterday I didn’t need as much water as I thought.
The trail all morning is a mix of dedicated single-track trail, narrow ATV trails, grassy skiing trails, or muddy double track forest roads. There is enough tree cover over the grassy areas that it is not soaking wet so my shoes stay almost dry for the first 3 hours of the morning. But the skiing trails eventually get out in the open and the grass is soaking wet. Within 10 minutes My shoes are soaked and it’s after 11:00.
I’m feeling sluggish this morning, so I go ahead and make a coffee but only drink half of it. It definitely helps, but drinking the whole thing probably would help even more.
I stopped for lunch at a campsite on a lake that has a nice bench overlooking the lake. There was a section hiker there when I got there and we chatted a few minutes and then she moved on.
Lunch today is the French bread toasted with butter and garlic that I bought at the bakery in Antigo. They are pretty good, but they are bulky. I wish I could get these again but that was a one-time purchase. They are kind of like bagel chips but much bigger.
I also take the opportunity to take my shoes and socks off and let my shoes and insoles dry and put my dry socks on. It is now 1:00 so I feel safe that the grass should be dry now.
The next highlight of the day is a county park at Jack’s Lake. The trail enters the park and circles a really nice lake in an area with lots of evergreens. The trail then approaches the campground where I stop and refill my water bottles and take a little break. If I was going to be here longer I probably would have charged my phone too.
There is a small road to exit the park and enter the ski area. Next to the parking lot of the ski area is a warming hut. It’s a building with picnic tables inside and a stove/fire place. You’re not allowed to camp here but it would be an awesome break in the winter time.
The trail then heads down more ski trails and snow shoe trails. But in this area the bugs are insane. I have to use both bug spray and my head net and I’m still going a little crazy.
A few miles later another shelter shows up that is similar to the first one, but this is a wood fireplace instead of a gas one. This one also does not have electricity whereas the first one did. The mosquitoes are still bad in a few of them follow me into the hut so I still don’t get any relief from them. I might as well keep going.
I have finished all my coffee and the mosquitoes are still driving me crazy but I still have almost 2 hours of hiking to get to where I intend to stop. The afternoon just drags on. I don’t want to make a second coffee but if this happens again tomorrow I will.
The area I’m headed for is another park area on a different lake. Some of the comments in the guide says there’s a good camping spot by the lake. But when I’m still half a mile away, I see a good spot. There’s lots of pine trees and it looks like there’s plenty of flat areas. I make my way over there and there are indeed many good places to pitch the tent. So I find one as far away from the road as I can get and set everything up.
By now the mosquitoes are gone so I’m able to make my mashed potatoes away from the tent and eat in peace. I still have the honey bun that I bought at the bakery and so that becomes dessert. It’s just too big and messy to try and eat for breakfast. It’s quite good but I bet it was closer to amazing when it was fresh. It’s almost 2 days old by now.
The temperature isn’t nearly as cold tonight as it was last night. I’m in my usual shorts and t-shirt and when I get into the sleeping bag I’m actually too warm. This is more how most of the other nights have been so I should be pretty comfortable. But I know exactly where my beanie and mittens are just in case.
Emotion of the day, Tired
I was tired most of the day today. I didn’t sleep that well last night but that shouldn’t make that big of a difference since I rarely sleep well any night while I’m camping. I did only make one coffee and maybe I should have made two. It was a relatively long day from 6:45 to 6:30 and yet I only went 25 miles.
Ski trails are up and down hills so the hiking is slower, not to mention dodging mud puddles and tip toeing around wet grass when possible.
I hope I sleep well tonight because I have another 25 or 26 mile a day tomorrow. The thought of going over 30 right now just doesn’t seem realistic unless I overdose on coffee. But that’s an escalating battle that I will never win.
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