Fresh Snow at Roche-A-Cri State Park

Hiking at Roche-A-Cri State Park is a new me. For years I’ve seen signs for it on the highway when driving past it to the Northwoods but never stopped to check it out. I wanted to get my first glimpse of winter and walk through fresh snowfall without driving too far north. 300ft rock outcropping and petroglyphs, how have I never been here?

The park has a classic Wisconsin central sands vibe. Pine forests, sandstone rocks, and large grassy prairies. And with the new snow and clear blue sky, it’s a winter paradise. 

The petroglyphs are worn down by the wind but still well worth checking out. From the top of the outcropping, you can see the flat landscape stretch for miles. Dotting the landscape are other rock outcroppings. These were former islands from ancient Lake Wisconsin which covered most of central Wisconsin.

Overall, a pleasant and easy hike, minus the 300 steps up to the top of the rock. 

If you go:

• My Route (Gaia GPS)

• Winter Parking

• Roche-A-Cri State Park (Wisconsin DNR)

Ice Age Trail (IAT) - Merrimac Segment

On the border of Devil’s Lake State Park sits a quiet section of the Ice Age Trail in the Merrimac Preserve. This section is 3.5 miles each way through oak savannah with views of the Baraboo Bluffs in the distance. In total, the Merrimac Preserve has ~10 miles of trail giving you many loop options. The few people and wide trails make this a favorite of mine for trail running.

Today I did an out and back parking at the IAT Merrimac Trailhead with my turnaround point at the IAT Roznos Meadows Trailhead. The Merrimac TH is almost always a better parking option. It’s less crowded and you don’t need a state park sticker.

For the first of November, the weather is surprisingly warm and sunny. The hike begins by walking through thick oak and hickory forest. After 1.5 miles you pop out into a meadow and cross a road getting good views of the bluffs. A bit past the trail junction, there is a warming hut for snowshoe and cross-country skiers. 

The rest of the trail is more open, with a boardwalk crossing a swamp and then back into the oak savannah. Roznos Meadows is surprisingly crowded today with cars parked along the shoulder of the road. The hikers must be heading into Devil’s Lake State Park because we’ve only seen a handful in the preserve. 

We turn around here and head back. Just before reaching the car, we are treated to a small garter snake sunning itself.  

Links:

• IAT Merrimac Segment Map (Gaia GPS)

• IAT Merrimac Trailhead (Google Maps)

• IAT Roznos Meadows Trailhead (Google Maps)

• Merrimac Preserve

• Ice Age Trail

Sneaky Wisconsin River Camp

It’s been a sedate summer. Most of the camping trips we had planned have been postponed. While it’s nice to focus on staying close to home the vibrate neighborhood festivals that make Madison so fun in the summer have been cancelled. To add to it, K and I both got new jobs at the end of June. With lack of other things to do we’ve thrown ourselves into them and barely taken a day off. 

Realizing it had been over a month since we slept in a tent - a crime in the summer, right? - we decided we needed to do something about it. Even if it was just for a night. So we took a short drive to the Lower Wisconsin Riverway. 

The LWR is the longest free-flowing stretch of river in the Midwest, 92 miles long. Leave No Trace camping is allowed on the sandbars. Most people access it by boat, but there are a few spots that you can park and walk a couple hundred yards to some great camping spots. We chose a spot near Arena, WI about an hour from Madison.

In total we were probably at this spot only about 14 hours. But it was a great recharge with great swimming, beaching and a spectacular sunset. 

If you go:

https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/lands/lowerwisconsin

Madeline Island Lockdown Escape

How’s everyone holding up out there? It seems trivial to post about what I’m doing when so many are suffering, but I’ll give it a shot.

First off, I’m grateful all my friends and family are safe. There are a few silver linings to living in lockdown. My garden is looking fantastic. I’m caught up on all the shows I wanted to watch. 

But I’m going stir crazy. No friends and limiting my adventures hyper-locally is getting dull. With summer is going into full swing I figured/hoped a weekend camping trip is an ok socially distanced activity. 

If you pretend both the air and water temperature are 20 degrees warmer, Madeline Island can feel almost like you are somewhere tropical. The azure blue water of Lake Superior and sandy beaches certainly look the part.

Our pandemic splurge was a set of paddle boards. Big Bay Town Park was a nice spot to play with them. Lake Superior was calm and we played with them on the gentle waves. The next day we took them out on Big Bay Lagoon which was even better. The water was glass like and there were a number of nooks to check out.

There isn’t a lot of hiking in either Big Bay Town Park or the adjacent Big Bay State Park. But the roughly 1.5 mile boardwalk trail connecting the two parks is a nice stroll between the bay and the lagoon.

On our way home Lake Superior was again very calm and we took the paddle boards out to the sea caves in Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. It was an amazing trip, but I was too scared to bring my phone out on the open water. Sadly, no photos.

If you go:

• Big Bay Town Park

• Big Bay State Park

• Madeline Island

• Big Bay Beach Hike

American Birkebeiner Race

I’ve never done a real race, in any sport. Maybe it was the swagger of completing a thru-hike or the lubrication from a couple of beers (probably both) but when a conversation with my ski racing friends turned to the 55km American Birkebeiner the next thing I knew I had signed up. 

The Birkie race is based on the story of the Birkebeiners, a faction during the Norwegian civil war in the 1200s. Clad in birch bark leggings, two skiers smuggled 2-year-old Prince Haakon to safety through rugged mountains, forests, and blizzarding weather. The legend is the inspiration for the American Birkebiner race which stretches from Cable, WI to Hayward, WI.

My “training” strategy for the race was just to ski as much as possible. Easier said than done. We don’t get any snow in Madison until early January, giving me about 7 weeks to train for a brutal race in a sport I did not feel very confident in. 

A few weeks before the race, I got a job filming an event on the Birkie course. Between filming, I was able to try out different skis. To no great surprise, my second-hand skis were not very good. So I ordered new skis, which arrived 2 days before the race.

The night before we spent waxing our skis. And I even slept ok. 

At the starting line it’s not quite chaos but pretty damn close. There’s a warming shelter, sponsor tents, and some haphazardly placed signs on where to go. My friend’s waves start off before me and I’m left alone with giddy and terrified emotions. 

The gun goes off and we’re away. I’ve never skied around this many people before. It’s a bit of a traffic jam. Not great for a guy who hasn’t mastered stopping. And damn these new skis are FAST. I fall a few times while getting the hang of them. 

Just after the first checkpoint another skier is splayed across my track. They try to get out of the way but end up making it worse. I fly into soft snow and so do my glasses. I manage to find them and get back up.

I don’t get the hang of how to stop and grab water and snacks. Plus I’m towards the end of the pack and they are starting to run out. By the time I reach OO checkpoint, just under halfway, I’m exhausted and need calories and water. I take off my skis and eat about dozen cookies. I walk around to loosen up. 

A race official comes up to me and asks if I’m quitting the race. I must look like shit. I hadn’t considered quitting, but something about being asked flips a switch in me. Hell no I’m not done. I destroy a cliff bar and hit the trail.

After that I’m in the zone. I start ripping down hills and blasting back up them. I’m passing earlier waves now. Bitch Hill is my bitch. At some point I drink pickle juice. The snow is starting to get soft which is making this so much harder. I descend to Lake Hayward. Nice and flat for 4km. I can do flat. I grab a shot of Jägermeister from a spectator and down it without breaking my stride.   

The lake seems impossibly long but it eventually ends. I’m exhausted. Now just up and over the bridge and down Main Street. My biggest fear the last few days has been falling in front of everyone. My wobbly legs manage to hold and I make it down the street to the finish line. A volunteer throws a medal over neck. My time of 05h 50m 11s isn’t going to impress anyone, but I achieved my goal. I finished!

Ice Age Trail (IAT) - Mecan River Segment

No one is going to confuse the rolling hills of Wisconsin as the more prominent peaks of the western states but there is a quiet subdued beauty here that is often overlooked. 

A bit over an hour from Madison is the Mecan section of the Ice Age National Scenic Trail. On an overcast late fall day it provides a nice hike through forest and open oak savanna.

We start at the 6th Lane/Chicago Road trailhead and head south east. There is a surprising amount of snow in the forested section here. With the leaves gone we also get occasional views down to the river. 

The trail then opens up into the oak savanna. I love the way oaks sprawl their limbs out from their trunks creating a canopy over of the trail. This would be a lovely spot on a warm summer day. 

When we reach the parking area on 9th Ave. we turn around and come back the way we came to the car for a total of about 7.5 miles. 

I certainly am still coming to terms with the terrain of Wisconsin after living in Colorado and spending the summer hiking through the Pacific Northwest. But secret hikes like this help to ease the transition. 

If you go:

Mecan River TH

Map: Caltopo / Gaia

IAT Guidebook Sample

Ice Age Trail Alliance

Goodbye Madison, Hello Colorado

Big news: we’re moving to Colorado! K accepted a position at the University of Colorado starting in August.

On one hand I’m excited - hiking, backpacking, mountains right out the door. On the other - I love Madison, our friends and my job. It wasn’t an easy decision and it’ll be bittersweet (as moving always is) but we’ve made it, so what’s next?

I’ve always been interested in doing a longer thru hike but I never really had a plan for how that’d work. I can’t remember how I came across the book “Grizzly Bears and Razor Clams” by Chris Townsend but when I was laid up with a broken ankle last year I devoured it. It got me on a kick to try to make a thru hike of some sort a reality.

With the move we have a short window of time, about 5 weeks, to try to do something longer. We don't have the time to do the Pacific Northwest Trail as Chris Townsend did, but we do have the time to try the first part of the Great Divide Trail in Canada: it goes from the US border to Jasper.

What’s drawing us to this trail is that it’s in a similar region to the PNT (at least for the start) and the remoteness. I love not seeing people for days and having to use maps to navigate. The GDT all but promises these experiences. So here we go!

Ice Age Trail - Devil's Lake Loop

I was feeling a little stir crazy and with an amazing weather day for November I decided to do my favorite section of the Ice Age Trail through the Baraboo Bluffs.

There are a number of ways to make this a shorter loop within the park, but if you want to do the whole section of the IAT here’s how I did it.

You could walk the entire 15.5 miles starting (or ending) with a 2 mile road walk but what I chose to do was a bike shuttle. I parked at the Rozno’s Meadows Trailhead on HWY 113 and then biked the 2 miles to the Parfrey’s Glen Trailhead. It’s a mostly flat ride and the road is in good condition for the short bike (or walk if you choose).

Once you get to Parfrey’s Glen there is good signage on what trail is the Sauk Point Trail (the Ice Age Trail) and what is the trail up the glen, a fun side trip or a trip for another day. This section of the trail is uphill and mostly wooded. Near the top the trail opens up with views of Lake Wisconsin to the south.

Crossing 113 after 4.5 miles from Parfrey’s Glen you’ll now be in the main portion of Devil’s Lake State Park and there are many options to shorten or take different trails. To stay on the official IAT trail route bear right (NW) onto the Uplands Trail Loop. A little less than a mile later bear to the right again (N) onto the Johnson Moraine Loop.

After 1.4 miles this trail enters a campground where it can be confusing to follow the trail itself. I always have issues figuring out if I’m supposed to be on a trail or a road here, but both lead to the same place and the trail becomes more clear near the amphitheater. From here it heads down to the north shore of the lake (and concessions!).

Head through the picnic area and onto the West Bluff Trail. This trail will give you the best views of the lake as you head up and along the ridge. There are lots of great areas for stopping for views or enjoying some lunch. Head down the the bluff and down to the southwest shore of the lake. At the boat launch there are bathrooms.

From here to the south shore the walk is along a sidewalk at lake level. The south shore has concessions and many picnic areas for stopping at. Not a bad idea to take a little break here as the trail steeply ascends the east bluff next. Once on top of the bluff you’ll walk along the ridge getting view of Devil’s Lake at first and then southeast towards Lake Wisconsin.

The trail starts to descend back into the forest and finally into Rozno’s meadows for the last 1.5 miles back to the trailhead where you started.

If you go:

• Rozno’s Meadow TH

• Hike Map: Caltopo / Gaia

• Devil’s Lake Trail Map

Ice Age Trail - Table Bluff Segment

We are lucky enough to have one of the National Scenic Trails running through Wisconsin. It’ll never be confused with some of its larger and more popular cousins, but its proximity to Madison gives us some good opportunities to get out on the trail.

A new section for me is the Table Bluff section of trail near Cross Plains, WI (and also where the headquarters of the IAT is located). Running 2.3 miles total it makes for a nice 4.6 mile out and back. Being in the driftless area of Wisconsin it’s more hilly than a few miles farther east and although it’s not very far from Madison itself it feels more secluded than you’d think.

Starting from the south end you face a 200ft climb right to the top of an oak savanna. There is a nice picnic area at the top and views of the surrounding farmland. As you continue on the trail it weaves through forest, prairie and some farmland.

The trail ends at Table Bluff Rd near Dreamfarm which specializes in local cheeses, eggs and veg (although they don’t have a farm stand). If you’re lucky enough you’ll see the goats and chickens galavanting in the fields.

At this point you can turn around and head back to the car along the same trail you came on.

If you go:

• Table Bluff TH

• IAT Guidebook Table Bluff Section

• IAT Website

Floating on the Wisconsin River

Back at it with my uncle. This time a quick one night trip canoe camping on the Wisconsin River (gotta play with that new canoe!)

We put in early afternoon at the public launch off of Highway A on Indian Trails Parkway, about 5 miles south of the Wisconsin Dells. Our take out point was about 10 miles downriver off of Levee Rd. About half of the distance twists and turns through the Pine Island State Wildlife Area.

Fairly low key trip, saw a few eagles, hawks, herons and only a few people. As always, great to get out of the city for a day. Plus, I got to test out my new Vargo woodstove. It’s fairly fiddly but I think with some practice it’ll be a cool little stove.

If you go:

• Put in - Indian Trails

• Take out - Levee Rd