A nice three day walk in the woods - of Wisconsin

(Updated 9/22/14 - see below in bold italics)


A bad day hiking is better than a good day at work any day. For about two years my brother-in-law Philip and I have been trying to put together a back pack trip.

The stars finally aligned this year and last week we set out on a four-day, three night back pack trip on the Ice Age Trail in Wisconsin.

This was Philip’s first ever back pack trip and just to make sure he didn’t invest too much in equipment before he knew whether he liked the hobby I suggested he rent or borrow the equipment for this first adventure.

On Thursday, Sept. 11 we started out from a point at the very south end of the Kettle Moraine Forest – Southern Unit.

To make this all work my sister Laura drove with us to a town of Oconomowoc (which is harder to pronounce than you can imagine) and we spent the night in a nice hotel there.

We dropped off Philip’s car at a forest station at the far end of the Kettle Moraine Forest – Southern Unit, but not without a bit of trepidation. My hiking maps showed that parking was available at the forest station, but signs at the stations indicated that no overnight parking was allowed.

Not being able to drop off Philip’s car at the end of the trail would have presented a real problem for getting home on Sunday.

But Philip found the forest station manager and worked his charm and the man gave us a note for Philip’s windshield that said we had permission for overnight parking until Sunday, the 14^th.

After dropping off our exit vehicle my sister drove my brand new Tahoe (I really must love her) to the start of the trail about 40 miles away.

Philip and I grabbed our gear, suited up and after a quick picture taking moment headed out on the trail about 9 a.m.

The first segment – The Whitewater Lake Segment started with a bunch of wild turkeys and followed a rolling trail through beautiful pine forest and at spots had beautiful views of the surrounding area.

We picked this portion of the Ice Age Trail because all but the last couple miles is all within a forest, while other sections of the trail involve long sections of hiking on highways and roads, which is not the most fun.

In doing my research I discovered that drinkable water was scarce on the first couple sections of the hike so I brought along my water sterilization equipment because we had to carry enough water to have for dinner and breakfast for the first day, night and next morning.

A ranger advised me that we could draw some water from Lake La Grange as long as we sterilized it before using it.

Carrying lots of water is never fun because of the weight and in my past back pack trips I always had my son Tim around to do the heavy lifting.

Before we headed out Thursday morning we stopped and got Subway sandwiches so lunch the first day was pretty good.

After lunch we drew out water out of the lake and then hiked another five miles to our first day reservation at Shelter 3 in the Blackhawk Segment of the trail. The shelter was about ¼-mile off the trail up a hill and it included an outhouse, which is always welcome.

Unlike the Appalachian Trial, you are required to have reservations at a shelter or campground and are not allowed to camp off the trail, although I don’t know how they police that as we never saw a ranger on the trail, or other hikers for that matter on the first two days.

Instead of using the shelter we set up our tents outside next to the fire ring and then set about finding enough dry wood to build a decent campfire. Philip led the way and we ended up with enough dry wood to keep a fire going for about three hours.

For dinner we had a freeze dried meal of Chicken and white bean chili. It’s never as good as it sounds.

We hit our tents about 8 p.m. and endured a pretty chilly night. From 1 a.m. to about 3 a.m. we listed to some very noisy owls and then about 2:30 a.m. there was a blood curdling scream from an animal very nearby to where we were sleeping.

One of the challenges in the night, especially when it is cold, is trying to convince yourself in the middle of the night that you really don’t have to go to the bathroom when you really do. Eventually, you realize that you will not go back to sleep unless you get out but it is never pleasant crawling out of your sleeping bag and heading out into the cold air.

The next day we asked a ranger what animal that might have been and he said it was likely some small animal meeting its fate in the jaws of a coyote or bobcat.

We were up early – about 6:30 a.m. – and we cooked up some granola with our JetBoil cooking system. We also had coffee and tea using some of the lake water.

By 8 a.m. we were back on the trail and headed north to our next destination a hostel near the Visitor Center and Forest Headquarters near Eagle, Wisconsin.

Our next water stop was still five hours away at Horserider’s Camp in the Blue Spring Segment of the trail. Fortunately the weather was cool and our perspiration and water intake was not as critical as it might have been had the weather been warmer.

My back pack is not the right size for me so I started to have issues with the straps cutting into my shoulders. We resolved it the next day, but that’s a story for the Saturday segment.

The trail on Friday was a little more challenging that I had anticipated with plenty of hills to climb. Again there were lots of beautiful vistas along the trail. We stopped at Horserider’s Camp to fill up on fresh water (better tasting than lake water too) and take a break at one of the picnic tables there.

We also took advantage of the very nice bathroom facilities there.

Much of the rest of the day was spent hiking on fairly level trails including a long segment in a large meadow. The skies were turning dark and it appeared that we were going to get rained on. We couldn’t check into the hostel until about 4 p.m. so we went past the hostel and camped out in the warmth of the forest headquarters.

For two hours we sat in the headquarters and enjoyed a cold soda (nothing tastes quite so good as a cold soda when you have been drinking lake water for two days). We also toured the museum and then got into our rain gear when it was time to leave as the weather had turned wet.

The hostel was just about a 15-minute walk from the forest headquarters and we were met there by the operator – Bill, who happens to be a newspaper reporter.

Sleeping in a nice bed and having a roof over hour head is always a welcome diversion from a rainy trail.

We ate freeze dried lasagna which was pretty good as freeze dried meals go.

Philip turned in early and I stayed up until about 9 p.m.

In the morning we cooked some oatmeal,  coffee and tea, and then said our goodbyes to Bill and then were back on the trail heading north.

What we learned Friday afternoon was that we would be walking directly into the path of a North Face endurance event so we were prepared to meet hundreds of folks on the trail.

Our morning conversation went something like this as we were approached by several hundred runners:

“Morning, morning, good morning, hello, hi, good morning, morning, good morning, hi, hello, good luck, hi, good morning…..” and on and on. Probably would have been better to just carry a recording with us.

But after a few hours we walked far enough that all the runners had passed us and we once again had the trail to ourselves. The day’s hike took us through the Stony Ridge Segment, the Eagle Segment and the Scuppernong Segment.

Again the trail was a lot more climbing than I realized from my research. We briefly toyed with the possibility of walking another six miles back to the car, but eventually we decided to use our reservation at the Pinewoods Campground.


One of the funnier moments of the trip occurred around the campfire Saturday night. After building a robust little fire, my brother-in-law put his feet up on the metal fire ring to dry and warm his feet. Although I gently warned him that it might not be a good idea, he later discovered that the fire had melted the glue holding the sole of his shoe onto the actual shoe.


During our walk the next day, the flapping of his shoe got progressively worse and you could tell it was beginning to annoy Philip. But with the only choice being to walk barefoot, he persisted.

At the campground we had the chance to take a nice warm shower and this time we simply purchased some dry wood at the camp store and enjoyed a very nice comfortable campfire before turning in about 8 p.m. Saturday.

With only about six miles left on our trip we were up early on Sunday, packed up our gear and then headed out for the last leg of our hike.

Part of this day’s hike was on roads, but we also hiked on the Waterville Segment of the trail. We saw some Sand Hill cranes along that trail.

As is usual, the last couple miles seemed much longer than what it looked like on the map, but about 10:20 a.m. we spotted Philip’s car at the forest station and we high-fived at the sight.

We changed into our tennis shoes and after a gas stop where we bought some soda we were on our way back to Philip and Laura’s house in North Aurora, Illinois.

Back at the house Philip and I washed the tree sap off his car and then when Laura returned we headed out of lunch at a favorite Mexican restaurant, because nothing sounds better on an empty stomach that some very rich and hot food. At least it helped keep me awake on the drive home to Lapeer on Sunday night.

Whether or not Philip ever goes on another back pack trip I give him credit for being a good sport and giving it a try. Back packing is not for everyone and sleeping on the ground is not even as glamorous as it sounds.

The upside is that I think I got to know Philip a lot better and I realize how fortunate both he and my sister are to have each other.