Not too far from where I live, only about 40 minutes away by car, there’s a lonely little segment of the Ice Age Trail which winds around the eastern shore of Gibb’s Lake in Rock County. It’s one of those segments of the IAT that’s connected to other segments via a long road walk. From the Arbor Ridge Segment, it’s a 10.9 mile walk to Gibb’s Lake, and it’s 9.3 miles from the Evansville Segment (another lonely segment at the far edge of Rock County I also haven’t been to yet).

I love the IAT for going on long lazy walks through forested hills or across meadows lush with prairie grass. I do not feel that miles-long treks skirting the ragged shoulders of country roads as pickup trucks race by to be relaxing in any way, which is the reason I tend to skip road walks. The only way for a guy like me to get to at segment like Gibb’s Lake is to buckle up and make the drive.

I was more than a little shocked to learn that the temperature on this clear sunny morning was a bone-chilling 4 deg F. The above-freezing temps yesterday tricked me into believing the long cold spell we had been stuck in for weeks was finally broken. I’m an easy mark for that kind of thinking, I admit it. It’s February! In Wisconsin! I know better! Even in southern Wisconsin, I should wake up every day in February expecting temps low enough to freeze my nostrils shut. I won’t forget that again.

I started today’s hike from the parking lot at the northern end of the lake. There’s a boat ramp and a picnic area, neither of which anybody was going to use for weeks and weeks. Off to one side of the parking lot there was an old pull-behind camper up on blocks in a private lot. Looked like it would be a great place to spend a long weekend. And way out on the lake, which was frozen over, obviously, I could make out a few rugged souls fishing through holes in the ice. I used to do that with my dad when I was a kid. Key memory: filling my boot with ice water when I stepped into an open hole. That memory is probably why I never want to try ice-fishing ever again.

Although I went to Gibb’s Lake to walk the Ice Age Trail, I ended up walking much further along the extensive bridle paths which wander through the county park. If there’s an opportunity to walk back to my car on a different trail, I’ll usually take it, and this park had lots of alternate routes to explore. I probably would have spent more time doing that if it had been warmer. There was a big loop around a prairie meadow to the north of the lake with beautiful scenic views of the grass-covered hillsides I especially enjoyed.

I finished up today’s walk in a little under an hour and a half, walking all of the IAT (1.3 miles) and a chunk of the bridle trails (2.1 miles, for a total of 3.4 miles). It was a really easy walk. Overall, the route I walked was essentially flat. Hills were easy to climb, very gradual and none of them very high. My phone app logged the lowest point at 751 feet and the highest at 810 feet, and although I walked a lot of ups and downs, I climbed just over 400 feet altogether while walking more than three miles. I climb more walking the hills around my neighborhood.

Although it’s out in the country, I’m looking forward to visiting Gibb’s Lake again in the summer with my kayak, to see what it looks like when the trees are fully leafed out and I can relax in the shade with a picnic lunch, or when I’m slowly paddling around the shoreline.