It’s been a little while since I’ve checked off a segment of the Ice Age Trail from my “To Be Done” list. We had gorgeous weather yesterday, the Lapham Peak Segment is nearby and was on my list, so I changed into hiking clothes, jumped in the car, and had a little drive out to Delafield.

I-94 is the quickest route from Madison to Delafield — EXCEPT TODAY! Today, they decided to make it the longest, most excruciating way possible by closing a lane right at the point where the highway turns from a three-lane to a two-lane, choking it down from three lanes to ONE LANE. Which makes for TOTAL TRAFFIC CHAOS. Sorry about all the capital letters, but what was normally a very ordinary drive became a frustrating, almost traumatic experience.

The hike from one end to the other of this segment is just one tenth of a mile short of seven. I didn’t feel like walking that out and back, so I drove to the southern end of the segment, where I locked up my bike behind a sign post, then drove to the north end. I parked my minivan in the lot at Cushing Memorial Park, then walked up the road to catch the trail.

The first half-mile was a paved bike trail which paralleled the road. It ran past a retaining wall and under a bridge where semi trucks blatted overhead on I-94. Not exactly a relaxing walk. But soon enough after that, the trail crossed into the northern part of the nature conservancy and turned southeast across green, open fields.

The day turned out to be surprisingly hot. I was dripping sweat after less than thirty minutes of walking, and regretting my decision to wear pants, although they were nylon and comfortably airy, as trousers go. Quite a lot of the first couple miles of the hike were across open field, though, so I was in direct sunlight long enough to get uncomfortably hot and sticky.

The hills around the base of Lapham Peak are mostly wooded, which made for a long walk in the shade, but I was already hot by then, so I stayed sticky. Lapham Peak has one of those wooden observation towers you used to find all over Wisconsin. A few of them are still out there but I don’t seem to run across them as often as I used to, so whenever I find one I feel compelled to climb it. The view from the top was gorgeous, and the breeze felt great.

Lapham Peak was at about the halfway point. I had a short rest there and drank a lot of water before pushing on through the woods. There were a lot of people out hiking in this part of the preserve; even when I couldn’t see them, I could hear them as they bimbled past on a nearby trail. There were plenty of other trails to explore on the preserve.

I had to stop for a moment when my hair band fell out. While I was standing in the trail tying my hair, a fawn came galloping up the trail straight at me. I froze. It kept coming until it was maybe ten or fifteen feet away, then came to an abrupt halt and stood staring at me, sniffing the air. I glanced around to see if I could spot a doe nearby, but couldn’t see any. The fawn kept snuffling and licking the air, her eyes locked on me for about thirty seconds, trying to decide if I was friend or foe, before she turned and bolted into the brush to my right.

My bike was still locked up at the end of the trail, thank goodness! This is only the second time I used a bike to shuttle back to my car; the first time did not go as well. After strapping on a helmet, I had a four-mile ride along a paved bike path alongside Cushing Park Road. There was one hill I really could have done without, but aside from that it was mostly flat and easy, so I’m not going to complain.