This Is Drivel

Category: play

  • IAT Blackhawk Segment – 12/23/2025

    IAT Blackhawk Segment – 12/23/2025

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    Drove out to Palmyra this morning to hike a stretch of the Blackhawk segment of the Ice Age Trail. The drive takes about one hour each way and I wanted to get back before dark, which at this time of year drops pretty quickly shortly after four-thirty, so I wouldn’t be driving through rush-hour traffic Read.

  • IAT Swamp Lover’s Preserve – 12/19/2025

    IAT Swamp Lover’s Preserve – 12/19/2025

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    Even though it’s very tempting to stay inside all day where it’s cozy and warm, I layered up and drove to Swamp Lover’s Preserve on Scheele Road, just past Cross Plains, to hike a few miles of the Ice Age Trail. I’ve been to this stretch of the IAT three times this year to do Read.

  • burn baby burn

    burn baby burn

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    I spent a big chunk of the day today burning piles of buckthorn and honeysuckle, both invasive species, which volunteers had been cut out of the wooded areas alongside the University Ridge segment of the Ice Age Trail about a year ago. These areas were so overgrown with buckthorn and honeysuckle that it was impossible Read.

  • once around the prairie

    once around the prairie

    I had some time for a quick trip to the arboretum this afternoon and I wanted to know how far a lap around the Curtis Prairie was, following the roads that ran around the perimeter by the tall trees. I guessed it would be about 2.5 miles and was surprised to learn it was just Read.

  • big snow big shoes

    big snow big shoes

    The first big snowfall of the year gave me the motivation to dig my snow shoes out of the corner of the garage where they’d been buried for months, so I could take them to the arboretum and stomp around in the fresh snow — but first, I there was the little matter of clearing Read.

  • IAT Verona Segment – 11/25/2025

    IAT Verona Segment – 11/25/2025

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    It took a little while but I believe I can finally call the Verona segment done. I’ve started this hike from the north end, I’ve started from the south end, but both times I never went far enough to get all the way across. Today I filled in that short gap I left in the Read.

  • IAT Table Bluff segment – 11/22/2025

    IAT Table Bluff segment – 11/22/2025

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    I was out on the Ice Age Trail again this morning, this time at the north end of the Table Bluff segment to help three other people with trail maintenance. A few of the “dips” (drainage ditches) on the trail had eroded or were clogged with silt or both, so we cleaned them out and Read.

  • IAT Verona Segment – 11/21/2025

    IAT Verona Segment – 11/21/2025

    I’m still trying to finish up the Verona segment. It seems to be the segment that won’t let me finish. I walked the first 0.6 miles from KcKee Rd at the northern end (plus the last 1.2 miles of the Madison segment) on 11/5/2025. I returned to the southern end today, intending to knock out Read.

  • IAT Steenbock Preserve – 11/20/2025

    IAT Steenbock Preserve – 11/20/2025

    Today’s weather wasn’t the best for hiking: cold, overcast, windy, and just a little bit of drizzle. I went for a hike anyway. I wanted to complete a segment of the IAT I’ve been to before, the Gibraltar Rock segment. I’ve climbed to the scenic overlook of Gibraltar Rock many times, but up until today Read.

  • IAT Montrose Segment – 11/19/2025

    IAT Montrose Segment – 11/19/2025

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    Today I took a little walk down part of the Montrose Segment southwest of Madison. I still have to walk about a mile of this segment to complete it! Read.

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