This Is Drivel

Category: hiking

  • morning walk 4-26-2025

    morning walk 4-26-2025

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    It was a good day for a morning walk through the UW-Madison arboretum. It started out cold, with temps in the forties, but a clear, sunny sky quickly warmed everything and by the time I left, about two hours after I arrived, temps were in the fifties. Very pleasant weather for a long, slow stroll Read.

  • IAT Sauk Point Segment

    IAT Sauk Point Segment

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    After drinking my morning coffee Sunday morning, I dressed for a rainy day outside, jumped in the van with my backpack, and headed for the Sauk Point segment of the Ice Age Trail. There was rain forecast for the afternoon but it wasn’t supposed to arrive until one o’clock or later so I figured I Read.

  • IAT Blue Spring Lake Segment

    IAT Blue Spring Lake Segment

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    Today was a beautiful day to hike the Ice Age Trail! It started out crisp and cool but ended up delightfully warm and was sunny all morning and afternoon. I was a little concerned the warm temps would thaw out the frozen ground and turn the whole trail into a muddy bog, making today’s hike Read.

  • IAT Whitewater Lake segment

    IAT Whitewater Lake segment

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    This was a very pleasant afternoon walk in the woods. Moderately easy, but still a satisfying hike over gently hilly terrain. I parked my van in the lot on Clover Valley Road and walked as far as Esterly Road, 2.8 miles, before turning back. I would have liked to go as far as Highway 12 Read.

  • The Porcupine Mountains

    The Porcupine Mountains

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    I’m back home from a three-day hiking trip to the Porcupine Mountains in the upper peninsula of Michigan. I left Madison last Sunday morning, hiked the back country Monday and Tuesday, and returned home this afternoon. I didn’t camp in the back country. Looking back now, I kind of regret not doing that, but this Read.

  • IAT Brooklyn segment

    IAT Brooklyn segment

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    I walked the Brooklyn segment of the Ice Age Trail from the north end to the south and back to the north end, about 6 miles in two and a half hours. I’m feeling pretty well-chuffed about going that far in less time than the 3.7 mile hike I made yesterday, both with a 20-pound Read.

  • East Star Lake 9-15-2024 — 9-18-2024

    East Star Lake 9-15-2024 — 9-18-2024

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    I drove up to Star Lake on Sunday, September 15th. I left home a little after nine o’clock in the morning and arrived at the East Star Lake State Park at quarter past one in the afternoon. I had booked a site at West Star Lake State Park, on the other side of the lake, Read.

  • IAT Lodi Marsh segment

    IAT Lodi Marsh segment

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    I walked only a short section of this segment today, partly because the trail was really very muddy, so muddy I thought a one point about halfway up the hill I was pretty sure I was going to slip in the mud and slide though it all the way down the hill. Happily, that did Read.

  • IAT Cross Plains segment

    IAT Cross Plains segment

    I needed to get out of the house today, so I walked a 2.7 loop on the Ice Age Trail, just far enough to stretch my legs and get some fresh air. The trailhead is a twenty-five minute drive from Our Humble O’Bode, very easy to get to. There was just one other car in Read.

photo of the author and the author's best friend