This Is Drivel

Tag: hiking

  • 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 University Ridge – 11/17/2025

    IAT University Ridge – 11/17/2025

    Not really hiking the Ice Age Trail, more like trail maintenance. I spent the morning and part of the afternoon today with volunteers working to remove buckthorn and honeysuckle from a wooded area at the University Ridge golf course. I was led to believe that buckthorn was the worst of the two to handle, but Read.

  • IAT Verona segment – 11/05/2025

    IAT Verona segment – 11/05/2025

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    I had a walk around the neighborhood where we live but after completing my morning chores I felt the need to get out and get another walk in some place I hadn’t been before. There are several nearby segments of the Ice Age Trail I haven’t visited yet, believe it or not, so I picked Read.

  • IAT Madison Segment – 11/04/2025

    IAT Madison Segment – 11/04/2025

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    I wanted to get out on the IAT this afternoon but I didn’t have time to go far, so I picked a segment I’ve been putting off because it runs through a golf course. Not the most interesting segment I’ve been on & I doubt I’ll ever be in a hurry to revisit it. Read.

  • cannonball

    cannonball

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    Went for a short walk along the Capitol City Trail and the Cannonball Path, two paved cycling/running/walking paths I’ve biked on often but have only rarely walked on. There’s an interesting little connecting path where the two mail paths pass close to one another, near Ashbourne Pond in Fitchburg. I don’t use it much when Read.

photo of the author and the author's best friend