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Friday, June 17, 2016

Pike Lake Backpack Site on the IAT

I haven't been doing a whole heck of a lot of anything I normally do thanks to what turns out to be carpel tunnel in both hands, but today I left work at 2 o'clock and drove an hour and a half to Pike Lake State Park to do some hiking on a new segment of the Ice Age Trail.


The campground at Pike Lake is very small with only 33 sites and if I'm not mistaken is first come first serve only. The campground loop was full but there was one backpack site left right on the Ice Age Trail which is of course what I would prefer anyway!


It's only about a five minute walk in from the parking lot and the three sites are very generously spaced I figured there was at least 150 feet between my site and the next one. Of course it is primitive with no water or electric but there is a porta potty if one is desperate.


After setting up I consulted my Ice Age Trail book and got on the trail right away.  


To do the complete segment is 3.3 miles but I figure from the campsite to the end on the Glassgo Drive was about 2.5 miles and luckily it was all downhill from the top of the kame because it is pretty hot here these days!


It's also a little drier than usual which will be worrisome if it continues but for now that means mosquito population is low so I will take it without complaint.


Going down was easy, but of course the return was all up, up, up! I timed it well though as the temperature started dropping for the evening.


5 miles round-trip was a lot for a girl who has been spending a lot of time on the couch binge watching past seasons of  "Orange is the New Black".  After a good nights sleep in my tent and another hike tomorrow I'll be binge watching again on Sunday because the new season is here on Netflix! I can't wait to see what those crazy inmates get up to this time. "Trust No Bitch" is Piper's new favorite saying, but I still love Taystee's classic line "that's some bullshit... Shit to the bull!"

3 comments:

  1. Sorry to hear about carpel tunnel. Ugg! Wish you were in Charlottesville where we have a fabulous chiropractor who is locally famous for setting carpel tunnel right without surgery. I really don't like to hear that it is hot in Wisconsin. That's were those of us from the south go to get away from the heat. Wondering how many miles of the Ice Age you have hiked now. Reminds me of my hiking the A.T. through Shenandoah last summer.

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  2. That brings me to about 105 of about 600 "trail miles" of Wisconsin's IAT. They claim over 1100 miles but alot of that is "road miles" not to mention some of the trail miles are "trail town" miles that are just walking on the sidewalk through towns. I'd say there's about 500 actual trail miles. Big state! I'm hoping to head up north and start tackling those longer segments this summer and fall.

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  3. Sounds like someone turned on the heat in Wisconsin! Hope it cools off before we ride thru there next month. Good luck with that nasty CTS!

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