IAT 8-18-2014 - Tisch Mills to Point Beach Segments

Started the day out with a nice shuttle from Dolly the Ice Age Trail Cold Cash Coordinator.  I later ran into here at Point Beach leading a hike!  She was very nice and does a great job helping out the trail.  After she dropped me off I made my way through the Tisch Mills segment which was a nice start to the day.  On the second section of the segment I came upon what I think is my first actual un-bridged stream crossing!  Although I ended making it a pretty easy rock hop and didn't end up getting my shoes wet anyways...  But finished up the Tisch Mill Segment and then it was a few miles of roads over to the next segment.

Nice start to the day along the Tisch Mills Segment.

Nice stream crossing.  Rock hop on the right made it a dry one.

Dolly tipped me off that there was a new trail segment that had just opened up and boy was I glad!  It was a great segment!!!  It started off with a beautiful boardwalk the wraps around to get you going.  Then it follows along the river near by with some really nice views.  Eventually it leaves the river and goes into a great forest area.  It crosses the river one more time on an old concrete bridge before a short walk back to the road.  Just a great segment overall.  Just wish it was longer!

Start of the new section of trail.

Nice views of the river right along the trail.

The trail eventually winds its way into cool section of forest.

Bird house???  Pretty cool looking one.

View from on top of the bridge.

After a very short road walk I then finished the first section of the Mishicot Segment where I ran into the owner of that section out for a bike ride.  We talked for a few minutes and he told me he owns the land I was just hiking on and does all the trail maintenance himself.  He encouraged me to get more hikers out there and he was trying to convince local land owners to do what he did and donate a small path of their land to get the trail off the roads.  He was a very nice guy and seemed to really care for the trail.

The rest of the Mishicot Segment was pretty nice for a road/city walk.  It goes over a cool bridge and then by a dam before a short suburb walk to the next connecting route.

Bridge in Mishicot.

View from inside bridge.

Mishicot dam.

After a longer connector I made it to Point Beach state park.  I thought it was a great plan to end my day in the woods and nice walk.  Well I was greeted by swarms of bugs...  I of course had no bug spray with me but they were firmly in control of the northern section of the park.  With 20 miles on my legs already that day I some how found it in me to run the next 5 miles just to get the hell away from the bugs.  It was miserable for awhile.  About halfway through the park they let up a little and I ended up meeting Dolly again out with a group leading a hike.  Shortly after passing them the trail led out to the beach (no bugs!!!!) and the lake.  It's a great couple miles of hiking along the shoreline.  After this hike I am done on the eastern part of the trail so it was a nice way to say goodbye to the lake.  Although it has confirmed that there is not a inch of Lake Michigan that is even close to being clean enough to swim in for my tastes which is just too bad...  But the sun came out a little as I walked along the beach and eventually made the short trek from the beach to the car and I was on my way home.

Who wouldn't want to hike here?  Great view.

Just a cool section of trail.  Love the woods, but love the beach too.

I was a little confused here since the sign was so close to the water and the land dropped off into the lake.

The best bench on the IAT?

Last view of the lake (on the trail).

IAT 4-12-2014 - Gibralter Segment to Eastern Lodi Marsh Segment

I had to make this a short day because of birthday party to get to, but thankfully I met a fellow hiker Kevan who was able to shuttle and hike with me.  We started out at the Gibralter Segment at the ferry.  It quickly rose to some nice views looking back and a cool bench.  It was a bit rainy and cloudy through out the day, but it held off for the most part.  After the Gibralter segment we had a short road walk passed Gibralter Rock and what will soon be a new segment of trail.  It looks like it will be a very nice segment and eliminate some of the road walk.

Bridge across Lake Wisconsin

Carins along the trail!  Pretty tough to get lost here.

Nice view of Lake Wisconsin.

Cool bench along the trail.

Nice farm and pond along a connecting route.

The short Groves-Pertzborn segment was a nice section of trail that climbs up and with a nice look back of Gibralter rock.  But that is short lived before you are back on the roads and wrapping around to the City of Lodi Segment.  Which begins with a nice mile in and out to the high school.  It ends with a pretty cool bridge and has some nice views - that you get to enjoy twice!  After doubling back the trail takes you through the downtown area of Lodi.  Looked like some nice bar/restaurant options if need them as well as the office for the Lodi chapter of the IATA.  After town the trail follows the stream for a little and has a short road walk leading to the Eastern Lodi Marsh Segment.

Good view of the school and area along the out and back.

The longest bridge on the IAT according to the companion?  Doesn't seem right...

This segment starts by going under some railroad tracks and bending around a farm area.  Eventually you are greeted with 2 or 3 nice climbs and descents.  There are some nice views through here and the sun looked like it wanted to come out a little while we were here, but I imagine on a nicer day this would be a really nice area.  But we made it back to the car just in time as the storms opened up.  Thankfully I was on my home by then - it was 85 and sunny there!

Need more of these signs!

Nice view from the Eastern Lodi Segment.

IAT - 3/9/14 - Cross Plains to Lodi Marsh Loop

The weather finally broke a little and I made it out for the first time this year!  It felt very nice to be back hiking on the trail even if I did start with a nice 11 mile road walk out of Lodi Marsh.  I drove up early and got the long road walk out of the way before my family came up to do some hiking and shuttling.  The road walk had a lot of climbing but I spent most of the second half trying to get cell service to let my family know where to meet.  I finished up the road walk and went through Indian Lake which is a short 2 mile segment.  It was pretty cool in the winter time, but not much to see except snow.  After that was a short road walk over to the end of the Table Bluff segment.  We then drove back up to my car and hiked the Lodi Loop while we were there.  It was pretty windy and with the snow on the ground it was some rough hiking for the group, but we made it around and back and then dropped my car off at Table Bluffs and drove down to the IAT HQ.

Of course the HQ was not open on the weekend but we took another look around now in the winter and then went on our way to the rest of the Cross Plains segment.  After walking through part of the town the off road part of the segment quickly climbs up the side of a moraine.  Once on top you there is a nice view of Cross Plains and the trail continues through some cool woods and a prairie.  Eventually it descends almost as steeply as it climbed up and you are back in Cross Plains just like that.  The wind was picking up pretty good and my one daughter wasn't feeling so good so the family took the short cut back to the car and headed home while I knocked out the road walk and began the Table Bluffs segment.

This is a pretty cool segment.  We had driven by and seen it and joked - boy hope we don't have to climb up there!  Well here I was about to climb up there!  Right away a series of switch backs take you to the top of the first Bluff.  The path we saw from the road was a actually a car path that is more gradual.  Once at the top there is a short white side trail that takes you out to the pavilion and overlook you can see from the road.  It was very windy and cold and getting a little dark at this point so I grabbed a few pictures and doubled back to the IAT.

The trail through this segment is great.  It goes up and down a series of 4 (or 5 if you count the last little bump back up at the end) moraines that are basically flat on the top - hence the "Table" Bluff name.  At the end of my first 20+ mile day of the season it was a good workout and I ended up at my car in a sweat. There were several other people out enjoying the trail as well and I could see why because this segment was a lot of fun and a great way to end the day.

IAT - 11/17/2013 - End of Montrose Segment to Start of Cross Plains Segment

With tornadoes hitting Illinois we bailed north for the day to get some miles in.  It was nice and warm, but I started hiking in a thunder storm.  It rained really hard for the first couple miles then turned to a light drizzle before tapering off to nothing for most of the day.  Right as I was about 2 miles from the end of the day it started raining again really hard and with the wind blowing hard I was soaked again.  But in between the rain it was actually a good day for a hike.  Hit the 300 mile mark so that was a nice milestone.  Hopefully next year I can pickup the pace a little, but there are just so many other trails to hike!  With the weather I didn't even think about bringing my camera so just some cell phone pictures below.  Even on a raining day in late fall there were still some nice sights.

Start of Verona Segment.

Cool small cascade along the trail.

Just on the other side of the cascade a nice small lake.

This is the DCA?!  Pretty small area and a regular park about 100 yards away...

Nice view along the Verona segment.

End of the Verona Segment.

Start of the Madison Segment.  Clouds were not looking good, but never got too bad.

View along the Valley View segment.

View along the Valley View segment.

View along the Valley View segment.

Mile 300 (or there about).  Pretty much sums up a lot of the IAT - roads and fields.

This is actually an old drinking fountain.

Shoveler Sink.

Cool mailbox along a connecting route.

IAT Interpretive Site.