Hiking the Connecting Route between the Deerfield Segment and the Emmons Creek Segment of the Ice Age Trail

I set out on a crisp fall morning to walk the the connecting route between the Deerfield and Emmons Creek Segments of the Ice Age National Scenic Trail (IAT). With October colors popping and geese calling overhead, I left my bike at the terminus of the Deerfield Segment of the Ice Age Trail on County Road O and parked at Roberts Park in the Village of Wild Rose. Cold wind rustled the leaves as I began walking through Wild Rose. I enjoyed an outpouring of Halloween decorations and seeing wildroses still in bloom. 

Hiking the Forestville Segment of the Ice Age Trail

 

On a rainy October morning my husband and I hiked the Forestville Segment of the Ice Age National Scenic Trail (IAT). The Forestville Segment follows the Ahnapee River along the multiuse Ahnapee State trail from the corner of State Highway 42 and County Highway H in Maplewood to Birch Road (County Highway S) in Algoma. This crushed limestone trail runs through Kewaunnee and Door Counties. Built on a transformed rails to trails railroad track bed, the segment is named for the Village of Forestville, with the Forestvivlle Dam County Park near its halfway point. 

Stuart River to Lower Basswood Falls - BWCA 2023

With the goal of seeing Lower Basswood Falls and permits unavailable for our three target entry points, we defaulted to a still available permit for the Stuart River entry point. This entry point starts with a 433 rod portage, plus five more mapped portages, as well as several additional unmapped beaver dams to climb over before arriving at the first campsites from Entry Point 19. Maybe this causes some unpopularity for this entry point, and perhaps it is this unpopularity that allowed us the permit.

The Connecting Route from the Kewaunee Segment to the Forestville Segment of the Ice Age Trail

To connect the Kewaunee River Segment of the Ice Age National Scenic Trail (IAT) to the Forestville Segment, I did not follow the recommended roadwalk in the Ice Age Trail Guidbook. The official IAT segments are connected by roadwalks, but the choice of which connecting route to take is optional. This means any on-foot method of connecing two segments is acceptable. 

Whitefish Lake Canoe Trip 2023

 

Welcome to our warmest ever Labor Day Weekend canoe trip in the Sylvania Wilderness. Typically our Labor Day trips feature cold nights. We gather around the campfire warming ourselves. This time we swam and paddled the standup paddle board around Whitefish Lake not really caring about warm campfires. In fact, at some points we could have used a cold breeze!

Wildflowers and Warm Weather on Memorial Weekend in the Sylvania Wilderness, Spring 2023

We packed up and headed north for our first canoe camping trip of 2023 with new canoeists along for the trip. Typically our May trips to the Sylvania Wildreness are cold, wet and buggy. Because guests new to the sport were traveling along, we hoped for good weather and mangeable bugs. We put in on Crooked Lake, paddled the length of Crooked and took the short portage to Mountan Lake to camp on Lynx 1 Campsite. After the second night, we paddled and portaged from Lynx 1 Campsite on Mountain Lake over to Coyote Campsite on West Bear Lake. This is what happened.

Hiking the Kewaunee Segment of the Ice Age Trail

The Kewaunee River Segment of the Ice Age National Scenic Trail (IAT) follows a portion of the  crushed limestone Ahnapee StateTtrail along the Kewaunee River from Harold Ruckelberg Park in Casco Junction to Kewaunee. The multiuse Ahnapee State Trail is does not require the purchase of a trail pass. I hiked a portion of the Kewaunee River Segment of the Ice Age National Scenic Trail (IAT) on a cold winter day and returned on a warm May day to finish. 

Hiking the Emmons Creek Segment of the Ice Age Trail

Even on a wet, foggy morning in the October cold, a hike on the Ice Age Trail (IAT) is worth the dealing with the drive through the fog. I parked at the 2nd Avenue IAT trailhead parking area realizing the fog had delayed the already October-late first light of morning, and I had forgotten to pack a headlamp. I waited until first light made a faint outline of the trailhead, and began hiking into the cool fog. My shoes soaked through cold and wet and a glaze of water on my glasses blurred my vision before I had hiked more than a couple yards.