Day Eight

From East Twin River DCA to Two Rivers, 21 miles

I’m up just before 4am. I did get some sleep, though I tossed and turned a bit. I’m on trail by 6am and navigate the dark woods via headlamp. The loud machinery sounds start up again just as I leave the area.

The sky is getting lighter when I do a short roadwalk. I keep my headlamp on regardless since it’s foggy and I want to be visible to traffic.

The trail veers off into a giant field. I walk through this for a mile, admiring the way the goldenrod looks in the early morning light. My shoes get soaked from the dew, but I don’t mind.

Next it’s a short wooded section with – gasp – a switchback up a hill. Elevation gain each day has so far been zero, so this little hill makes me smile.

Into Mishicot I go with its Dollar General. Alas, I pass by an hour before it opens. I have enough water to deal with the upcoming four+ mile roadwalk, so I press onward.

Next comes the straight roadwalk in the rising sun along a busy street. I walk quickly and am thankful it’s the last roadwalk of the day.

I reach the Point Beach segment and happily realize I’ve done over half my 21 miles. Even better, this next ten-mile stretch is shaded (except for a two mile walk along Lake Michigan) with first a dry long boardwalk and then soft footing. There were notes in FarOut about terrible mosquitoes, but I experience very few on this mid-Sept day. There are multiple options for bathroom stops and water fills. It’s a lovely segment. The temps are in the mid-70s, which is horrible for road walks but just fine for wooded meandering.

One weird thing was that along a half mile segment I found four dead moles in the middle of the trail. Not altogether, but spaced a tenth of a mile apart. Poor little guys.

I rest on a bench and check my timing – I should be finished well before the 4pm check-in time for my AirBnB. I text my host and he says it is no problem to check in early. As I am reshouldering my pack, a day hiker comes along and says he recognizes me from my FB posts. His name is Gary, and he is from Chicago. We share the trail for a while until he arrives back at his car and I continue onward.

Just before reaching Two Rivers, I hit the 100 mile mark. Yay!

There’s a Family Dollar right by my AirBnB, and I make the mistake of buying food before I check in and while I am hungry. I bought too much…again. Also, there was a 32 ounce bottle of pumpkin eggnog that I could not resist but should have. I’m trying to eat healthy…

Two Rivers is the home of the first Ice Cream Sundae, but alas, the shop that birthed it is closed today. I buy some gelato at the FD and make that suffice.

When I reach my AirBnB, there’s a guy on the sidewalk who recognizes me from earlier today. He drove by me on the early morning roadwalk. He asks why I was hiking on the road, and I explain about the Ice Age Trail and its connecting route segments. He is jovial and wishes me well. I thank him for not hitting me with his car.

Day Nine

Took a zero in Two Rivers on Day Nine. Rested, ate too much, and had a great video chat with my daughter.

Day Ten

Two Rivers to Smiling Moose Saloon and Bar. 24 miles total.

Did 14.2 miles to my hotel, then 9.8 slackpacking to the Smiling Moose Saloon and Bar on Route 42. It was either that or do a 27+-mile day tomorrow with a full pack. Cath, a wonderful trail angel, picked me up at the Smiling Moose early this evening and will take me back there tomorrow morning.

It was sidewalks and residential streets out of Twin River, then a nice two mile stretch of shaded woods walking. My only woods walking of the day.

Sidewalk along the Lake into Manitowoc, past several small parks and plenty of places to refill water bottles.

More sidewalks through Manitowoc until a trail next to the Manitowoc River through fields and wildflowers. That was a lovely stretch. Lots of little frogs/toads by the river.

A short gravel road, then it was the end of the Manitowoc segment.

2.6 miles from there to my motel. It’s an unshaded walk along busy roads, and by the time I get there I feel hot and spent. The kind hotel employee lets me check in early. I get to my room, rinse my head in cold water, drink a liter of H20, eat some carbs and protein, and rest for half an hour. Then it’s back outside to finish my hiking day.

The next official segment is Walla Hi, which is around 23 miles from my hotel by the most direct road walk along busy Route 42. The suggested connecting route avoids 42 but is three miles longer. I choose busy Route 42.

I spend my early afternoon walking 9.8 miles in 80-degree heat with zero shade except for two trees five miles in. My pack is now light, which helps, but those miles are hot and I dig deep to will myself forward. I walk past farmland, a few commercial buildings, and some rural houses. I take a break at that sole shaded spot, and as I am reapplying my sunblock a man comes out of his home and gives me a cold bottle of water. I thank him and we chat for a bit.

I get to the Smiling Moose an hour before my scheduled pickup and do something I have got to stop doing. I am so hungry and thirsty that I order the first thing I see written on the board. It’s a 12-inch “Boys in Bleu” pizza. I don’t bother to read the description or look at the price.

I am all for supporting local businesses, but I have to stop impulse buying food or I am going to go seriously over budget. The pizza is more than I need to satisfy my hunger, and it’s more expensive than most of the menu because it is a specialty dish. Plus, it has hot peppers…which I would have known about had I bothered to read the description.

I spend 45 minutes slowly eating what I bought. It’s good (after I pick off most of the hot peppers).

Cath picked me up. She is so kind. She brought me pears, cherry tomatoes, and a cucumber from her garden. She also brought me a quinoa pouch and some bath salts for this evening. Cath and her husband host long-distance bicyclists on a regular basis, and she told me she now wanted to help out hikers too. I tried to give her money for her gas and time, but she refused. She will pick me up at the hotel tomorrow morning and take me back to the Smiling Moose where I will continue my hike.

Tonight I notice each of my pinky toes has a small blister. 😞

Day Eleven

Smiling Moose Saloon and Bar to LaBudde Creek DCA. Just over 17 miles.

Tough day today. Road walking combined with 80+ degree heat. I don’t know what the real-feel temperature is when walking on asphalt in direct sunlight with air temps at 80, but I would be willing to bet it is 90+.

That being said, the morning started off well. I wrapped my blistered little toes in duct tape, slathered the rest of my feet in Vaseline, then donned first my compression socks and then my Darn Toughs.

I ate the cherry tomatoes and two of the pears Cath gave me yesterday as part of my breakfast – yum! Soooo good!

Cath picked me up at the hotel at 6:15am. She drove me to where I stopped hiking yesterday (Smiling Moose on Route 42), and I enjoyed our conversation in the car. Incredibly nice person.

After bading Cath farewell, I began my first roadwalk of the day. It was fine for 45 minutes until the sun began to unrelentingly shine on me, and then I predictably wilted. I marched on, eating the rest of Cath’s pears and the cucumber along the way.

Finally got to the Walla Hi segment and enjoyed some walking on wooded and shaded trail. Nice ups and downs within the trees, it felt good to be on inclines again.

Spent a lot of time trying to rehydrate at a brook. I don’t think my body recovered from yesterday before I set out this morning.

I met a nice lady who chatted with me within the Walla Hi woods. Also took my first spill of my IAT hike. Tripped over a root while looking at my phone. Whoops.

Another roadwalk after Walla Hi. Midday heat and direct sunlight – my body really wasn’t happy. I kept drinking water and eating salty snacks. It took a lot of willpower to make it to the LaBudde Creek segment. The forecast calls for more of the same for at least a week. I might start night hiking.

I had assumed the DCA at LaBudde Creek would be in the woods and that I would enjoy shaded lounging for the rest of my day. Nope. It’s on an exposed hill with mostly slanted ground. Beautiful view of the meadow though, plus a nice bench. This would be a perfect camping spot in cooler weather. I pitched my tent on the flattest spot I could find, which was close to the sign (and in the sun), and spent my lounging hours sitting on my bear canister in the shade of the one large evergreen trying to avoid the wild parsnip all around me. There was some tp in the roots of some shorter trees.

The duct tape came off one toe. The blister looks the same. The other toe is still wrapped, and it will stay that way until the tape comes off on its own. This is the way I have always dealt with blisters, and so far it’s always worked. Duct tape it and keep going. The blisters don’t grow and usually heal within a few days. The duct tape comes off on its own.

Enjoyed a gorgeous sunset from the bench (didn’t get a photo), then hit the figurative hay.

I felt grumpy all afternoon today, I think it shows in this post. It’s not the trail (well, maybe it is partly all the road walking on this day). I just get snarly when in the sun for too long.