09/24/06

IAT Thru Hike

John Bauer and Bill Rhodes - 2006 Ice Age Trail Thru Hike Journal

2006-07-24 / Monday

Status – An Ice Age Trail Sampler – A 2 Day Hike With a Thru-Hiker

Hi Friends of the IAT, 

Wow! What a weekend, I wanted a taste of the IAT and it delivered.  Last Thursday (7/20) and Friday (7/21) I was watching the radar and weather reports for Lincoln and Taylor Counties.   The weather experts were calling for local scattered T-Storms diminishing to just partly cloudy skies with temperature highs in the upper 70s to low 80s, perfect hiking conditions for the weekend.   Friday (7/21) evening as I exited HWY 51 not far from Merrill, WI the clouds to the west were darkening, becoming ominous.  When I was approximately 15 miles from Camp New Wood County Park it started to pour buckets.   I was kind of bummed out, the cloud cover looked more than local to me and the rain wasn’t letting up.   As I pulled into camp there was only one tent, I figured it had to be John so I pulled up close in the van, rolled my window down, yelled “John” and out pops John like a prairie dog.   Lucky for us the rain let up, the clouds blew away making for a very delightful evening.  I set up my tent, unfortunately I put my rain fly on the wrong way which I fixed later in the evening in the dark.   We shared a couple of bottles of brew that John had hidden in the river from the last MSC project in the area.   John gathered up his dirty clothes and we made a quick run into Merrill, WI to use the Laundromat.  We stopped at McDonalds, made a few phone calls since we had cell phone service, and we went grocery shopping.  We were back in camp by 9:00 pm.  John started a rip roaring MSC style bonfire, we talked a bit and were both in bed by 10:30 pm. 

Saturday (6/22) we were both up at 5:00 am, with a long day ahead of us – a 24-mile hike from Camp New Wood County Park to Camp 27.   Boy did we pack the water, I had eight full water bottles and John had a comparable amount.   Saturday and Sunday would present many challenges and two of them were controlling our water consumption and finding a viable water source in the event we couldn’t find the water pump at Camp 27.   We were on the trail at 6:30 am sharp, the first segment of the day was the Grandfather Falls Segment along the mighty Wisconsin River.  We had to dance on rocks and slippery slime covered roots and climb up, on and over boulders the size of a compact car.  The views of the falls were spectacular!   The views in and from the woods along the shore were amazing.   There was lots of wet vegetation from the rain the night before that we had to contend with.   By the time we were out of the woods and on the road portion of the trail we had another challenge, wet pants and soaked boots.  The wet pants were no problem, they actually felt kind of refreshing.   The soaked boots and socks were a little bit more serious, they could cause blisters if we were not careful. 

We had 2 miles of road walking, time enough to think and contemplate the adventure we would be having on the upcoming Turtle Rock Segment, 4.9 miles of some of the toughest trail on all of the IAT.   Oh boy let me tell you it was truly rugged, vegetation so thick that at times we could only see each others head and we were literally hopping from rock to rock, what fun we did have.  What made the trail exciting were the number of blazes the chapter folk put up, it was like we always had at least 2 to 3 blazes in sight, which enabled us to focus on our foot navigation.   Then to top it off we had to climb up a huge bluff to get out of the river valley, it was a real test.  Before we knew it that bit of fun was over and we were at Burma Road, the end of the vaunted segment.  Oh, I forgot to mention the wild raspberries along the way, it seemed like everywhere you turned there was a bush with berries crying out “eat me”.  It did slow us down a bit.   This bit of fun did cost us – our water consumption went up, we were thirsty. 

The Wau-Mo Segment was up next, 5.6 miles of countryside that had been logged over, in some ways pretty but in other ways kind of desolate almost barren because of the absence of trees.   We stopped two times changing into our sandals so that we could ford the Averill Creek and New Wood River.   It’s at the New Wood River crossing that I made a choice I would regret later in the evening and the next morning.   See we were working hard and our water consumption was really going up, our water would be gone by the end of the day.  I had four empty bottles – do I fill all four with river water or just one or two and hope there is water at Camp 27?   I filled only two, later I would regret that choice.  John and I were too optimistic about finding the water pump at Camp 27. 

East New Wood Segment, West New Wood Segment, and a part of the Camp 27 Segment filled up the rest of our agenda for Saturday.  We made the push for Camp 27 and we didn’t arrive at the site until approximately 8:00 pm.  I really found these segments enjoyable.  Of course, as usual both the hard work of the local chapters and MSC projects made it so but the different logging techniques being used also helped out, they seem to be thinning the forest instead of clear cutting.   This makes it more visual in that you can see further into the forest, this is really fun at dusk because your mind can play funny tricks on you.  John was kind of funny, every so often he would turn around to see what was behind him, he said he felt as though he was being stalked, I just chuckled.  This thinning technique has made the forest a plus for the foot traveler, go see it yourself.   We encountered some refreshing rain in these segments, nothing that lasted longer than 5 to 10 minutes.  Sometimes we put our pack covers on and sometimes not, it didn’t seem to make a bit of difference. 

All of a sudden we climb a little hill and there before us is a gravel road and to our right is a clearing – Camp 27 and water!  We look at each other and smile and I say “the first drink is on me.”   But inside me I feel that this is to good to be true – a water pump waiting for us.  Well it was Camp 27 but we never did find the water pump.  When you just finish backpacking 24 miles over some difficult terrain the last thing you want to do is search for a water pump that might not even exist.  So we had to conserve our remaining water – I had 1 bottle of good water and 2 bottles of river water, which I treated with purification tablets.   John had a comparable amount.  We set up camp near one side of the field, John started a bonfire, and we pitched our tents, ate and drank a little water.   During the days’ hike we saw tons of bear evidence but that night we were to tired to use a bear bag and rope.   We were hoping to hear some wolf’s howling at night but we didn’t, however eventually we did hear them, more on that later.   It was hard falling asleep, it was like I was to tired to fall asleep, eventually I did. 

Sunday (7/23) 5:00 am we are up and getting ready to go.  John starts up the bonfire again, he was cold and has been the last several nights.  We eat a good breakfast with a little water.  I really have a new respect for water.   We are hiking at 6:15 am, back into the cool forest, it’s still kind of dark in the forest and our mind runs wild.  About a mile in we hear the wolves – we hear the whole pack.   It sounds like they were either pursuing a meal or they were fighting amongst themselves, we are not sure.  We were just a few hills and valleys away, did they know we were in their neighborhood?  If they did would they eye us up as a meal?  Who knows, before long the howling stopped and we were on our way.   The next challenge – crossing a thirty-foot beaver dam.  A little nerve racking but we make it.  A short while later we encountered a two hundred foot beaver dam.  We had a blast on that one, I don’t know why but it was fun.   Unfortunately, both our cameras were on the fritz so we have no pictures of the crossing.   We finish up the Camp 27 Segment and are on Tower Road. 

After a quick break we do a couple of miles of road walking on Tower Road and then we enter into the Timberlands Wilderness Segment.  I don’t know why but it did seem like a wilderness.   It was fun to hike.  The segment seemed awfully dry.   Maybe because we were so thirsty, we were down to our last bottle of water.   We make it to Tower Road again and have just 3 miles left to hike to Wood Lake where we met Mark Berglund and friend Jim, they shuttled my van to Wood Lake to pick us up.   Their help was greatly appreciated.   With about 1.5 miles to hike we pull out our water bottles and finish them off, so tasty!  With one-mile left to hike we meet Mark and Jim on the trail and they accompany us to the van.   John and I walk straight to the park well and drink our fill of cool refreshing water. 

My two-day hike with John was a success, it was a big confidence builder for a potential thru hike of my own in 2008.   My consistent physical training has paid off thus far and the Lord willing will continue to do so over the next two years.   The experience gave me a new found respect for both the IAT and folks who thru hike it – they are some pretty tough cookies.   I was up for this weekend’s mental challenge.    A mental challenge for two days is one thing but a mental challenge of 40+ days is an entirely different ballgame.  That’s the question that I keep asking myself – can I do it for 40+ days?   I don’t know but that’s what makes the challenge of thru hiking the IAT so appealing to me. 

Happy Trails, 

“Biscuit”