Fresh air Hike & Junk

*I'm going for a walk. to the Big Spring. I'll use the field road, the snow mobile trail and the cropland to get down and back. I'll stop by the big dry run on the East side of PeeWee's.*  PeeWee was the nickname of the owner of this land.

I tell this to my husband as he goes for his morning two hour-ish nap. He knows these locations as he has ridden and explored the neighbor's land we still refer to as PeeWee's.

 

Here is a photo of the Big Spring

Photo of the Big Spring last winter when 
the water still ran quicker. The warm air and water
creates incredible frost on the rocks:

I went from the Big Spring over to the East Dry Run and walked up to where the little spring flows out of the 'step rocks'.

This spot in non drought years produces a small steady stream of water that works its way through all of these rocks.

In a normal cold and wet winter it looks like this:

A person can literally walk on two to three feet of ice or even more. It fills the dry run with incredible colors of ice that vary from blue to green and in places... an orange color.
These photos were taken in 2015.

Two years of drought has changed the flow of the tiny spring. It still runs, but the temperatures have not been cold enough to create the river of blue ice like it has in years past.

Charlie is standing next to some cool roots and there is a critter path that leads up the bank from where the animals come down to drink from the tiny spring.

In years past, the river of ice has been at least 4 to 5 feet thick right at this spot. 

From here back to the top where the snowmobile trail is a 100 foot climb up to the top. The grade is steeper than 25% so it is pretty intense.

The ground was frozen enough to climb up and out to the top. Yes, I climbed it. I do it each time I visit this spot. It is easier than back tracking into the valley.

Below is a map of my walk in the terrain mode of maps. The road viewed is called Tigen and it is a dead end road.

The yellow dots are places where someone lives. The start and stop is where we live. The black dot is where the where I was standing in near the little Spring.

I include this terrain map so you can see that the hikes are not on flat ground except when I cross cropland. You can see how steep our terrain really is.

View from the top 14 seconds.

My walk on the ridge was interesting also. I've decided to do another project on Farm Junk. Why not? Old farms have cool junk that farmers dumped in their dry runs to slow erosion and get rid of old machinery and things like tires. 

Here is the first of my Junk Files. 

The Viking.

Hey, it could be advertised as a great AirBnb! 

--- Unplug! Enjoy Nature in our Viking Hut! No internet, no electricity! Experience the outdoors like a Hobo!

The open air feeling of this AirBnb is wonderful. Hear all the forest noises all night long. The unobstructed window faces east where you can watch the sun rise over the Driftless Region!

That's it folks....

Charlie and I have a lot of junk to find this winter. Can I just call it Still Life??