Just some stuff.

I've been stacking up the miles in hiking without even thinking about it. I do hit the 'walk' button on the smart watch and go on my merry way hiking around here or along groomed trails.

I checked my stats and was really surprised by them. If I hike 27 more miles by the 31st, I will have hiked 1,000 miles in one year.

Well damn. That is a lot of miles! I mean I could have walked the nearly the whole WI Ice Age Trail in this year. I did not hike every day and skipped those hot/humid days and of course many below zero days that had dangerous wind chills.

So that is something interesting.

Cool things found when hiking the other day.

The boulder below is probably a ton or so in weight. It stands about 4 feet tall. According to my geologist friend it is a huge fossil from 470 million years ago. A Stromatolite fossil. You can read about them here at Stromatolites at the UW site. These were algae mounds that grew before multicellular organisms.

In the next dry run ravine over, I found this curious root system holding on to the side of the steep bank. The tree is an old oak which has survived many flash floods in this spot. I just find that the root system is simply amazing.

Nature sure can surprise one.

My Geologist friend came out on Monday to explore a formation I've known about for nearly 30 years.

I'd told him about a 'hole' in the field that was a rock like entrance. He wanted to go see it and maybe go down into it.

Finally Rich and Jason got to meet and it actually went very well. Jason is a chatterbox and will pick up any gaps in a lagging conversation.
They discussed the history of the area, rocks, sinkholes, caves, rock shelters, lay of the land, and whatnot. Jason was inquiring about the land around us and Rich was enjoying the company.

Jason wanted to see the 'hole'. And. He wanted to go down it.

Nope. Not my cup of tea. Hubby had a hound dog go down that hole years ago and spend a long time getting the dog out. The amount of scat around the hole said 'Disgusting Gross Poo' to me. I avoid the hole, it gives me the creeps.

After Jason climbed down in, the dogs and I chilled out in the warm sun.
Charlie was more nervous than Felix and Piper. He really adores our friend, the treat man!

Sleepy Hairy Dogs
Happy in the  Warm Sun

What did my friend find? He found a 40 to 60 foot 'room' with a ceiling of 2-4 feet tall. It was full of wet mud, and bottles that looked like liquor bottles that had been set there. Most of the items were not broken. He commented that there were hundreds of bottles and jars.

To him it seemed that at one point people used to come down and drink in the 'cave' perhaps. I do know that the previous owner had said that they had a ladder to go in and out of the cave when they were quite young.

That was over 70+ years ago.

Since then the hole has had tires, a window, and even barbed wire tossed down into it. Last year, it was covered in a brush pile to mark it so those working the field wouldn't drive into the hole.

The look on his face when he came back up was priceless. He was incredibly happy.

And...the dogs were happy to see him, despite the fact he was covered in mud.

We hiked through the forest so he could see the Grumpy Face Rock and then headed back to the house so we could share with Rich what he'd discovered.

The huge tract of land next door has a fairly interesting history. There was a Speak-Easy on the land during prohibition. It was located in such a way that anyone visiting there had to walk nearly a mile through the woods to visit it.

The original settler that acquired most of the land was a migrant from Norway. He changed his name when he came to the US as he was 'wanted' back home for something. He built a huge farm, purchased a local bride, and had two boys and a girl.  During the Depression, he paid back taxes on farms around him and extended his farm land. 

There are many local stories about the original owner. He was considered ruthless.

When the milk man drove his team of horses there to pick up the milk, he'd bring the owner two large jugs of liquor once a week. It was rumored that the husband and wife were not the 'cleanest' folks around. They allowed chickens and other animals to wander in and out of the house.

The land is now in the hands of the third generation. The farmland is rented out, the forest is leased to some hunters, and starting soon a logging company will be coming in to harvest trees.

What an interesting start to the week.

Piper and I.
Photo by Jason.
She is sitting on top of the huge fossil in that
first photo.

An Amazing Friend and Adventure Part II

 

The day grew darker and a bit more dreary when we got to the south end of the ridgetop. The Hogback Ridge opened up into a larger and flat plateau like area. At different times, the State Land had been rented out as farm land. 

We walked around this field and entered the old oak forest. Jason kept looking for an old trail he knew he'd used a couple of years ago.

He said that he hadn't done this part of the hike alone because he didn't feel safe in case something happened to him. He has trouble with his knees and had surgery last year.

This type of landscape is something I've hiked in for the past 28 years. I often scramble up and down rocky and dirt dry runs. Looking for handholds while climbing over roots and rocks is something I don't even have to think about any more.

I took this shot below after we had an incident with Jason's older dog. While negotiating this animal track on the hillside, Felix lost his balance and rolled down the steep incline. He rolled into a log. Jason was upset. Felix got up and shook while Jason called to him.

Felix had decided he wanted nothing to do with that trail and did not want to follow us stupid humans. [In the mean time, Charlie and Jason's other dog Piper sat and watched]

Jason called and called. Felix ignored him and started slowly started to climb the steep hill with a slippery bed of oak leaves up and away from us.

I'm a fast scrambler, so I took off after Felix. I used trees, rocks, and balance to get ahead of Felix. Jason warned me not to grab Felix by the collar. He'd bite me. Felix is a pretty laid back dog except when he is upset. He is a rescue 'off the street' dog. Jason calls him his High Dollar Doggy for all the vet bills they have had.

I positioned myself on the trial so that Felix couldn't get by me except by climbing over a huge log. I offered him one of Charlie's dog cookies to interest him while Jason came up to put him on a leash.

As expected, there was quite a tussle getting Felix leashed. We eventually made it to the main attraction.

We took several minutes to just chill out, get the dogs some water, and sit quietly on the floor of the cave.

Jason suffers from PTSD and Anxiety so I understand his need to be able to just sit and breathe when something happens. He has to process things differently than I do. He just recently had doctors diagnose him with borderline autism. His life long struggles with processing information and relationships now make a bit more sense to him. That said, he is a brilliant geologist that no longer works in that field. He is smart and articulate but needs different rules for conversation and friendship.

Let's say, we get along just fine.

I pulled out two Lego Minifigures and set them up on a rock shelf to take their photo. I presented the one minifig as Jason, one as me...and one little Charlie.

Jason pulled out something from his backpack and handed it to me.

I quipped with delight: You are so prepared! You brought along Guardians of the Galaxy in case we needed Superhero's!!!

With things settled down we had some fun. Jason tried to crawl back to see how far the holes in the rock extended. The shot below is an infrared shot in black and white. I really love how one can see the details of the rock that was washed and eroded by underground water flowing millions of years ago.

And after that, silliness happened.

Jason wanted a photo of himself doing silly things. Jumping up and down...

A silhoutte.

And the last bit of fun silliness. Charlie and Jason's dogs were curious when Jason started jumping up and down. Charlie wouldn't get out from under Jason, so he scooped Charlie up and continued to jump!

We found a better trail to climb up and out of there and started back towards our vehicles. With Jason, I never have to think of something to say as he is always chatting. That's fine, listening is a good skill to have.

He says he enjoys my friendship and hiking with me because he doesn't have to worry that I can't handle myself. I bring emergency gear like he does and have some good knowledge of woodcraft.

On our way back Jason had to take a few rest breaks. Apparently, Charlie adores the heck out of him!

We got back to the parking area as it started to drizzle. Both of us were a bit sad that the hike ended but I had to get home to hubby. Jason had a two hour drive to get back to Madison.

Lots of hugs and promises to get together to explore together again with our dog pack.

Until the next time....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One last bit.  
While standing on the top of the ridge, Jason explained the development of the historical geology of this particular area.

Direct, copy and paste from his FB post explaining the Hogback Ridge.

This is the floor of a formerly underground sandstone cave that was exhumed and eroded away including the ceiling and walls. The sandstone has various dissolution textures (vertical pipes, polished surface, lots of eroded fracture sets) than can only happen by groundwater. It’s a very unique rock and unlike the weathering textures seen in sea or ice caves. There’s more of this a few other places. I like this spot the best.

Trail Challenge Segment #53

What a totally boring title. It should be two dogs, two men, and a wild woman guide.

I'm not really a guide, but it felt like it. 

Or perhaps it should be Two Dogs, a Geologist, and a retired IT guy with the Skunk Hat Lady.

I thought I'd get going on our Trail Challenge 2022. Bill said he wanted to be a part of it and was a willing partner. I meet Jason while hiking on New Year's Eve and he happened to be free on Saturday too. I coordinated the hike and times for all of us.

The trail challenge encompasses 59 miles of trails that are to BE hiked. They say there are 50 trail segments. But I count 54. I've done all but 9 miles of these trails so I could familiarize myself with the KVR since it has been many years since I rode it with my husband on mules.

Bill wanted to avoid the Kickapoo Valley Reserve Winter Festival . I did too so I picked a trail that had bluffs, rocks, and a decent distance for us to do. 

The Trail is called the Cut Off Trail and runs from Cut Off road just south of County P. The distance of the segment is only 1.87 miles. 

Bill in front 
Jason bringing up the
rear

Jason's shot from inside a small

cave at me taking a 

photo of 

him.

Piper is his dog.

The first leg of the trail winds around a rock formation. Jason probably has a good technical term for it, but I don't.

Charlie and Piper took about a half mile to sort things out between them. They became the trail leaders.

The first part of this trail will make you pause and just keep saying things like.

Wow.

And...Wow....

Photos were shot with my infrared camera

which really brings out the 

details of the rocks.

While hiking, the dogs entertained us by playing. Charlie did great and Piper was an excellent pal for him. I think Jason and I were very pleased with how they got along ~~ I know I was. [At the end of the hike Charlie thought he should jump in the car with Piper and Jason. Sigh....Traitor!]

Jason explained rocks and geology. Both Bill and I enjoyed the learning experience. We learned more about the development of ice caves and rock shelters [new term for me that makes a lot of sense]. I learned why bluffs are on one side of the river and why the other side didn't have bluffs.

The guys actually chatted more than I did. I was there for the hike ~ and you guessed it ~~ the photo opportunities.

I don't always go for documentation. Sometimes I go for the odd and the different.

On our walk back along Cty P, I did just that. I used my Infrared Camera with a 665nm filter. 

My New Year's Resolution? Well I don't make them often. However I am trying to attain a goal this year. 

I want to actually complete the Trail Challenge. That is a goal and not a resolution per se.

And of course. Explore with photography.

Only 52 more segments to go....

Our hike map:

Sunday Stills #36

Geology and hiking at the Kenosha Sand Dunes

We visited the Kenosha Dunes on our second day together.  I don't think most people think of Kenosha as having some very interesting areas to hike and look at.
But this is at least the second time I've been to the Kenosha Dunes and hiked it.

After last week's wicked storms, the winds and water eroded portions of the shoreline dunes and we explored them.

Ed pointed out the lines in the dunes which would mark changes in the lakeshore. I could be explaining it wrong but according to this sign the dunes were created with the glacial drift and the constant motion of littoral drift.

Okay I think that is about as much as I am going to even try to explain. Although I did find a photo which might help show it.

First we hiked the dunes.

And since the snow was glare solid ice on top, we 'slid' the dunes...

Then we got to where the shore waves during the storm had eroded the dunes.

Ed started explaining the layers of sands we were seeing and I was glad that we'd gone because even though I would have noticed the layers on my own, I may not have wanted to learn more about them if he hadn't been there.

Enhanced photo for detail

So perhaps these layers that go in separate directions were caused by shifts in winds.  The darker materials are different kinds of sediments.  We even found a very thin layer of very similar sized pebbles.

This was really cool.  And it was even more interesting to have someone along who could explain it.

This section had material that was similar to that of a peat bog in it.  We found ancient trees that had been revealed by the erosion of the waves and the winds.

Teslin however was herself and showed off her abilities to act like royalty.

To her it was a good day to be a dog and enjoy the beach and fresh air.

To me it was a great day to hike and explore with my son and his wife.

And last but not least, the incredible ice formations from over-spray or from the wind and the waves on the 29th.  There were some amazing displays of ice and trees.

The only sad thing is that I am too far away from this place to go on a whim to get some great ice shots.