Visit to the East Dry Run

 

Finally, I got out of the house to 'blow the stink off' as my Father in Law used to say. It was an expression for getting out of being stuck in the house for a long time. I picked up some of their sayings and this one stuck...

along with ...

Worserthanawful [said as one word].

But today was not worse. It was beautiful, sunny, and in the 20's.

Charlie and I headed out across the ridge to the place where we would explore the long ravine [dry run] about a mile away.

There is a place that is a ravine ... or dry run as we call it on the eastern edge of the valley next 'door'. There is a tiny spring that trickles water along the boulders and rocks in this steep ravine.

In 2009 I happened to hike with my Jack Russell, Morris, to that area on a cold winter day. What I discovered was that the tiny little spring through the cold weather built an ice flow in the ravine which covered the boulders.

Here is Morris on the ice which looks blue in this shot.

Charlie on the ice yesterday. He could walk on it. I didn't dare because I didn't bring my YakTraks.

The slow movement of the spring water on cold days dribbles over the frozen surface and freezes giving the ice texture. Layers keep building and reaching downhill from the spring.

Morris on ice in 2009.

In the other three seasons, one has to carefully climb over boulders to get up to the spring.

What the area looks like without the ice....

Morris in March 2008.

Those rocks he was standing on are under ice right now. Imagine the volume of water and ice needed to do that!

Seriously, I cold have spent hours there if I'd had my YakTraks with me. As it was, I spent a very long time exploring as I could from the steep banks. 

When the ice builds, the seeping water followed this log and ... froze. Isn't Nature amazing?

There was water trickling off the little bits of ice in this photo below. But I didn't dare climb out on the ice without being ice cleats.

Here is a view of the bumpy ice as it forms going down hill. I bet I could slide on my butt up to the logs! If only I was a kid again!

The view from above. The ravine bottom is about 150 feet below me and I am not at the top of the 'ridge' yet.

This ravine/dry run is nearly 1/4 of a mile long from its top near the ridge to its bottom at the creek. 

My hike home was across the cropland. Charlie hunted down a vole in the hayfield and did his thing. He really does love cold weather hiking as long as it isn't super cold.

We timed everything just about right. The clouds moved in and the winds picked up. 

And the wind blew our 'stink off', we came home fresh and relaxed.

Exploring...

 

The photos above are some of what is left from the farms that used to exist on the Kickapoo Valley Reserve. In some dry runs you find car parts, tractor parts and things that the previous farmers tossed out on their farms. I have yet to find an old vehicle that still has an engine in it. I imagine recycling wasn't a thing in the 1960's and early 1970's.

149 farms were purchased to make way for a flood control project. What is not mentioned are the farms that were condemned for the project. I've heard from those whose families who were left with almost nothing for their land and homes. They are quite bitter still. The flood control project was halted in 1973.

That said, Kickapoo Valley Reserve has become a popular place for hiking, bicycling [no E-bikes allowed], trout fishing, canoeing, kayaking, and equine riding. 

In a way, it has actually benefitted the region more than the flood control project would have done. It took time, but local businesses are flourishing with the draw of the Reserve and Wildcat Mountain State Park not far away.

My reason for going was twofold. I needed some 'quiet' mental time, I wanted to look for Morels, and I had one more set of steep valleys to explore before the undergrowth got too thick.

I knocked off the Mule Trail Section 15 while I was at it. The Mule Trail joins Mule Camp also known as camp J [Mule Camp to the old timers] to old 131. From old 131 you can head off north, south or west towards Little Canada and the Ice Cave Trail.

I wanted to stay on the east side of the river. 

So I searched along the south side of the valley and enjoyed meandering along a stream that flowed into the Kickapoo.

The land varies. Pines dotted a section of the hillside, no doubt planted for harvest at some point by the original owners of the land.

The stream had a variety of trees in it. It was tangled with fallen trees and very wet.

I eventually came to this place of rocks and boulders. The north side of the valley was full of river birches and fallen boulders. 

Then I started the climb to the top.

...
I feel my boots
trying to leave the ground
I feel my heart
pumping hard.
I want to think
again of dangerous
and 
noble things.
I want to be 

frivolous and frolicsome.
I want to be improbable beautiful

and
afraid of 
nothing,

as though

I had

wings.

~Mary Oliver

I sat here and rested. It was a great place to watch the cliff swallows flying low over the wet lands and the river.

Views from the bluff.

Watching swallows.

I climbed back down and took a shot from the base of the bluff. I was standing in a wetland.

The red arrow points to where I think the 'hole in the rock is'. I guess I may have to get wet to actually walk up to it!

The bottom of the bluff where I was sitting and had lunch.

The rest of the hike was just not very interesting. I mean it was...but not like the feeling of sitting on the bluff eating an apple and having an orange.

I drove home feeling complete once again and vowing to go back to watch the river flow and the swallows fly.

4th Annual Ice Hike~ Parfrey's Glen

Well, it was that time of year again. The Annual Ice Hike.

It started a few years ago when my friends took me to Parfrey's Glen just outside of Devil's Lake State Park near Baraboo.

Last year I drove in a rain/snow/sleet event to get to our annual "Ice Hike". This year? Well, I followed the events of a snow event that dropped about 4 or 5 inches of snow on my travel route. It made the drive a bit more interesting, but it wasn't too bad.

We went to Parfrey's Glen as our first stop in hopes of seeing Skillet Creek running over the rocks or some magnificent ice formations.

Well that wasn't to exactly 'be'.

As I slugged through the roughened snow trail, I thought how nice it would have been to have my snow shoes on.

This area never really is disappointing and it is always in a state of change with the weather. In places the creek was solid with snow covering the ice. I could hear the water running underneath us.

We probably shouldn't have come to the Glen so late in the day. But there we were, making our way upstream to the water falls.

However I thought it would be a good idea...

well, that didn't really pan out. 

I should have known how quickly it gets dark in these areas. After all, when I am at home I know it gets dark quickly in the deep valleys.

Things get quite tricky after you leave the "maintained" trail. 

It became obvious to me that my snow shoes although very handy for part of the trail would have been a real pain in the rocky boulders.

We reached the water falls at the end of the trail and did some exploring. It was obvious that the day light was fading fast.

The light in the gorge was fading but above us it was still sunny and bright.

We didn't want to have to scramble over the icy and snowy boulders in the dark so we headed back.

But not until we had some fun of course...

The danger of having another photographer around is that they will 

get that shot of you...that you don't want shown to the world.

Aren't those gloves just precious? 

And then, with the light fading, we headed back to the Subaru.

Oh yes. Waterproof boots are a great idea on this hike.

Saturday was going to be a busy day. We were going to see how many of the State Natural Areas we could explore.
We had one place in particular that we wanted to check out.