Uffdah. It is almost that time of year again.

That time of year when I am banned from the woods for 9 days total. As the little video shows above, the bucks are pretty silly with the rut season. This guy is a hoot and loves to stare right into the camera.

I've had a camera in this spot of my woods now for nearly 6 years. Over the years, I've spotted every creature we have in the forest using the trail near this camera. Coyotes, Bobcats, Turkeys, Racoon, Possum, and of course deer. The deer like to nap in this spot also. 

They don't seem to mind the camera at all.

Over the years, I've gotten some rather amusing photos.

I am not opposed to deer hunting at all. Their herds do need to be culled. On my morning walks now, I generally 'jump' up a herd of 6 to 10 does by just walking up my driveway. Farmers see them as pests, motorists see them as hazards. Insurance companies see them as headaches.

And then? I love to watch them. I love to photograph them. 

What a conundrum. I have a love/hate relationship with them don't I? 

Yesterday, revamped the fencing in area where I keep the equine during gun season. It is close to the house and we can keep a close eye on them.

Sundance is always curious no matter what I am doing. Yesterday she followed me around the winter pasture while I pulled t-posts and straightened them before the ground froze. 

What better time than the present to fix it?

Did you know that mules like pumpkins?

They do. Each year I've tossed my pumpkins before they rot into this pen. Immediately, it draws the girls in.
They demolish the pumpkin and tromp the seeds into the ground. Come spring, they have planted and fertilized my new pumpkin patch.

After I did winter repairs and set up the water tank heater, I headed up the lane to the meadow out back. Something, probably that large buck had torn hot wire down and busted six insulators. Ahhh, rut season, how do we love you???

I fixed everything and put the wire back up. 

In the valley, I often have to replace a lot of insulators in the spring. I don't keep the fence hot in the valley during the winter as the mules don't have access to that area.

I wonder how many more times I'll have to fix fence up in the lane this winter?

So this is the time of the year where I drag out a Lego build for the 9 day gun season which includes Thanksgiving.

This year we will be constructing the Medieval Village. 

Since we don't do anything for Thanksgiving [I make lasagna and we have pie]. I like to pick a project that I can do with hubby. I've found that hubby loves sorting pieces for me by color. He does look at the instruction booklet and sometimes he can catch mistakes I make.

Last year, we completed our Christmas Village. I'll take that out of the Hutch some time in December to decorate things for Christmas.

In the mean time, I have a few things left to do outside and in the forest before the hunters come on each side of us and begin the season of gun hunting.

Our property is 500 feet wide and 1/2 mile long. So the reason I don't dare go out is because our place is too narrow to escape stray shots. And believe me, on opening day I spend as little time outside as possible.

However, hubby used to be our hunter and he would always get one or two for us to supplement our table in years past. I'll never forget helping him put up a last minute deer stand the evening before the 2010 deer season. Link below....👇

A Hateful Woman or Stupid Man invented the Deer Stand

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.

An Amazing Friend and Adventure Part I

The photo above is of my friend Jason. 

We met December 31st on New Year's Eve. Other folks go to parties or whatnot. Jason and I ran into each other while searching for Ice Caves. Link to our first meeting: Totally Unexpected

We have continued our interesting friendship since that afternoon in 2021. State Natural Areas are the places he explores. He and his dogs are always going on adventures.  Piper and Felix get along well with Charlie. He calls them...our gang.

He lives two hours away from me, but manages to get out in my area every once in a while to go for a hike. 
Jason used to teach Geology and take students on field trips to SNA's in our area to study the incredible rock formations and teach others about the history of the driftless area's formation. 

In the shot above, Jason is explaining how this Hogback Ridge happened a gazillion years ago. [Not his words, but mine since I don't recall all of the scientific words he used!]

Pictured below is ... in Jason's words ... is one of the longest meander scars. A Meander Scar is a geological word for a feature of a remnant of a wandering river channel. It is now called a Hogback Ridge which is a dry prairie. Locally called a Goat Prairie. 

I don't think this place is often hiked. I would never have done it as it doesn't look that interesting at first glance.

But then Jason took me up to the top. We stood 300 feet above the valley below.

The view from the ridge was simply amazing. I felt like belting out the Lion King song and beating my chest. I didn't, but the feeling of being overwhelmed by the height and the incredible landscape stayed with me all along the narrow ridge. Seriously. In places it was only a several feet wide!

I thought, there are no trees along here to make things interesting. But everything was interesting. The colors of the different varieties of Lichen were beautiful.

The shapes of the rocks [Jason explained the reason behind the shapes] were beautiful and curious.

This section of rock has 3 different layers and kinds of rocks in it. Jason named them all [it mostly flew over my head]. I do recall that one of the layers was Karst. That was a name I recognized.

The dogs had a blast. Piper led, Charlie found a sweet spot in between Jason and I, and Felix followed...mostly. Felix is a rescue dog of Jason's with his own ideas about things and a few health issues. We often stopped to get Felix back on track and to chat. 

Here, Jason is pointing to something I should notice. I think I'd have to visit this place again to really take it all in.

See those trees in the distance? That was where we were headed. We actually were going to walk through an oak forest to the end of the ridge and drop down to see some amazing rock shelters.

Here is Piper doing her impression of the Lion King. I went up there with Charlie to get a good view also.

Jason's photos of Charlie and I... 

We stopped to look at rocks and of course the plants and Lichen. We joked about Liking Lichen.

On the narrow ridgetop, there was single track trail through the grasses. Many spots were dotted with rocks to negotiate through and around.

There was Bittersweet growing in some areas of the ridge and as we headed to the south side we went into a forest.

That's where things got really interesting.

I'll go into that in Part II...

Some Sunshine and a few hours off!

This is a Grey Dogwood that was still hanging onto its leaves on Sunday.

For those who love Tamarac trees! These are about a mile away across the ridge from this field. I only get to see them glow like this in November each year.

Meanwhile, after all the hard rains and wind we had for the past few days, I got back down into the Barberry [invaded] forest.

The colors were still pretty amazing. I sure wish the landowners would have cared for their land. But it is almost a square mile of 2 valleys and ridges. A LOT of land to care for.

Charlie and I stopped to check the mail and I noticed some bright pink. I had to look much closer to realize what I was seeing. 

These are the stems where the dogwood berries had been.

Pink!

I don't have much else to report. I saw the endocrinologist again on Monday will have another bone density scan on Veteran's Day and more decisions to make after that.

However.

Tomorrow I'm going exploring with my geologist buddy. We are meeting up at a state natural area and will enjoy talking rocks, geology, and cave stuff while hiking and playing with our dogs.

I'm so lucky to have met people like him who are fun and so down to earth. And who have the gift of gab!

Light and dark

The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress. ~Frederick Douglass

Some Americans are researching plans to immigrate from the United States, depending on who won. I looked up the immigration requirements to Canada. I'm not really eligible. I don't qualify in many ways. I don't have a job I can go to, I don't have a family member living there to 'sponsor' me. People with medical issues that would put pressure on Canada's medical system would also be turned away.

This is not the only country that uses these rules.

I looked it up. 

A friend of mine said she was considering going back to NZ. She'd been there in her college days on a visa and walked across the country. She'd stop and find work here and there. She loved NZ, but came back after nearly a year there. 

I can offer myself nothing other than hope and optimism. What happens now? Only history will tell us in the end.

"The light of America's promise will always burn bright--as long as we never give up, and as long as we keep fighting."

Kamala Harris

When things get dark...it is only then that we can look up and find the stars...

I'm sticking around. Here I stay for better or worse. I will not let darkness defeat me. 

I will look for the light. Seriously, I thought a lot about things last night. I am privileged. I am an older white woman. I have no uterus that the government can rule. I am beyond child bearing age. I am not an immigrant. 

I may a face a difficult future as a Caregiver. But I've lived through tough times and I suppose my next challenge will be to live through what comes next.

But I have spent 24 hours mourning our country.

I am ready to come out of the dark and search for light and hope.

Dark

 

This dark cold rainy day reflected what happened on a day that had been filled with the hope for the future.

A Challenge

All my adult life I've been into challenges that would include endurance.

In college, I was on the first ever Cross Country team that school had. I tried out and got a spot on the team. Back then you couldn't buy women's running shoes. I was wearing canvas deck shoes for my try out.
I eventually got a pair of boys size 6 leather Adidas. They were heavy, and ugly but they were running shoes.

In my 20's I enjoyed 5 and 10K's. I tried a half marathon 13.1 miles, but didn't enjoy it much. I think I was trying too hard and the temperatures at that race were surprisingly hot.

I turned to bicycling in my 30's. I could bike to work, I could bike on the trails close by. Eventually, my sister and I did a 48 hour trip on our bikes. We traveled 140 miles in two days. We crossed off another adventure.

For a while I didn't do anything in the distance arena until I moved to where I currently live. I met a lady who did Endurance Riding on her Arab. I joined her on my mule named Badger. He loved it. We rode 25 mile rides. We never 'won' anything. It wasn't a 'race'. It was all about getting from point A to B with an animal in excellent shape.

When I lost Badger, I took up casual hiking. Nothing intense, nothing tough, and mostly just walking along the woods and county parks with my dog looking for scenery.

In January of 2018 I decided to try the Kickapoo Valley Trail Challenge. Hikers could get a list of all the trails at the Reserve and hike each one, marking them off. The Challenge was to finish all 68+ miles in one year. That got sidetracked but I finally accomplished that goal in 2022. It involved many short hikes but I learned all of the trails in the 8,900 acre Reserve. 

Since then, I've done fun hiking. When I go with Charlie we just move along at his pace. I stop often to look at things and just dawdle along if I feel like it.

I did a route that is used for the Tromp and Chomp when I turned 65. I enjoyed that long distance hike so much, that I do it every year to celebrate my birthday now.

I recently saw a cool challenge called the Mammoth March Wisconsin ~ It offers a hike challenge of 20 or 30 miles in one day.  It is a registered event and you get goodies for doing it. However, it is 3 hours away from where I live and I'd need coverage at home.

The state of Wisconsin also has the Ice Age Trail. That is something I'd love to do...at least portions of it. Unfortunately I can't spend that kind of time away from home. I'd be travelling all over the state to do segments.

When I visited my son, his wife, and Rory, we hiked part of the Ice Age Trail. Those guys are doing  monthly hiking challenges on the Ice Age Trail.  Of course, that got me thinking.

Why not set up an unofficial challenge for myself? Why not see if I can match that 20 miler? Is it even possible for an old 'fart' to do that?

So I sat down and got my map of KVR out, marked the trails out with mileage from their information and created what I thought was a 10 mile loop.

I figured that on the rough terrain, Charlie and I usually do about 25 to 30 minutes a mile. In my estimate, that would take me 4 hours give or take.

Our usual long hikes together are at least 6 miles. I figured 10 would be a cool goal. IF I could do 6, I could do 10, if I could do 10 I could shoot for 15. Well, you see the pattern, right?

I misjudged the mileage or the GPS did. No matter. Below is a screen capture of my Saturday hike.

 I did not take Charlie. I wanted to hike steady without all the breaks that we take together. Plus I didn't want to carry him as I usually do. 

I thought this would be a good indicator of my abilities. 

Things I learned. I could walk/hike hard for over 3 hours. I picked the right shoes for it too. My Trail Runners provided my feet with better support than my hiking boots. My backpack sucks. SUCKS. Really sucks. [It is a cheap backpack from Wally world]. 

I can hike fast! For a few of the miles, I maintained 15 minute miles!

The average time overall that included 3 stops to talk to people who asked me questions -- and pee breaks [yes, that happens!] was doing

18 minutes a mile.

I routed my hike so that the first 8 miles were the rough stuff. The up and down hills, over rocks, roots, and stumps stuff. The last 2.5 miles was along a paved bike/walking trail.

My body appreciated that.

I told hubby that my feet got tender at 8 miles. At 9 I wondered about my sanity. At 9.5 they stopped hurting. No, they didn't go numb. They just stopped hurting. At 10 miles I thought, okay...I should be finished.

I wasn't. I had nearly another mile and a half to get to my car. But I felt energized and confident and quite frankly, a bit full of myself.

I did a Thing! I did a self Challenge!

And, I was not sore on Sunday morning!

Some pictures. I didn't take too many.

Kickapoo River Bridge 15

Mile 5 looking out across the Valley from 
Hanson Rock Trail.

Mile 9 looking back at Hanson Rock trail from the valley!

The pink arrow below shows you where I was on the Ridge.

Just cool trails near Hanson Rock Ridge.

And....mini me....

Happy Trails!