Hiking Dude Blog

The Plover River section features a wonderful pair of boardwalks and some great rock steps placed by the trail volunteers. Here's a big Thank You to the IATA folks that pushed this part of the trail through this past year!
I scared up three turkey right on the trail in front of me and saw a huge read-headed woodpecker - I'm not a birder so I'm not sure of the exact name. :-(
As you can see from the sign, we're closing in on 400 miles left to go.

I walked 43792 steps on the trail today.
I traveled about 21 miles today.
After an excellent parmesan noodle with tuna dinner, we packed up and hiked on. Another road walk and short trail segment in the growing darkness ended the day.
The skies clouded over and a few drops have fallen. In the distance, there have been lightning and thunder but I'm hopeful for a dry, cool night.
At the park today, I met a young fisherman and chatted awhile. No luck today but he was persistent. Other than him, it was a human-free day.
Oh, we did encounter trail segments closed Sept-Dec for hunting. That made for more road walk detours. I hope there are no more.
PS: bad luck, the rain has just started. :-(

Resting for the afternoon at the Dells of the Eau Claire park. It's supposed to be the last hot day so we're taking it easy. I'm trying to take a nap and then we'll cook a meal and hike on this evening.
The walk along the river was nice and we're the only ones here except a young fisherman that just drove in and parked.

I walked 47119 steps on the trail today.
I traveled about 24 miles today.
Today's walk ended in Hatley. I hoped to hike farther but the miles will wait until tomorrow and we have a plan in place for the next week of hiking!
I contacted my friend Larry that I met on the Superior Hiking Trail last fall. He lives in Wausau but is supposed to be out of town all summer. Surprisingly, he is in town this week! So, we drove to his place, got showers, dinner, and are tenting in his yard. Early, early tomorrow we shuttle the van ahead and he drops us back at the trail with food for a week in the north woods. If it all works out, we'll reach the van a week from today.
It was a great evening getting to catch up with a hiker buddy and find out what he's been doing.
It's still almost 80 degrees so I'll be up awhile but a major cool-down is forecast for the day after tomorrow.
This pic is from Westfield, of an old fish right by a mini-golf. Sorry, nothing much to see today.

Up and hiking before the sun today. Last night, we roadwalked in the dark with no lights and did the same this morning. It's actually pretty fun and much cooler.
We covered many miles and the temps stayed low until about noon. Then, the clouds burned off and the temps soared along with our sweating and misery. :-)
We made it to Hatley and are waiting to see if it cools off or if possible bad weather develops. It would be good to get some more miles tonight.
This road sign was a humorous highlight to the day that was mostly just miles of road. Farms are getting more scarce and there were more cedar and birch trees today. I guess we're getting up north.

I walked 62598 steps on the trail today.
I traveled about 32 miles today.
After leaving Scandinavia this morning, we just hiked without much to report. Took no other breaks and reached our endpoint around 3pm. If you checked the progress map (Check out my current location on the map.) you may have noticed our trail move very quickly and then stop a long time. We went to Stevens Point to take my niece to pizza and I forgot to turn off my Spot in the car - OOPS! Fortunately, my dad texted me to turn it off. :-)
After dinner and taking care of other things, my niece took us back to the trail. It was 8:30 and completely dark but we had a roadwalk so we continued until about 10, adding another fast 5 miles. This was our longest day so far and 5am will be here too soon, so Good Night from the middle of Wisconsin.

Our latesf trail angel, Barb, dropped us off to stqrt our walk today. The weather is excellent with nice wind and cool temps.
About 6 miles of trail through beautiful moraine and then 4 miles of road has brought us to Scandinavia and Audree's bakery. My cinnamon roll was awesome! Now, we're back on the road for most of the day.

I walked 43188 steps on the trail today.
I traveled about 20 miles today.
Our Waupaca trail angels shuttled our van so we were able to slackpack through the Hartman Creek segment. It was a nice trail but there were some recent down trees across the path. It would be nice to be done with these pesky gnats, too. Papa Bear calls them Face Flies and Jon calls the Suicide Gnats because they are always buzzing around your eys and ears.
It got hot again today so we hiked without shirts, as you can see. :-). Luckily, we were finished by 1pm.
This afternoon, we were treated to a boat ride before a couple thunderstorms rolled through.
Our time in Waupaca has been terrific and I'm very thankful to our new friends!

I walked 37688 steps on the trail today.
I traveled about 17.5 miles today.
A few separate trail segments were completed today with a wide range of terrain and plantlife. We ended the day with a roadwalk. Check out my current location on the map.
The forest over the past couple days is migrating from prairie and oak to more pine. Many acres of land have been planted in pine to be harvested just like any other crop. Pine forests make great camping spots as we've experiened the past two nights. They also hold many deer at night that get startled and snort when they discover our tents. It makes for fitful sleep but still fun.
Many turkey and deer crossed our path today as well as a few snakes. I don't mind the first two but could do without the last.
Total miles is short today because trail angels Jon and Nancy shuttle our vehicle and hosted us tonight. They are wonderful, outgoing folks and I hope to post more about them tomorrow. Right now, I've got to get some rest on this REAL bed. I feel great after 5 days of camp grime was removed in the lake and then a quick shower.

We met this little guy on the trail this morning. Anyone have a guess as to what kind of snake he is?
The temperature is steadily risng today and our forested trail walks are done - only road walking for the next hour or so until our friends find us and we call it a day.
We met a great local guy named Randy on the trail yesterday and again today. He likes to hike the trail for exercise, nature, and solitude. Taking a few minutes to visit with him was a fun break.