As a school teacher, I live by the school calendar. This may be a surprise given there's still a week left in July, but it's time for me to wrap up the summer. The old June, July and August concept of summer vacation doesn't apply like it used to. In Florida, where I teach, teachers are to be back to school this year on August 3. That means I need to leave the up North of Wisconsin and head south.
My wife and I decided to have one last day of summer fun and enjoyed it yesterday.
Earlier this month I did a 3 day, 2 night backpacking hike on the Ice Age Trail here in Wisconsin and wanted to revisit the area.
Our first stop was at at lake to do some kayaking. It was aptly named "Long Lake" and since we didn't have too much time, we were only able to do a small bit. But, the weather was perfect, the water water was nice, and it's a place we might go back to again.
After kayaking we drove back to a favorite spot I'd hiked up on along the Ice Age Trail. It was convenient in that a road crossed the trail at this small lake. Whereas I'd hiked to it prior, we'd now drive to it. And, the wayside/picnic area is great. Luckily, no one else was there at the moment, so we got the best picnic spot and had the entire lake to ourselves. The first photo at the top of this post is the view from the picnic site. Another lucky find was wild blueberries. There weren't too many, but enough to nibble and gather for pancakes today or tomorrow.
The plan was really to just laze around, picnic, kayak the small lake, swim, and relax one last time for the summer.
We watched a loon working and listened to their unmistakable calls and cry.
Before leaving, we wanted to do a very short "hike" on the Ice Age Trail that skirts the edge of the lake.
We seemed to keep "discovering" new things that I'd not noticed while backpacking. Down by the lake was a broken down brick fireplace from years past. One thing Lisa noticed (though I again failed to see) were some old, abandoned stairs beside the fireplace. They went up, up, up. The curiosity was too much, so up we went. They went to...nowhere. I expected to see an old foundation for a cabin, or at least a level piece of ground where one had once been, or a roadway, or...something, but they simply ended on the hillside and disappeared. It was a mystery, and a little eerie.
Since we were wrapping up for the summer and since I don't plan any hiking soon, I thought I'd pass off my hiking stick. It was the one I'd used on the IAT hike prior and it had served me well. I thought somebody might get some use out of it. Plus, there are many more sticks out there and, at least to me, finding and forming "the perfect hiking stick" is part of the fun. We placed my trusty stick on the IAT for whomever wants to give it a new home.
And that was it. As we were leaving, I looked out the windshield at the view. I stepped out to snap the photo below. You can likely tell why we really didn't want to leave.
Railroad McCoy
