Hartman Creek

Camping had been on the "to get to" list and the weekends were just getting away from us.  We lucked out and caught a forecast for an abnormally warm fall weekend (likely to be the last one of the year) and made a late decision to head for the hills (relatively speaking) despite the chance for rain on Sunday.

We headed out on Friday afternoon and motored west this time, about 1.5 hours southwest of Green Bay to the Waupaca/Portage county line at Hartman Creek State Park.  We visited Hartman during our first fall in Wisconsin (three years ago already), in the area known as the Chain O'Lakes (i.e., a bunch of connected lakes that are popular for canoeing and kayaking).  We were able to snag a walk-up campsite at the park despite the nice weekend.  Friday evening was spent with a short hike around Allen Lake and cooking out on the campfire for dinner- campers pizza and apple pies!  It was pleasant sleeping weather, and almost too hot for sleeping bags by morning.

Westward to Waupaca...oooh looky here!

Late October was past-peak color, but still very pretty in spots.

Among the pines in the campground

Saturday was a beautiful day, so we started off with a morning hike on another section of the Ice Age National Scenic Trail to the south of the campground that we had not hiked yet.  It was about a 4+ mile round trip out and back though some open fields, maple groves, and even some decent hills (for WI).  We ended at the park's property line with the adjacent wildlife management area.  It was an enjoyable morning without many people out on the trails at all.  This section of the park has quite a few mountain bike trails running through it so we did see and hear a few people on other trails, but our trail was quiet.  The leaves were past-peak but still very pretty in some areas.  After our hike, we went into King on the Chain O'Lakes to have lunch, but surprisingly most of the restaurants were closed for the season, and one appeared open but was actually closed for a wedding upon further inspection.  We ended up deciding on Chef Chu's Chinese Cuisine that we had passed on the fly, which was excellent (we were glad they were open!).  After lunch, we drove a few miles west to Central Waters Brewing Company, a pretty popular microbrewery in Wisconsin that we had yet to visit.  Their beers are sold in the stores and occasionally come up at a guest tap in Green Bay, so it was neat to visit their facility.  Their tasting room was huge and very modern, but we opted to sit out on the patio to people watch.  It was very busy so we had a lot to watch.  A group staying at our campground was on a bike and beer trip, so they rode their road bikes out to the microbrewery (about 15 miles from the campground they said, based on the back road route).  After beers, we headed back to the campsite and picked up some firewood for the evening campfire.  We squeezed in an evening walk to Hartman Lake (around 1.5 miles) before dark.  Leftovers for light dinner and relaxation by the fire before bed.

Lots of great hiking, including another segment completed on the Ice Age National Scenic Trail! 

Hartman Lake

It was mild all night, but the rain started early in the morning on Sunday.  It really never poured, just a steady light rain throughout the morning.  Once we got motivated to get moving, we ended up packing up our remaining gear fairly quickly since no dry seats were available, and we tailgated to make oatmeal breakfast.  We did another 1 miler around Allen Lake right next to the campground, which was really nice even though it was raining lightly.  Lots of ducks out!  Then we packed up the tent and headed out, with Pigeon River Brewing Company in Marion on our radar for a return stop for lunch.  Pigeon River is not all that far from us, but we stumbled across it on a beer list and had no idea it was there.  Scott says he passes that area for work trips all the time and has driven right by it without realizing. We had delicious chicken wraps, delicious beers (including a citrus shandy that was amazing!), and watched the first half of the Packers game with the locals (always fun).  We will definitely be back!  Our ride home took us completely on back roads with a lot of barn quilts (so we have to take Mom next time she visits!).  A relaxing and much needed weekend in the great outdoors.

Rainy Sunday morning on Allen Lake

Typical Wisconsin Sunday afternoon- at Pigeon River Brewing Company

The other season of Door County

We had an ice fishing charter trip planned up in Door County for the first weekend in March (which is normally a fine time for such a trip), but the weather conditions this winter did not support much ice coverage in most places that normally see pretty good conditions.  Many events in the region, such as the Battle on the Bago ice fishing tournament and the famous American Birkebeiner cross county ski race up in Hayward, were uncharacteristically canceled this year.  So naturally, but not unexpectedly, our ice fishing trip was also cancelled the the week of the trip.

Nonetheless, we went up to Door County anyway since the plans and lodging were already in place. Overall it was a great time to visit with reduced crowds and traffic, but many stores, restaurants, and farm stands were (of course) closed for the season.  The weather was mostly cloudy, but very tolerable in the upper 30s and low 40s.

We started our visit at Cave Point County Park and Whitefish Dunes State Park for some hiking.  Both sites had really limited ice coverage as compared to even the last couple of years we have been here.  There were not too many people out compated to summertime- we even were able to walk on the beach at Whitefish where the ice shoves normally would be piled high by now.

Cave Point County Park

Whitefish Dunes State Park 

Anyone want to take a dip in Lake Michigan?  Icy water!

Next we stopped at Stone's Throw Winery for a tasting, a new winery for us.  Their grapes are mostly sourced from California, so they have a lot of the drier wines that Scott likes.  It was a neat winery in an old barn, and a nice property.  They have boccie ball courts and a pizzeria that are open in the summertime.  We then stopped for some delicious sandwiches at Coyote Roadhouse right on Kangaroo Lake, the largest interior lake in Door County.

Stone's Throw Winery near Bailey's Harbor

Next up was Door County Brewing Company in Bailey's Harbor- a favorite for Scott!  They were actually quite busy and we had to use overflow parking.  While we were there, we started planning out the rest of the day- I discovered that there was an Aldo Leopold Weekend reading event of A Sand County Almanac at The Ridges Sanctuary just down the street.  Although we've been by the visitor center a number of times, we had never stopped in to see the nature center, so it was a good excuse.  We enjoyed the nature center and store, and then popped into the reading event, intending to stay for about 15 minutes, but stayed over an hour until the end.  Good thing we did because the last reader became a bit emotional and grabbed me in the front row to finish his reading for him.  We will definitely be back later in the year to walk the trails!

Door County Brewing Company, Bailey's Harbor

We checked in to our condo at The Landing Resort in Egg Harbor, which was very nice (and the off season price was too).  We had a view of the woods and a nice living room and kitchenette.  We ventured out after dark for dinner intending to hit up a restaurant that was supposed to be open for the off-season, but it was closed so we went with Wild Tomato as an alternative for pizza.  We got there late enough that there was some seating, and the wood fired pizza hit the spot!

The next morning, we were off to the famous Al Johnson's Swedish Restaurant for breakfast and lucked out that there was immediate seating- we were also lucky they were open because they had been closed the previous week for renovations.  Lingonberry tea and eggs benedict, as usual!  Next up was a quick ride through Peninsula State Park, one of the hottest spots in Door County in season, but very quiet this time of the year.  Half of the park roads are closed for winter (including the area where the lighthouse is located), so we just auto-toured and stopped a few times to check things out. Two more winery stops, Harbor Ridge Winery and Simon Creek Vineyard & Winery, proved to be the best ones of the trip!  Harbor Ridge actually has a cheese tasting shop right next door- yum!  After tasting some award-winning cheeses from Wisconsin, your standards will be high enough that other cheeses will just not suffice.  Expensive habit, but we did buy a small piece of merlot cheese that was too good to pass up.  Simon Creek actually had some of their vineyards on site, so it reminded me of a lot of wineries I have been to in Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Eagle Panorama Overlook, Peninsula State Park- open water in the distance

Cheese tasting, anyone?  We tasted a couple of the world champions inside! 

Last stop of the trip was a 3 mile hike at Potawatomi State Park from the campground up to the viewing tower (which is closed) and back.  We didn't see another person- or any wildlife, other than tracks. A nice solitude winter hike to enjoy a quiet park.  The overnight trip provided a great chance to visit our parks and check out lots of new places!  Until next time...

 Ice Age Trail in winter

Sturgeon Bay still looking frozen, but lots of cracks and thin ice visible

Summer shennanigans

The garden is growing (and so are the weeds).  We had a cucumber bug infestation (thank you, Google) last week which required a late night trip to the hardware store for some spray, but has since been cleared up.  Many of the plants are starting to flower, so we should have some produce soon! Will post a photo next time.

Last weekend was very hot yet again, so we took a ride down to Appleton to go to a German brewhaus for lunch, only to discover that they are only open for dinner.  This was now the second time we have missed them since they are also not open on Sundays.  In lieu of German food and brews, we visited The Melting Pot restaurant, which is apparently a chain so you may have heard of it before.  We naively thought fondue cheese meals was a Wisconsin thing.

The restaurant was a little fancier than we imagined- plus we were dressed for a hike at High Cliff State Park afterwards, so our standards were a bit lower than usual.  They bring out all the fixings for cheese fondue and prepare it at your table.  We ordered the three course lunch special (a bit more than we wanted to spend, but hey, you only live once), which consisted of a fondue course (we selected the Alpine cheese combo- raclette cheese from Switzerland!), a salad course, and a chocolate fondue dessert course (we ordered the nutty milk chocolate).  Unfortunately, I also ordered the enhancement plate of desserts, because who can pass up the opportunity to dip even more desserts and fruits in chocolate?  While it was a bit more than we bargained for- both the wallet and the ambiance, it was something fun to do and no one left hungry.

 Alpine cheese fondue at The Melting Pot

Nutty chocolate fondue dessert

After The Melting Pot, we hiked about 3-4 miles at High Cliff State Park.  Several weddings were going on while we were there (at least 2 or 3) and we toured the historic museum (which was finally open after several trips to High Cliff), which has artifacts and information about the historic town of High Cliff (formerly Clifton until they realized there already was one in WI...oops).  One of the interesting things we learned was that people used to drive cars off the ledge as a publicity stunt, and people are still finding broken car parts below the Ledge today.  Apparently one of the guys pant legs got stuck on the car and he almost went over with it so they decided that was not such a good idea.  After our loop hike on the Lime Kiln and Red Bird Trails, we did a little wading in Lake Winnebago to cool off.

Cold enough to freeze your Winnebago...actually, it felt pretty good!

On Sunday, we took a bike ride at Point Beach State Forest down in Two Rivers, in (the real) Manitowoc County (pronounced Tw'rivers- which really comes from the [East and West] Twin Rivers that run into Lake Mich)- one of our favorites that we have not yet biked this year.  It was great- cooler temperatures than the City of Green Bay, not too crowded, and a delicious ice cream to celebrate 13 miles of flatlander mountain biking.  We considered a jump in the lake but it was quite icy- water temperatures in the upper 50s convinced us to take a quick walk on the beach instead and left us with some numb feet.

Rawley Point is a fun flatlander mountain bike trail

In other news, I got to band geese again last week at work (see last year's story here)- which was a lot of fun yet again.  I tried my hand at determining sex and fitting some more bands this time, which went smoothly.  We banded 900 geese in 3 counties in 3 days, which is quite the feat!  Unfortunately not many photos because my hands are usually full with geese, nets, bands, or goose poop.  It's an enjoyable time for me anyway to spend long days in the field with fun biologists.

 Rounding up geese at East Alaska Lake, Kewaunee Co.

Ready for bands!

Hard to believe that July is almost here!  June has been generally hot this year- ironically most Saturdays have been 90 degrees, making it hard to get going outside.  Of course, today is Tuesday and its a lovely, sunny 75 degrees.  Go figure.

Gotcha Day

We celebrated Teddy's first "gotcha day" (his birthday, since we don't know his real birth date) last week on November 12- it's hard to believe it has been one year since he came home!  He was happy to get a new toy and some Frosty Paws ice cream for his special day.

Cub Scout Teddy on a rainy Halloween 2015

Happy Gotcha Day!

The generally nice weather has continued, so we have been out to hike or bike almost every weekend.  Two weeks ago we hiked a new section of the Ice Age Trail segment within Point Beach State Forest.  We had already completed two other sections on previous visits, so this 6 mile out-and-back section would complete the Point Beach Segment.  Teddy went along with us for the hike through the State Forest and for a loop through the Rahr Memorial School Forest.  The Manitowoc Public School District owns the 300 acre property that is used for school learning exercises, field trips, and programs, and is open to the public.  Such a neat place!  We finished the hike around mid-afternoon and headed out quickly since it is deer archery season and public lands get pretty busy with hunters, even on Sundays.  We opted for a quick walk on the pet beach (Teddy is afraid of waves) and Rawley Point Lighthouse photos before heading out.

Hiking the Ice Age Trail at Point Beach State Forest, Rawley's Point Lighthouse

We recently became wine club members at Captain's Walk Winery in downtown Green Bay, and had our first social event earlier this month.  We picked up our wine selections for this quarter, had glasses of wine and appetizers, and checked out the "Captain's Quarters" wine club member lounges.  We signed up for the club about a month ago when we stopped in for a tasting and got to talking to our wine server Joe, who used to live in Gettysburg and happens to be a big history buff.  Scott especially enjoyed talking to him about all things Pennsylvania and the Civil War.  Looking forward to visiting Captain's Walk more often (especially since one of my workplaces is right next door...tempting).

 Captain's Walk Winery

“I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.” - L.M. Montgomery

During October in Wisconsin, you have to take every advantage of each and every nice day (especially weekends) to get out and do something outdoors.  This has become our philosophy...we know what's coming.  This is the final countdown!

The last couple weekends involved 2 state park trips:  hiking at High Cliff State Park with Teddy, and biking 22 miles on another stretch of the Ahnapee State Trail/Ice Age National Scenic Trail, from Kewaunee to Casco Junction.  The leaves have been very colorful over the last few weeks, an added bonus for sure.  A lot of leaves are down now, but the weather has been generally mild.  Therefore, the "get out and enjoy it" philosophy tends to conflict with work and household chores over long periods of time.  Oh well.

Apple picking at Oneida Orchard ; Mountain-Bay State Trail in Green Bay

 The Niagara Escarpment (the Ledge) at High Cliff State Park

Lake Winnebago at High Cliff State Park

22 mile bike ride on the Ahnapee State Trail, Kewaunee River Segment.  Don't let flatlands biking fool you!

Ahnapee Trail: 31 miles for 31 years

Last weekend, we decided to go for a bike ride since naturally our "nice" days are now numbered with the onset of fall.  Last Sunday had temperatures in the lows 70s, but it was still pretty cloudy and breezy.  Nonetheless, it makes for good biking weather when the sun is not beating down on you. We felt like biking somewhere new, so we decided to try out the Ahnapee State Trail (pronounced ANN ah pee).  The mainstem of the trail (around 16 miles) runs from Algoma on the Lake Michigan shore in Kewaunee County to the northwest to Sturgeon Bay on the Door Peninsula.  The route is the old railway for the Ahnapee & Western railway.

We drove east to the city of Algoma (which originally was called Ahnapee, or "land of the great gray wolf") with the intention of riding "some" of the trail and turning around whenever we felt like it.  Reviews suggested that the trail was pretty bumpy and not well-maintained since it is also used for trail riding with horses.  We set off on our bikes from Algoma and had a nice ride through farmland and forest along the Ahnapee River for several miles, and through a few small communities.  The trail itself was fairly remote without much in the way of rest stops or points of interest on the way, but was in pretty good condition despite the crushed gravel surfacing.  By the time we made it to the 12 mile point, it made sense (at the time) to just keep going the last few miles to Sturgeon Bay, making the outbound trip about 1.5 hours total.  Another factor in the decision to keep going was the fact that the Ahnapee Trail is a segment of the Ice Age National Scenic Trail, one of the long distance trails we try to visit as part of our Wisconsin travels.  This 16 mile stretch was a new segment for us, plus it was nice to have the opportunity to do a section by bike.  We took a break in the parking area in Sturgeon Bay, and turned around to head back to Algoma.

Needless the say the wind shifted and was working against us (pretty flat so not "uphill both ways", but into the wind both ways!), plus fatigue set in by the time we set out for the return trip.  We did see lots of wildlife including porcupine, deer, a garter snake, and even stopped to observe some sandhill cranes near the trail.  It was not crowded and for most of the ride, we had the place to ourselves.  The one thing we did not account for was to bring enough water for a 30 mile bike ride.  There were no points along the route to fill up since the two parks we did pass did not have running water.  Even so, we made it back to the truck in one piece (barely) and finished the last of the water.  After a little moaning and groaning and wondering why we did such a thing to ourselves, we realized we had biked 31 miles round trip- coincidence?  I think not.

Next stop was Ahnapee Brewery to grab a celebratory beverage right before they closed and a quick view of the Algoma Lighthouse.  Then, back to Green Bay to get ready for another busy week.

Several cool murals in town

Algoma Light on Lake Michigan

Wisconservation

I had been looking forward to the Building a Land Ethic:  Teaching and Learning Across Boundaries conference for months.  As a Land Ethic Leader alumna from last year (revisit the blog mention here), I heard about the conference through communications from The Aldo Leopold Foundation and knew I had to attend- especially since the event was held at the University of Wisconsin- Baraboo/Sauk County, only a 2.5 hour drive away.  I booked a campsite at Rocky Arbor State Park in Wisconsin Dells (i.e., "the Dells") and hoped for good weather!

For those that don't know, Aldo Leopold was a trained forester who became the first professor of wildlife management (at UW-Madison), as well as a skilled writer for diverse audiences.  If you need a book to read, check A Sand County Almanac published in 1949- his most popular work, which describes his observations of nature and seasons, has been translated into 12 different languages.  To say he had a way with words would be an understatement, but probably the most interesting aspect (I think) is how relevant his words and observations remain today, so many years later.  One of my favorite essays describes The Land Ethic, the concept of caring for the land because we are a part of the biotic community and not separate from it, which developed over the course of his life as opposed to an "aha" moment.  For us wildlife professionals anyway, this is meaningful stuff.

Scott had put in some extra time at work the weekend before working at the WI State Fair down in Milwaukee (176 different deep fried food items to try!?), so he was able to travel with me to camp and do his own sightseeing in the area (hiking at state parks and beer sampling at the local microbreweries- he should write another blog about this part) while I attended the conference events.  We left Thursday morning and made our way in the southwesterly direction through cows, corn, corn, birthplace of the Republican party, and more corn.  The weekend was a hot one throughout- low to mid- 90s with lots of humidity, but it only rained lightly a couple of times for short periods over the whole weekend.  We really lucked out.

The conference was fantastic- lots of discussion of diversity and inclusiveness, as well as engaging communities in the land ethic.  I met so many other professionals in conservation education, non-profit organizations, Land Ethic Leaders, and Leopold Education Project leaders. I even got to connect with a few friendly faces from RLEL last year!  I also enjoyed field trips to both the International Crane Foundation (representatives of all 15 of the world's crane species are in residence) and the Leopold Family "shack" (so named by Leopold himself, now a National Historic Landmark) on the Wisconsin River- both fantastic visits and very inspiring.  I had been to the shack once before during a Wildlife Society conference in October 2013, but this was my first time on a guided tour where I had the opportunity to visit inside.  Added bonus!

Estella Leopold, youngest daughter of Aldo, talks about her experiences with her family at the shack.  The notes on the screen behind her are hers from when she took her dad's class as a college student.  How cool is that?!

 Black-crowned crane (native to Africa) at ICF- so beautiful!

 Beautiful mural of what the Baraboo Hills prairie looked like historically, complete with passenger pigeons on the left (now extinct).  Yes, they have "hills" over in Baraboo- I was so excited!

Whooping crane exhibit- tallest flying bird in North America.  So majestic!

Leopold Shack- the family worked on weekends and holidays to restore the shack (a former chicken coop) and the surrounding land after the farm was completely burned out and sold during the Dust Bowl in the 1930s.

The fireplace in the shack was built by the family.  Very rustic accommodations, but so practical!

Conference attendees participated in the dedication for the newly constructed Leopold Memorial site, including this memorium and a restored prairie (complete with bison figures).

The only negative was the oppressive heat, but it was survivable if you held still and kept quiet!  Wisconsin Dells is eerily very much like Gatlinburg, TN, with the addition of all the water parks- lots of touristy stuff in such close proximity to great natural wonders, which makes it a little bit depressing in my opinion.  Everyone else disagrees apparently (it was packed), so what do I know?

On the way home on Sunday, we continued the Wisconservation theme by visiting John Muir's boyhood home, now maintained as a county park and National Historic Landmark.  He immigrated to the US with his family when he was 11 years old and settled on Fountain Lake Farm in Marquette County, Wisconsin in 1849 (whoa- exactly 100 years before A Sand County Almanac!).  John Muir is known as the father of the national park system and for his deep connection with and tireless protection of Yosemite National Park, not to mention co-founding the Sierra Club.  Before John Muir walked to Florida for the heck of it and moved to California to save the sequoias, he was right here in our backyard exploring the prairies of Wisconsin.  We hiked a short 2-mile segment of the Ice Age Trail that loops around the lake (now called Ennis Lake). 

 

The beautiful prairie at Fountain Lake Farm

 "...even if I should never see it again, the beauty of its lillies and orchids is so pressed into my mind I shall always enjoy looking back at them in imagination, even across seas and continents and perhaps after I am dead." -JM

 John Muir- Foster Son of Wisconsin (figured I would be in it, but it turned out kind of neat).

A fantastic Wisconservation weekend, if I do say so myself!