Tag: hiking
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Ice Cave – status report
After a hike on a new (to me) trail, a return to an old favorite! The Ice Cave trail is a short and enjoyable hike all-year-round, but its special time is winter, when there may be an actual Ice Cave. I must have driven past it 7 or 8 times in the last few months,…
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A new hike
I’ve had my eye on Lost Creek County Park for a while now, but never hiked any of the trails there until today. We got a little coating of freezing rain overnight, so I waited until midday when the temperature got up to around 35 degrees; mild weather for February! Groundhog Day! Punxsutawney Phil saw…
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Last and first hikes
Last hike of 2024 was just after dawn on the 30th, on the Camel Bluff Trail at Mill Bluff State Park. It was a cool and foggy morning, no breeze to speak of, and about 28 degrees. There was snow and ice on the trail in some places, but mostly it was easy to just…
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An October retrospective, and a November omnibus
Soup weather It drizzled all morning, but as the temperature dropped it has turned into snow. Big, healthy flakes, coming down ever heavier. My most urgent project at the moment is outdoors, so it’s a chance to catch up with the blog, while enjoying a bowl of sausage-and-lentil soup. Lots of little items, in no…
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“five-two”
I’ve been thinking of a few emcomm-related posts to put up, emphasizing some of the basic-basics of being prepared for the unexpected. Here’s another one: Today’s brief excursion into emcomm is about the importance of the 2 meter calling frequency, 146.52 MHz. If there is no communications plan, then the plan is “five-two”. I have…
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Hiking the McGilvray Road “7 Bridges” trail
I was recently able to arrange a whole day to devote to “things I feel like doing” as distinct from “things I need to do”, and I chose to visit Van Loon State Wildlife Area, a bit north and west of Holmen (a northern suburb of La Crosse). Why this, particularly? I was looking for…
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Compasses
I have seen so many changes in navigation technology over the last half-century or so; it’s really quite amazing … back in high school I learned map & compass land navigation; a few years later I was studying celestial navigation with sextant and chronometer at the Planetarium for a sailing trip that never happened. 25…
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Well, here’s something new: a Wildcat Mountain trifecta
I enjoy hiking in a lot of different ways; sometimes all-eyes-and-ears observing the sight and sounds of life all around; sometimes meditative and full of the spirit of shinrin-yoku; often a mixture of both; sometimes (not often) it’s just pushing along to get to the end of the trail. Today, I don’t know quite why,…
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Camel Bluff again, on a snowy day
Really, just a few pictures taken this morning. I love hiking when it is snowing; it lays a great silence on the world which makes for a tranquil and invigorating experience. That’s about all for today; it’s still snowing now, hours later. It looks like 3 or 4 inches so far. Radio? Soon! Thanks for…
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Mill Bluff Trifecta! and a few random notes
Saturday morning I was up early and managed to get out for a hike before the sun was up; Mill Bluff State Park was my choice. I avoided the three deer crossing the highway and made it to the park just a bit after dawn. Since I had so much time I thought I would…
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Mid-March omnibus
A summary of what’s been happening lately Tomorrow (the 19th) is the first day of Spring! Astronomical Spring, that is. Meteorological Spring already happened on the 1st; I suppose they do that for consistency in their statistical calculating, makes it easier to just move along and ignore all of that messy real-world stuff. Quick vignettes…
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Dare we hope that Punxsutawney Phil was right?
Barring a couple days of polar weather about 2 weeks ago, the weather in the Driftless has been unusually mild in the month that has passed since the annual proclamation, which, unusually, was for an early spring. This has only occurred 21 times in the138 year history of the noted weather prophet. I greeted the…