Chipping Around, but not at golf :-)

Chipmunk Hotel:

  

Ian and me grand standing with finished Munk City Hotel ready to haul. Four Chipmunks were corralled and plunked in through the hinged top. Hope Ian can train them like his dad did with Steamboat.

The second week in June, I was logged-in for trail riding but when my Grandson Ian called about coming to our house and playing golf along with some serious fishing, I changed my plans and Ian came over to Coralville. Once he learned that Gpa was rounding up chipmunks, Ian wanted to take some home. His dad Chris had a pet chipmunk Steamboat when he was young so Ian decided that would be a good idea for him too. Therefore, time allotted for golf, fishing and computer games was directed toward designing and building a three by two and half foot tall cage. When I made Chris’ cage, I jerry-rigged a rustic end table into a cage by closing in sides and end with wire mesh left over from my days on the farm. The 2013 version of that cage was much more robust. Although it took some doing to keep Ian involved, he helped with about 30-40% of the project. I knew it would be tight trying to fit the finished product in the car but it turned out to be impossible. Each day we caught a chipmunk and kept them corralled in the wheelie bin (that’s what my friend Boris [See Wabash Trace Posting] from Australia fondly called garbage cans with wheels).  Because we could not get the cage in the car, we rented a U-Haul trailer to cart the cage 110 miles to Ian’s house. After attaching the trailer, loading the cage and tricking four chipmunks into the cage, the impoundment was pulled to Runnells. One little fellow died from all the excitement but the other three are scooting around in the cage foot loose and fancy free. Now it's time to hit the trails.

Seg #20 Great River State Trail

Seg #20 Great River State Trail (Midway, WI out and back) 6-21-13

Start	Midway, WI	N 43.92757W-91.25027	NS Miles 6.3
End	Black River	N 43.95985,W-91.33813	Trl lgth 24mi/Ride 19.5mi

Ride hrs 2:02

AVS 9.5

MXS 13.9

KCAL 1641

Temp 84

Elev 662

Because of the missing purse fiasco the previous day, my chauffeur was not in the frame of mind try to find me up or down any trail. So, the ride plan was changed from riding to Tempealeau from LaCrosse to driving to unincorporated Midway, Wisconsin and riding out five miles and then back to the car. The Great River is a 24-mile trail that travels along America’s biggest river, through prairies and backwaters of the upper Mississippi River valley. Built on an abandoned Chicago-Northwestern railroad line, the trail is in Wisconsin's scenic Coulee Region, part of the Driftless Area that was untouched by glaciers during the last Ice Age. We took our time getting to the trail since a severe thunderstorm struck early in morning. A large group of golfers were hanging out at the motel ranting about the weather and vehemently exaggerating hole-in-one stories. Eventually we drove out of the rain and ended up in Midway. The miles north of Midway were what I needed for my venture, but somehow I trusted the bartender at the local pub to give me the correct directions as to whether I should go right or left for a northerly heading. “Just go up the trail”, the swashbuckler spit out and pointed to the front door. So that is the way I rode. It took but a few miles to make me wonder if the way I was going was correct. I wish I had used the compass the Perio Department at Georgia gave me on my last day. A compass would have helped more than my GPS, especially since the GPS latitude appeared to be increasing. That would mean I was going north. Because I didn’t remember the Midway start coordinates correctly, I was convinced I was indeed going north. But after another three miles, it was clear I was in the north part of Lacrosse---Damn!  I went south rather than north! Around I turned and headed back to Midway. When Connie saw me riding by, she thought, “What the Heck, he must have gone the wrong way". Yes I did! Since I needed to get some positive latitude so I headed north. No sooner than a mile up the trail, a large ash tree had blown down on the trail. The storm that passed through early that morning was a toughie. After carrying the bike over the branches I was back to riding again only

The Great River State Trail is a crushed limestone

surface a majority of the way. I took this photo

looking back where I crawled through the

first fallen tree; there is only a small hole

of light in this picture. Normally the opening

would be five to six times larger. There were

many limbs on the trail to dodge. I have seen worse.

to have a  another  tree divert me. In the scope of a few miles, I had to negotiate five downed  trees. The storm that hit us up the road had torn through the trail with authority. It was interesting that every fallen tree was an Ash. Probably the heavy volume of seeds limited air flow and created a resistant surface, much like a solid back yard fence. With all the obstacles on the trail, I decided to turn around and go back to Midway. Since was unable to get all my needed degrees of latitude, I will need to find another trail to make up the lost miles due to not making it to Tempealeau (pronounced “temp low”). So after five to tens miles of north-south credit, we headed for home. We got back to Coralville before dark---I don't like driving in the dark. The cats were happy to see us and chipmunks probably groaned sensing the hiatus from my trapping was over.

 

Seg #19 Green Bay Green Leaf/Fox River Trl (Hilbert-Pulaski, WI)

Start

Hilbert, WI

N   44.16894W-88.15981

N-S miles27.5 mi*

End

Green Bay, WI

N  44.56466,W-88.06475

Trl lgth30.3mi Ride 47.9mi

Ride hrs 4.9

AVS 9.8

MXS 13.5

KCAL 3645

Temp 82

El 808

After a good night’s sleep and a carbo loaded breakfast at the Country Suites, we saddled up and headed north to the southern trailhead of the Green Bay-Greenleaf/Fox River Trails. The nearest town to the trail is Hilbert, WI. It was after 10 a.m. before I got on the trail.

This trail is a Rail to Trail route meaning gradual elevation change, an average of 6% slope and tree canopies from over a hundred years of growth. I like Rail Trails because the trees provide a wind break, shade and wildlife.  

Native Americans followed by
French explorers, used this
route long before railroads

The Fox River Trail corridor has a rich history, beginning with the Native Americans who used footpaths to travel between their villages located along the Fox River. The early French explorers, missionaries, and traders built their posts and missions along these trails. As the area was settled, livestock and other goods were brought to market using these pathways. Later, a military road was built along portions of the corridor linking Green Bay to Milwaukee. In the 1860’s the Milwaukee and Superior Railway acquired the present corridor and began planning for rail service. In 1873, the Milwaukee and Northern Railway Company purchased the corridor and the first trains began making regular runs between the Green Bay and Milwaukee markets. Trains would continue to run on the corridor for the next 116 years as ownership passed from one railroad to another. In 1989, regular rail service was discontinued, signaling the end of one era, and the beginning of another with the development of the Fox River Trail. After riding two hours, I met Connie for lunch at the Scray Cheese Company, Depere, Wisconsin. There are numerous similarities between this company and the Kolona Cheese Factory just down the road from where we live in Coralville, Iowa. The Kolona factory has a better viewing area to watch the workers make all kinds of cheeses. Scray’s 1926 start precedes Kolona by twenty years. Kolona has a dense population of Amish and Mennonites so guess who built the plant?


Connie smiling with the Scray Cow.

This preceded the "no smile, no

fun" part of the day.

We had a lunch of string cheese and summer sausage---mmm good! Probably it was too good and caused me to forget my gloves in the restroom.  Good thing was I noticed I left them only a couple miles away. Connie drove me back Scray’s and I ran into the men’s room to recover my gloves. I was focused on not allowing my clips touch the nice wood floor so I didn’t bother to look around. I had no reason to look around once I recovered my gloves---no that is not correct! I headed down the trail and Connie drove ahead to Pulaski, the end point for my ride. Unfortunately when Connie went to buy to by a Diary Queen cone, she realized she had left her purse at Scray’s under the table where we ate our lunch. She called me but I had ridden into Green Bay about ten miles north of Depere so she could drive back quicker than I could ride back. In retrospect I should have called Scray’s to confirm the purse was still there and then both of us would go back for the purse before they closed. Since the GPS Momma, Dixie, had directed her to Pulaski, I thought she could get her back to Scray’s using Dixie. Dixie was in a bad mood I guess, spilling out wrong turns. As it was, poor Connie got thoroughly lost and spent hours trying to find Scray’s and recover her purse and then had problems finding her way back to Pulaski. Both Dixie and I were in the doghouse when Connie finally rolled into our meeting point in Pulaski. I hope I haven’t lost my driver, but it doesn’t look good.

Fox River North trailhead in Green Bay. This

river snatched a former neighbor, Michael

Philbin a couple of winters ago. I thought of

him as I rode up the trail.

Riding along the Fox River caused me to pause and reflect on a tragedy that occurred here in the winter of 2012. A former neighbor directly across the street, Michael Philbin, was partying with friends and somehow became separated from his buddies. He decided to cross the ice covered Fox River in the dark. The river was not frozen enough to allow safe crossing and he slipped away to his death. I played some one-on-one basketball and golf with him and his brother Matt. Their dad Joe is now head coach for the Miami Dolphins. Joe’s prophetic words ring true now and forever. "Michael was alone when this incident occurred. For us as a family this has been the most difficult thing to deal with. Had he been with someone this would have been avoided. The message is clear: practice moderation in the consumption of alcohol, avoid illegal drugs, and if someone appears to be in need of assistance, help them so that this situation doesn’t occur again".

The Fox River Trail ends in Green Bay leaving a large gap before connecting to the Mountain Bay Trail in Howard, WI. I was able to ride 4 to 5 miles on city streets, avoiding highways and roads where speed limit matched or exceeded 45 mph. That is the whole idea of my Border to Border ride, safer trails versus car and truck roads and highways. I beat Connie to Pulaski, so I rode around a town dominated by a Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Catholic Church. As one might assume, Pulaski was settled by Polish immigrants settled this area of Wisconsin in the 1800’s. Pulaski is also the name of the fire fighting tool I used in the Forest Service. Maybe that is why I am drawn to the name and the town. The axe is named after Ed Pulaski, famous for taking action to save the lives of a crew of 45 firefighters during the disastrous August 1910 wildfires in Idaho. From a group of 35 families, the town today has a population of over five and a half thousand and the church has expanded to a building that measures 198 feet by 74 feet. The twin towers rise to a height of 135 feet. This is quite a sight for being ‘off the beaten path”.

I was mesmerized by this church when riding through Pulaski, Wisconsin. The design suggests Polish influences and that is just what it is---a Polish Church---reminds me of Krakow.





I was mesmerized by this church when riding through Pulaski, Wisconsin. The design suggests Polish influences and that is just what it is---a Polish Church---reminds me of churches we saw in Krakow. The Village of Pulaski was named after Count Casimer Pulaski, the great freedom fighter of Europe and America. Pulaski fought the Russians in his native Poland from 1770 to 1772. He later fought with General George Washington at Brandywine. Pulaski found an independent cavalry corps (Pulaski Legion). For this reason, he became known as the Father of the American Cavalry.



Segment #18: Clyman-Fond du Lac Wisconsin

Start

Clyman,WI

N 43.34309,W-88.714710

N-S miles 28.5mi

End

Fond du Lac, WI

N43.75215,W-88.46676

Trl lgth 34.5mi Ride 37.2mi

Ride hrs 4

AVS 9.2

MXS 17.5

KCAL 2996

Temp 84

Elevation 815-885

Southern trailhead North of Clyman Junction, WI, adjacent to a
model airplane airport where flying fanatics fill the skies. 

After stopping at the Maquoketa Lumber Company to visit Brother Ted (#3 of 8 Maze boys), nephew Mark and Bicycle Mark, Connie drove me to Wisconsin for the first of three rides. Dixie, voice of the GPS, got us to the trailhead without a hitch.

 

Wisconsin fly boy with his remote controlled
airplane. This little baby is 10x larger and
200X more $ than my brother Don's red paper
and balsa wood 1955 beauty.

After chatting with a couple of fly boys with their toys, I headed out on what is described as a smooth trail. The Wild Goose follows an abandoned Chicago and Northwestern Railroad corridor, therefore it is quite flat, however, the southern quarter of the Wild Goose was not that smooth for me. Horse riders are to use a separate trail on the side of the bike trail but, the piles of “horse-puckie” and jolting speed bump-like divots in the trail told me these equestrian folks were riding full bore down the bike/walking path. After my rough road tune-up, I found the rest of the trail excellent, even the half mile section where the trail switched from hard limestone to a non-descript grass corridor.

Where's the trail?

Looking back, I imagined a line from the stone path to where I was in the grass. Keeping that line in mind, I wheeled the bike forward and made my own path in the shoulder high grass. It appeared the trail was to go through a lush thick field of wheat or barley (probably barley since up until 1940, Wisconsin was the biggest producer of barley and there is mega gallons of beer brewed in the state).

 

 

Barley for the beer drinkers---lot's of them

It would not make sense that a farmer would plant across the trail, yet anti-trail people do some pretty annoying things to express their disdain for recreational trails. It seems as if the tension between land owners and trail users has eased from the early days of trail building. I remember riding the Wabash Trace in the 80’s and seeing a bunch of nails tossed on the trail.

 

 

Rife Range warning!!

Horse riders deal with bicycles and other irritations such as hunting and shooting ranges close to the trail. A sign on this trail warned of horse spooking from a rifle range.

 

The highlight of the Wild Goose Trail is the proximity of the trail to the Horicon National Wildlife Refuge, a 32,000 acre wetlands serving as a safe haven for 500,000 migrating birds. It would be nice to go back to the Wild Goose Trail in the spring or fall. One of our fond memories of Nebraska is the espying of more than a half million Sandhill cranes that spend a month in the Platte River basin foraging and resting before flying on to Canada to nest and raise their chicks. The Sandhill cranes have been doing this for ten million years. Witnessing this journey is once in a lifetime event.

The thirty-four mile trail ended in Fond du Lac on several miles of asphalt. There was a convention in town so if Connie had not gone ahead and found the last room at the Comfort Suites, the trip would have started off on the wrong note. In other words, I was pooped after riding thirty-seven miles.

Those following my blog will notice I have added another line of data. I figure that since my bike computer gives me distance, riding time, kilocalories burned, average speed, maximum speed, temperature and elevation, I might as well record it. Maybe someone with benefit from my pedantic compulsion to record everything recordable.