Natalie on the IAT: So behind on blogging... Genesee Depot VFW visit, mile ~ 874 and the return of Jenni

Alright, I ended with heading out of Janesville feeling a bit famous because people recognized me from the Janesville newspaper. What is that woman in front of Wal-Mart? Why Yes, I am not homeless and I was in the newspaper. Oh - runner on the path, it IS nice to meet you and yes the world has wonderful people in it.

That night, back out camping with my newly acquired air mattress, I heard a lot more of what I have previously described as death noises. This time it was a chase through the woods. I am thinking a rabbit due to the very high pitched screams moving very quickly followed by something also fast and very snarly. It was 12:21am. I was freaked out, about a half hour after it died though I was back asleep. The deer I can deal with, snorting and pawing is all show (sorry I am invading your space buck.) But fanged mystery animals are nerve wrecking. I looked the next morning for poofs of fur or blood spatter, but I came up empty. Not the tracker I thought I was.

I had a long day of road walking but the temp was in the 60s. The small bits of trail I did go through were very mosquito-filled so the roads felt pretty good. That day I made it to a well that was dug a while ago and has been free-flowing ever since. I thought it tasted a bit like metal and I believe the aquifers reign supreme. I did meet a nice couple that fixed a sagging bench. They made quick work of it.

Cool well, but tasted a bit like metal from the pipes

Really loved the contrast and seeing something so golden and beautiful

Rock County has the best signage!

I continued on and around 5pm had gotten into the Southern Kettle Moraine. I stopped at the camp ground and got a site to set my tent up. I could have legally camped just

Safe from death noises

Such a great night... A camp fire is one of my most favorite things

south of the camp ground, but after the night before, I thought 12 bucks was well worth a death-noise-free night. Plus the camp ground hosts were so awesome! It was great to chat with them, they brought me fire wood and fire starters that she made, (candle wax, chunks of wood, all in an egg carton slot, worked awesome!) I got to charge my portable charger and I had some interesting conversation with them. The next morning I did not want to leave. I didn't have many miles to do before my pick up point by the VFW in a few days so I had some short days planned. I gave myself until noon to leave the camp ground and I think I left around 11:57.

That evening I wandered into one of the Kettle Moraine's shelters. You are supposed to reserve them, but they are reserved sometimes far in advance. They were all booked up when the camp ground host called for me. They told me my best bet was to simply ask those at the shelters if you can set up the tent near it. As I got close to shelter three which was up a steep hill, I was so relieved when I saw three ladies sitting at a table and then one goes "Are you Natalie??" (mind blown) Here I was nervous of interrupting potential 'romancers in the kettle moraine' and instead met two ladies on a 50 mile backpacking adventure and Danielle, a thru-hiker going the opposite direction of me! We spent that night chatting, sharing stories, giving pointers, showing our maps and saying what was coming up until the mosquitoes forced us all into our individual tents. So great. Danielle was hoping to cross paths with me and I am so happy I walked into Shelter 3 that night.

Amazing fellow-hiker ladies

Birds shat on my tent.... Just shat right on it

The next day I started out around 10 after chit chatting a bit more in the morning... I was writing notes as I was having a deep-thought morning but then I heard the words 'I have extra snacks' and I was out of my tent and eating a granola bar in a flash. :) After rotating all our packs and trying each others on... yours is so light/so heavy/comfortable/I like that pocket/color and so forth we finally started our days. I was running low on water, but not desperately and there was a horse camp coming up in about 8 miles. Weellllll first I wasted some time walking to a small old rustic cabin, it was great and I was leaning against my bag and my water hose was pressed and pretty soon a bunch of water was down my back. Woops. Then I layed on a bench and dried out in the roasting, felt-amazing sun.

Was sitting for this photo and squeezing water down my back from my camelback

After going a bit further there was the stone elephant, which looked nothing like a stone elephant, but I had to play around with it. 10 seconds on a self timer goes quickly when running up and down to get different photo poses with a big stone.

Doesn't look a whole heck of a lot like an elephant...

So finally I was on my way for real and was getting very low on water. It was a hot and humid day and I am a water hog. I was rationing. Every so often I could have enough water to wet my mouth. When I got to the horse riders camp I had about 3 ounces left. I filled up my water jug and told myself I would down it before leaving. I plugged my phone into an outlet, drank a bunch of water, ate a snack and promptly fell asleep on a picnic table. Woke up... hhwwwaaattt? How long have I been sleeping? The answer is over an hour. I drank some more water, gathered my stuff and moved on.

The next day, after sleeping in a very pretty location, in the southern kettle morraine

I continued my way to the VFW pick up location. I was there by noon, went on for a few more miles and got picked up. I had one tuna packet left for food. The last few days I had not really planned my food well. I had enough for meals and all and a few snacks, but I was burning through it fast. When I counted the calories, I had actually only been eating a day, it wad only between 1000 and 1500 calories. Woops, that wasn't enough. So I was really looking forward to getting some food. Don, from the Genesee Depot VFW picked me up, had an ice cold water waiting for me and I went back and took a shower at his place. We then went into Genesee Depot that was having their Days. I met a few other warm and welcoming VFW members who were at the VFW information tent and then I got a big, yummy burger at InCaHoots bar and grill. The owners were so amazing. Mary got me a beer and made sure I would get resupplied.

Such nice people!

Thanks Mary!!! You are awesome!

Not only was I low on food this week, but my cooking fuel had very little in it, and I had gone through my main supply of bug spray. Still had a backup mini-size with me though. Everything was getting low that week, including my energy from not enough calories. Don drove me into Gander Mountain and a few trips to Walmart so I could get all my things. It was so nice to be done early in the day so shopping wasn't rushed.

After the gigantic burger, which I downed before I thought of getting a photo, I wasn't too terribly hungry for dinner, so Don made the perfect meal. A yummy salad full of fresh things. Shortly after dinner I was crashing. I think everything just wore on me from the week, in an attempt to try and avoid the headache and nausea I felt, I was in bed and asleep by 8pm. The next morning I felt like a new person and when I got out of bed I was surrounded by the smell of bacon. YUM!

Don and the suuuper yummy meals he made for me

I was in denial for most of the morning about going back to hiking. I Googled how to recycle the fuel can and Don helped me with that, he also sent out my popped air mattress so I didn't have to carry two anymore. And fiiinally, I faced reality and he took me back to the trail with the additional yummy trail mix and beef jerky he packed for me. It was a hot, and I took a lot of breaks throughout the day. Fairly uneventful day back on the trail, but I ended with getting to go up another tower and then onto the small walk-in camp area where I was reunited, for good this time, with Jenni. We were back together for the remaining three weeks. That night we talked about our time apart, goofed around and laughed and played with out new sponsored socks before climbing into our tents.

And we are back at it...

Mother nature welcomed Jenni back to the trail that night with one of the most wicked storms we had been in up to then. TONS of lightening, thunder and a lot of high winds. Welcome back to the trail Jenni :)