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 :)

The red location pin is hiding in the red strip of sever storms

As for me being so behind on blogging...

"The sooner I fall behind, the more time I have to catch up."  -Author Unknown

How I prop my camera to get photos like....

This! This is the photo you get from propping your camera up with a stick.

Another tower, but this one I got to watch my shadow wave to me :)

Time to play... Find! That! Frog! 

Endings

A different kind of post, plan to do a few of these over the next few weeks just FYI. ;)

I have been thinking a lot about endings lately - with the light at the end of the tunnel (of my hike) visible.

I walked thru a long train tunnel, reminded me of endings...

And then I read a story about another veteran of Warrior Hike who told about how he started to feel again by the end of his hike. How he had become a bit numb to things around him. However, by the end of hiking the PCT, he would be overcome with emotions at times on the hike over a view or a comment etc. He got most emotional when he saw the 50 mile mark to the end. I still have three weeks to go, and yet here I am, thinking of the inevitable end. So I went online and googled 'quotes about ending'. I came up with this one.

I need to not focus on the end but all the good stuff that came before it, and just appreciate it for what it was

But before I saw that quote I had already thought about what with three weeks left to go, what has made an impression on me thus far in my hike. Here are the things I came up with.  (Not in an order of preference)

Material possessions will not make me happy. I hate trinkets, decorative things of no value, those things made by the masses and sold at at blank-mart. However, I cherish the things I get on my journeys. I have so many wonderful memories wrapped up into the keepsakes I get from my travels. I've seen the show hoarders... I'm not that, but a painting from a far back alley in China, a hand made vase from northern Wisconsin, a pair of ducks given to me from a Kazahkstani Soldier to wish me luck in finding my mate, I'll just say, if its on my shelf, it has a meaning and a memory. Just as what I carry in my pack is honed down, carefully chosen and must prove its value... So too are the things I carry with my in life. The 32 pounds on my back can sustain my life and in, dare I say, relative comfort. Of course only about 4 pounds of that is food and about 1 ounce is a magical thing called a credit card... Both of which when they run out would  force me back into the life of more. Funny... The life of less is actually harder in the long run than a life of more. Was it always this way?

People. Yep, I have always enjoyed peoples company... to a point. I am that weird introvert-extrovert mix where I need a bit of both people and a bit of solitude. Too much of either makes me worn out or feel out of the loop. I used to be more of an introvert, suspicious of things seemingly genuine. It took me a long time to be genuine back. It took a lot of courage to start opening myself up enough to do things like, ask for help, show I'm struggling, show any weakness at all... It still takes a little pep talk to myself. That change started before this trip, but this has shown me the absolute greatness, the positive things that complete strangers will do for another. I believe the people who are the most happy, their hearts are open and they radiate positive emotions. No, they are not an open book, (that person who immediately tells you their life story when you asked them to pass the salt) but they are not closed either, the first few pages of their book is open for anyone to easily start reading. I have met some them and they make the earth colorful and a better place to live in. It also seems they are more common than I would have ever imagined. I can only strive to be in that group one day.

Coincidences: I am not religious, I don't even know if I would qualify as spiritual.   But some of the coincidences in life seem too impossible to just happen on their own. How could it not have been part of some strange master plan? I don't know the answer, all I know is I live some sort of a charmed life. It's amazing. I have unbelievable timing in things, from losing my phone and gaining a place to stay, to being able to come on this hike in the first place. Fate, coincidence, destiny, or just an open mind to new chances and opportunities and then - key here - taking those opportunities and running with them. My life is exactly what I choose it to be. I often hear... "I wish I could do ---- I would, but I have-----" to those comments I often just nod and smile. But I fully believe if there is a will there is a way. If people truly wished for something they would find the way to make it happen, maybe not today, (it took me nine years to graduate college), but eventually. Things don't just plop into your lap very often - it does happen, but you still have to take that thing that plopped in front of you. It's not like I 'la la la-de-da' my way through life... I often end up taking the curvy 30 mile route compared to the straight 5 mile path.

So back to that quote about endings. Yes. Great things come to an end. I will have a lot of endings in my life. And many of them I will find sad. It will take me a little while to adjust to my new normal. The things I let my brain wonder to, to imagine, to dream of, to hope for, to maybe even pine over, they may never happen. But that next opportunity...... I'm ready to take it.

Bonus floofy word saying from one of my all-time favorite authors. 

Rock County isssssss... Awesome. Gushing about people. Mile 810ish

Road road road... 20.1 miles of road was what greeted me July 5th. Really not an exciting hiking day... It was smoggy-looking outside so I took a few photos of it and when eating lunch I saw there is a weather alert out for air quality. I thought - too many fireworks! But turns out its from wildfires in Canada.  I ignored those warnings (sorry lungs) and kept walking.

Road walking... In the haze

Higher than thith by the fifth.... The knee high saying doesn't work this year for corn... It's crazy tall.

I did have something to look forward to once I got to my destination though... a place to stay for the night! The Rock County Ice Age Trail Alliance (IATA) chapter head had reached out to me and offered to let me stay with him. Which was great since Rock County does not yet have legal camping locations. I had the pleasure of meeting Dennis and Gena.  I was welcomed into their home that evening and after eating about 5000 calories from delicious but fatty fair food, I was treated to a grilled chicken salad, fruit salad and corn on the cob. I felt better about myself immediately after eating that.

I brought out my air mattress to see if the patch work I had done was successful and that the mattress would hold air, I found out the answer was no. I was promptly given a new-to-me air mattress from their stash of hiking gear!?!! WHAT?  "I'm always looking for an excuse to get new gear anyway." Is the response I got from Dennis when attempting to say it was too much.

Amazing people that ensured my time in Rock County was extremely welcoming!

Dennis is a veteran and their son is also in the Army. Between military and camping stories, the night's conversation flew by. Dennis had also reached out to other Ice Age Trail Alliance members for a nights stay the following night! Talk about "quality service!" The next morning I had some breakfast and was back on the trail. I walked through an Arboretum, and then onto the 'Devil's Staircase" which is a geological feature, but because there are quite a few stairs (thank you trail builders!) many think the devil's staircase are the stairs you hike. Anyway, I was munching on cherries that Gena sent with me and I was looking at the river when I got a text asking if I was getting rained on. I wasn't, but it made me look at the weather. I was going to get rained on if I stayed so I started on my way.

I got to the Riverside park while it was still not raining and I passed up a shelter thinking I had 20 minutes according to Accu-weather to make it about a half mile to the next shelter. Accu-weather lived up to its previous experiences, because in 10 minutes, I was also not being lightly sprinkled on, I was being torrential down-poured on. I had made a bad life decision. I had tried to hide under a tree by the road and as the cars passed, I must have looked like a wet dog, but staying under the tree was prolonging the inevitable so I walked out into the rain and made it to the second shelter just as the rain was starting to lighten up.

If I had stayed at the first shelter I would have stayed dry and would have waited out the 30 minutes of rain. Now I was drenched and still had to walk that day. Don't mind the clothes, but squishy feet are aweful.

Sigh... 

Well, I was sitting in the shelter, soaking wet and I got a phone call. It was Bob and he wanted to walk with me for a bit and he literally lived in a house down the road on the trail. I changed my socks and put my shoes back on and my pack back together. Bob, a decorated Vietnam veteran and I walked to downtown Janesville together talking up a storm. When we got near the library I had originally thought I might stop in. So we walked that way and all of a sudden he asks if I wanted to go to the newspaper just up the road. He had talked to them about a month ago about me and wanted to see if they would do a story. Next thing I know, I was being interviewed and then later on I got a few photos snapped on the most southern portion of the trail. Pretty cool. Bob walked a bit further with me before turning and walking back.

The street Bob helped name

Not too long afterwards, I sat down and changed into another pair of socks, ate some almonds and thought, "Its almost 5pm, I am just not going to get all that far today, and that's okay. I am going to call the people Dennis had arranged for me to stay with and be done with walking today." I called Jim. A few short minutes later I was on my way to their house. I was once again greeted by some extremely nice and amazingly interesting people. I got to shower and get out of my still-wet from the rain clothes - which promptly went into the wash. Carol cooked a fantastic and healthy supper which once again was such a treat. Over the meal I learned about their accomplishments and journey's in life. It is so very interesting to me to hear about the paths people take in their lives and how sometimes coincidences occur in others lives and not just mine ;)

Yet more amazing people! So lucky people take in smelly strangers!

I have loved getting to meet and talk with such diverse people along this trip, each one seemingly contains a lesson about life. At first I met great people and thought - oh - that's a great person. But now, after literally being bombarded every week with great people the trend cannot be ignored. The world is full of wonderful people! I don't think I had a pessimistic view about people to begin with, its just so much more than I ever could have imagined. One person doing one thing is just that... but when 100 people do just one thing... its 100 positive and great things! I have been the recipient to seemingly so many of those 'one things'. Beyond that, it really makes me want to start doing nice things... It's contagious and I am catching it!

The next morning, after a rain-filled night I did not have to sleep outside in, the newspaper had already published the article... speedy! I clipped it from the paper and sent it home in the mail thanks to Carol providing and envelope and stamp. She dropped me off back at the trail and it was great to get an early start on a cool, nice day. From there I was stopped by a runner who recognized me from the paper. And then I walked into the Walmart to re-stock my food supply for the next four days and was stopped by a lady who recognized me from the paper! Whoa! Not used to that! After Walmart I called about my air mattress... the company will send me a new one, but it will take a week to get to me.

I continued onto the trail and I saw a lady walking toward me. Carla came out to walk with me for a little bit. She's a member of the Rock County IATA and had seen my photo in the paper! About three minutes after she met me, we saw two more people walking our way.... the first thru-hikers I have met on the trail! So exciting and they totally put me to shame. It was such a thrill to see them, so young and going after it. They also do more miles than me a day as they has to be done by the end of August to start school. Go them!

First thru-hikers I've met in person!!

Carla from the IATA met me out on the trail for a bit!

What this all boils down to is... Rock County, your IATA chapter is amazing. The people are extremely welcoming and the signage through the trails and especially through the town and road portions is the best I've seen. Thank you for a wonderful section.

My blue GPS dot on the upswing. I went through the most southern portion of the trail in Janesville!

Kind of neat.

Fresh lunch! Carefully packed to not squish the fruit! Thanks for a packed lunch each day Gena and Dennis and Carol and Jim! 

Independence Day in Evansville - Map mile 770.9

I left off with camping in what is currently my favorite dispersed camping area (DCA) in Verona. It had been my first night camping in seven days and it felt wonderful. I was sleeping by 9pm as I was exhausted. However, I woke up about every two hours to blow up my air pad as it had not magically repaired itself. My sleeping bag and pad are a system. The bag slides over the pad and the bag also has no insulation on the bottom as the pad provides the insulation. The bottom of sleeping bags provide little insulation because they are compacted by body weight. Not bothering to put insulation on the bottom portion of the sleeping bag, makes the bag weigh less.  I would wake up on the cold and hard ground roll over off the mat but still inside my sleeping bag and blow it back on then plop back onto in only to do it again in about two hours.

One of my favorite nights.

I woke up the next morning and it was gorgeous and I had beautifully groomed trails to look forward to. The black raspberries are ripe by the handfuls now and I gorged myself throughout the day on them. I saw a monarch caterpillar munching on milkweed. Although milkweed seems to be coming back - probably planted - the caterpillars are still not very dense at all. Some of the wildflowers are starting to die off, but the fields are still beautifully colorful.

There was another DCA I decided to camp at the following night and it had a log book for hikers. These are fairly rare and it was pretty neat to read other hiker's entries. After shooing away a gigantic spider with an even more gigantic egg sac from my tent... Which my hand was inches from, I settled inside and ate my Thai Curry meal that night which I had been carrying with me for over three weeks... it was delicious! And then I went to sleep since the mosquitoes were pretty intense and I had no internet connection. (Whenever I have the energy to blog it seems there is no internet connection) I went to sleep and was awoken at 1236am by what I would describe as death noises.

A nice DCA complete with a bench!

Was about 2 inches away from connecting my rain tarp when I noticed it. Not afraid of spiders... but this one was gross.... didn't kill it just shooed its slow-moving egg-carrying butt away

I am not sure what lost its life in the woods that night, but something(s) did for sure. It seemed like more than one thing was making the high-pitched squealing sound which made me think it might have been some sort of birds dying. Maybe grouse or turkey or something? I only heard one very low and not loud growl which may have been in my imagination. (fox?) I had heard something die many weeks ago which was probably a bear getting a fawn, so its possible it was that. In any case - I was awake for the next half hour listening very intensely for any follow-up noises that would be close to my tent. This 'attack' was seemingly within a football field of my tent and all I could hope at that point is whatever got its meal was filled up by it... I blew up my mattress and went back to sleep.

I wanted to get up early the next morning because I planned to walk a few miles off the trail and go to the New Glarus Brewery that day, but it was cold outside so I didn't start early at all. Then I ended up sunning myself and drying out wet-with-dew shoes by a water pump for about an hour because I thought I had gotten too late of a start to make it to the brewery.  New Glarus Woods State Park is about 2.5 miles off the trail, but there wasn't any legal camping areas so I walked into the camp ground about 4:15 - a mere 15 minutes after the brewery closed. If I hadn't been lazy by the water pump I would have made it - but it worked out for the best.

Even had the water testing paperwork on it - nice

That night I attempted to eat some dehydrated beef stroganoff, but I was only 1.1 miles from the Culver's.  I made the obvious choice and walked to Culver'. I was there for over three hours. I didn't shut down a bar- but I shut down Culver's. I walked back to my camp site and could see my breath that night. ITS JULY! Come ON WI - get with it! Just after the pungent cloud of kind-of-sorta legalized smoke I walked through I reached my campsite and promptly fell asleep (no, not because of the cloud of smoke).

I tried the stroganoff... but went with the Culver's

The next morning Jenni came to pick me up!! We drove around super cute - Swiss infused New Glarus and went to the New Glarus Brewing Company together! Better than going on my own the night before! We had been drinking Spotted Cow together since day one of getting on the trail and now we got to visit the motherland. My friend Carlos who works there but couldn't be there that day had hooked me up with the tour and Jenni and I walked out with a bottle of our new favorite - Belgian Red. There is a pound of cherries in every over-sized bottle. If you like cherries... try it!

Cheers mate!

Belgian Red!!!!

Nom Nom

Awesome!

Got asked questions a few times by customers...  sold shirts in the gift shop very similar to those we were wearing ;)

Bottling that sweet nectar of life...

This place was awesome!

Jenni and I walked together that day and it was like glorious old times. It was all rail trail which gets a bit boring so we entertained ourselves by playing 20 questions. We played for at least two hours off and on. At one point this is how the game went.  "Are you alive? - No" "Are you a rock? - YES! how did you know!?" I got that one right away, but it took me way more than 20 questions for others. So nice to have her back - if only for a day.

Careful of the bikes there little guy!

Black Raspberries and Mulberries

We got close to our pick-up point, which was a day ahead of schedule. This allowed for a zero day on the 4th of July. David, from the Evansville VFW came to pick us up from Albany.  That night we met some more great VFW folks, went to eat some fish and then to the festival where there was live music. The next morning I was up at 7am doing laundry, and on the computer the hotel had - my job search had officially begun. I got so completely wrapped up re-writing my resume to fit a job (I'm the best person ever blah blah blah yadda yadda yadda) that I realized I had missed the parade! I had switched laundry to the dryer at 830, got lost in time and got the phone call at 1030 that the parade was done :(

Starving - Jenni and I went down to the festival and hung out with David and other VFW members. We were introduced to Janis Ringhand, a WI State Senator originally from Evansville. We ate yummy fair food. I ate so many calories that day I am not sure even I can walk them off... Here is my list for the DAY: Breakfast - two bowls of corn flakes and a cup of coffee. Lunch - 1/2 chicken, coleslaw, beans, bun, and two beers. A few bites of chicken on a stick. In between lunch and dinner - one gigantic bottle of Belgian Red. Dinner: A brat, a buttery cob of corn, one-scoop ice cream cone. Some more chicken on a stick, about 5 mini-donuts, a cup of cheese curds. But I stopped drinking after the Belgian Red... I did have to walk the next day after all and didn't want to be in pain. But holy calories!!

WI Senator and VFW commander

Rubber ducky race! She didn't win :(

Ya, we're cool ;)

Lions club lunch

New hat!!! Ducky race and fooooood!

Jenni and I were announced before the National Anthem at the start of the baseball game which I thought was pretty awesome. After the game we took our blankets to the outfield and layed them down. Evansville it turns out is rated number 3 in WI for fireworks held on the 4th of July. The show was fantastic! David, our host with the most, hadn't been to the fireworks in years and was blown away. The show definitely earned its high rank.

Color guard before the baseball game

I bought more tickets than I am tall, but didn't win the 50/50 raffle :(

The next morning, David came to pick me up in his Corvette and take me back to Albany. I think it was my first time in a Corvette so it was a treat.

He and the rest of Evansville's VFW had showed us a great Independence Day weekend with two nights in a hotel.  Jenni had decided to go back to Verona and Devil's Lake to hike those fun segments and skip some of the long road walks - so we once again parted ways. With our visit the last few days it solidified us being like sisters. We can go from extremes with each other - from completely annoyed to laughing our heads off within moments. This hike hasn't been done all together - but it brought us together as friends who can pick up right where they left off.