Tale of two Culverts

Day 2 (2/16/14)

Untouched snow

I was just looking back at my blog and saw that on this weekend in 2012 we were out on the bike trail doing our first builds of the year and there was no snow. What a change this year. On our way out to the trail we were asked by a passerby if we thought there was going to be enough snow to use snowshoes. I told him that I guessed we would find out. It was perfect. The new snow had covered most traces of our previous treks. I wanted to check out some new areas that we had found last weekend and ran out of time to explore. We were not disappointed. We were surprised to see our first robin of the spring although we suspect that it may have wintered here. We also saw some cedar wax wings eating the frozen berries along the trail. Soon after this we left the trail and headed for unexplored areas. It was a little cold and windy out in the open so we skirted the woods as much as possible. Once we got warmed up it really didn’t matter. We continued down until we came to the creek that we had visited last weekend. We then started following the creek back towards the trail. There were areas that we were really glad we had snowshoes. The snow was several feet deep in some places. We crisscrossed back and forth across the creek and explored all the hills and hollows along the way. Eventually we made it back to the culverts under the trail and tracks. We spent a little time checking out these passages and the other side. While we were there a cross country skier went by above us. I am surprised there are not more skiers making use of these trails. My wife and I used to ski them until we got our snowshoes and were thinking that we should try to get out yet this winter. Since getting the snowshoes however they seem to be easier to carry to the trail and we don’t like to drive if we can help it. There is a part of me that is ready for spring but I would like to have a least one more weekend to do a little more exploring.

Eileen just starting out

First robin of the year

Beautiful Day

The Culverts

You are getting sleepy

Very cool Ice

More Cool Ice

Come on Trust me

Culverts old and new

The essential feet picture

Tale of two Culverts

Now where

King of the Culvert

Snowshoeing the bike trail

Day 1 (2/9/14)

Off to the Trail

Last week we decided to brave the cold and take a walk out on the bike trail. It has been a very cold winter, even for Wisconsin, and hard getting outside to enjoy winter. Last week we wished we had taken our snow shoes. Even though the snow was passable in some areas there were three or four foot drifts in others. After another cold week the temperature was up to 10 degrees and sunny when I got out of bed this morning with a smattering of new snow, a perfect day for snowshoeing. I devised harnesses for carrying our snowshoes out to the trail and set out. When we got to the bike trail we put our shoes on and set out. After about two hundred yards we were already getting tired from the change of motion but an hour later we didn’t want to stop. Soon after getting on the bike trail we found a trail going down into the swamp where some earlier shoer’s had gone and decided to follow it. It followed a ridge that led through an area which wouldn’t be easily accessible in the summer. Eventually it dropped down into a valley with a stream meandering through it. It is always fun to find a little piece of almost untouched nature so close to town. Although we mostly followed the tracks of the other snowshoers we did break off and do a bit of our own exploring. After several hours, much to our chagrin, we decided we had better go home because we had company coming for dinner. We are already planning to get out again next weekend and plan for a daylong outing. We laughed at how tired we seemed at the beginning and how disappointed we were that we couldn’t continue hours later. It is amazing what finding a new area to explore can do for a persons stamina.

Sunspot Baby

New Trail

Nice Birches

Bird swoop?

Drift Climbing

Time to go Home

Fischer Creek Rocks

Day 3 (9/22/13)

My one Cairn of the Day

Fischer Creek has become one of our favorite go to places for rock picking. It is a fun place to spend an afternoon and has a vast selection of small flat stones that are perfect for Eileen’s jewelry. The weather was beautiful and although down by the water it had the chill of early fall it was a perfect day for walking and picking up stones. We had the beach mostly to ourselves as we walked south along the shore. Fischer Creek is not ideal for building cairns because most of the stones are small but I managed to build one. We walked down the beach further than we ever had before until we ran into private property signs and decided to turn around. We spent a little time walking some of the trails around the park and started to see more people but not many. When all was said and done we came home with several bags of rocks.

Lake Michigan

South Shore

North Shore

Pig weed

Beach art by others

Fischer Creek

Eileen

Build Baby Build

Cairns in Iceland

Our very first glimpse of Cairns during our
 2007 visit to Iceland

Day 2 (8/21/13)

It was really hard for me to decide which of my blogs to put my Icelandic trip on. On one hand I usually put my vacation stuff on my Onion River Site, but on the other hand if there was ever a cairn heaven it would be Iceland. In reality we saw our first ever cairns while spending a day in Iceland on our way to Norway in 2007. I did not get pictures of them this time because I was on the wrong side of the bus. They are still there though and look like they will be for quite some time, although the area around them has really grown up with buildings. I decided to compromise and post my daily blogs at: onionriver.blogspot.com and make one posting about cairns on this site. We saw many areas around Iceland where people had built hundreds of Cairns. Unfortunately on a bus we didn't always get a chance to photograph them. I told Eileen that if we drove around the island it would take us months with everything there is to see and build. Because of the fragility of the environment there are some areas which they do not allow cairn building. If at all possible we tried to build cairns at spots that we visited. Often somebody had built there before us. In Iceland there are many places where they utilize cairns as marking stones and in one instance we followed cairns for miles and miles that marked an old border or road. In my reading, I have found of more than one life saved in the winter because they were able to follow the cairns. I don’t think a day went past that we didn't see a cairn of some type. At first people on the bus were a little curious when we would start building at our stops but soon they expected it and even joined in and built one o f their own. Of course we also had to pick up some choice little stones for Eileen to make cairn necklaces when we got home. It was wonderful being in a place where rocks are such an important part of life and people still appreciate the simple things in life.

Not Cairns but Cool

Eileen working on her first Cairn
 in Iceland

My first Cairn in Iceland

Cairn's Denied

Mother Nature's Cairns

Miles and Miles of Cairns

Eileen starting another

Cairns in the Wasteland

Waterfall with Cairn

Cairn at Black Sand Beach

Cairn at Glacial Lagoon

A Start

Closer

Just on More

Finished

Stephan and I building at the Glacier

Michael and Stephan

Two More

So many Rocks So little Time

Crunchy Snow

Day 1 (2/17/12)

First Build of the Year

I was just looking through last year’s blog for what would have been this weekend, the 18^th and 19^th of February, and there was no snow on the ground and it looked very spring like. Well that is life in Wisconsin. This year is somewhat different and although it was sunny and beautiful it was relatively cold and snow still covered the trail in all but a few areas. It has been a strange winter even for Wisconsin. Whenever we get good snowshoeing snow it rains and freezes before we have an opportunity to use it. Otherwise it just hasn't been very conducive to winter sports. It was time to get out and although the snow was too icy for skiing or snowshoeing it was good for hiking. It was not one of the more productive excursions since everything was still covered with snow but we enjoyed the weather and built one small cairn. Most of the larger builds were down so I am looking forward to getting out when the snow is gone. This time of year is funny, next week could bring more snow or it could reach fifty degrees and everything could be clear. I guess we will just have to see what happens. 

Eileen on the trail

The Moon

First Build

Turkey Trot

Return to Fischer Creek

Day 27 (11/25/12)

It has been one of those summers that it is hard to let go of. Although the temperature was often outrageous and most of the country experienced one of the worst droughts ever there was a lot of gorgeous weather as well. Perhaps because of the lack of rain there was more than enough time to have fun. At any rate I am not ready for winter and when we saw that Sunday was going to be at least seasonably warm we decided we needed to take one more trip to Fischer Creek for some rocks. Eileen had recently sold a couple of necklaces and we were reminded that she would need more stones for the winter. We needed some supplies from Fleet Farm so we decided to run through Plymouth on our way to the beach. After leaving Plymouth we thought it would be fun to take some back roads across to the lake.  Our trip took us up hwy 57 to Kiel where as we were coming into town we noticed a sign for “Abler Art Glass” studios and turned on in. We were not disappointed. We started by watching a glass vase being blown and although we have seen it before it is always impressive to watch. We then went in to peruse the merchandise. There was some really fun stuff and if we had more room in our house we may have actually thought more seriously about a couple of pieces. We settled on some earrings and a pendant for Eileen and were back on the road again. From Kiel we headed up Hwy 67 the St Nazianz. From there it was just a hop, skip and a jump to Fischer Creek. When we got there it was kind of overcast and we were a little afraid it was going to be kind of cold and windy but when we got down by the beach much of the wind was blocked. After about a half hour of collecting the sun came out and the sky became almost totally clear. We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful November day. We spend a couple of hours walking the beach and combing for stones. As always it was hard to leave but the hollow spot in my stomach was reminding me that we hadn't eaten since breakfast. So with our new found treasures we pointed the car south and headed on home.

APPARENTLY I HAVE EXCEEDED MY PHOTO STORAGE SPACE FOR THE YEAR SO EITHER I WILL HAVE TO PURCHASE MORE SPACE OR SEE YOU NEXT YEAR.