Nature • Wildlife • Landscape • Kristen Westlake Images » JOURNAL

IAT Day 13 (map 69f &70f) Bump Road WNW to Exeter Crossing – 12.5 miles

Kristen Westlake — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 22:45:10 +0000

Story: Story: got going the right way today off of Bump Road, yipee! The last day I was here I took off on the trail to the left which went south when I needed to veer first east ( the way I’d come in) and then North… The weather started beautiful and the last few miles I experienced a nice rain with rolling thunder. Thoughts: We are capable of so much more than we think ourselves to be. When we learn that what we thought to be impossible is possible, it is then that we will posess all we need to be to change our world from fear to love … And we will do this by our very presence of being. Animal totems: cardinals, catbirds, frogs People: around 10, in twos and mostly on bikes Highs: the rain and breeze when the Mosquitos were at their worst. Mossy rock formations hidden in the midst of a rain forest feel.. Lows: the flat flat surface so many days in a row… My feet do better when there’s variety Weather: perfect, sunny,light sprinkles and then full sun until it rained huge drops with nice rolling thunder.

IAT Day 13 (map 69f & 70f ) Bump Road WNW to Exeter Crossing Road

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IAT Day 12 9.6 miles the wrong way

Kristen Westlake — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 13:06:00 +0000

what was supposed to be (map 70f and 69f) – Bump Road West to Exeter Road –

I temporarily skipped the last segment of the IAT that would be all paved road… Long and straight and flat. This is the Sugar River trail that the IAT utilizes and it’s pretty but again, really flat. Realization at almost 5 miles in that I went the wrong way on the trail:( uggg, so here’s an almost 10 mile trail that is NOT the IAT… Oh well…I’m waiting now for my ride (I’ve been dropped and picked up) but since I went the wrong way he’s at the trailhead in the other direction! The thing is that we drove TO the trailhead from the east and the trail went east – west.. I wrongly assumed that the trail that headed west was correct. It ended up dipping south to Broadhead and the other trail went east but then North, which I didn’t know at the time… Animals: catbird, Kingfisher, hummingbird, 2 GBHerons flying together Weather: sunny, breezy, warm Highs: Hearing and seeing my first Kingfisher of the year and laughing to see a hummingbird on a telephone wire Lows: figuring out 5 miles in that I went the wrong way on the Sugar Creek Trail part of the Ice Age… Really bloated legs from humidity and really sore feet today…felt itchy and buggy Trail Conditions: wonderful, flat

IAT Day 12 9.6 miles the wrong way – what was supposed to be (map 70f and 69f) – Bump Road West to Exeter Road

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IAT Day 11 promo prints

Kristen Westlake — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 21:57:05 +0000

Images on this page at the very low price of $20 per image as a promotion (that runs until I finish the entire hiking of the Ice Age Trail .. ??) – and the more you purchase the greater your savings. All images are printed on glossy paper and surrounded with a stunning black border.

Image Name: IAT601-1

Image Name: IAT601-2

Image Name: IAT601-3

Image Name: IAT601-4

Image Name: IAT601-5

IAT (Map 74f) Day 11 Janesville East to Janesville West 9.5 miles

Kristen Westlake — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 01:14:18 +0000

Trail Conditions: flat paved bike trail. Wooded trail at the end Weather: 80 degrees F. warm, sunny, nice breeze People: lots. Animals: robins, male cardinals, kildeer Highs: a man who stopped as I was facebooking to ask mr of I was doing the whole IAT.. I must look “official” 2. Nice breeze 3. The last 2 miles were finally in the woods and beautiful (Devils Staircase)!!! Lows: too much city for me and getting behind someones cigarette smoke… Cough!!! Thoughts: stillness

IAT Day 11 Janesville East Map 74f

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IAT (Map 75f)- Day 10 Storrs Trail Head Milton West to Janesville 13 miles

Kristen Westlake — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 17:47:04 +0000

My everytrail iphone app refused to work today so I used my once beloved Trails app instead .. I still love that app but I can’t post diary stuff along the way .. thus I am adding everything afterwards…
The trail today was gorgeous for the first two miles and I saw a lot of Great Egrets in the wooded wetland area.. they flew above me and landed in the trees as if I were not even there… I knew there must be a rookery here! .. Shortly I came to a spot where I could access the lake and sure enough, across the lake I saw lots of little white specs! .. Great egrets and maybe their little “mini me’s” … !
The rest of the trail was pretty but in town and then a long stretch in the woods between farm land .. and the last 3 miles on road, including hwy 14.. somehow though it was a really great sense of energy on the road.. I ran that last 3 miles which is where I came across the Ground Hog and his babies. ..
Trail Condition: Easy & flat. Mix of trail and road.
Animals today: groundhog with 6 or more little ones! .. Great egrets, 2 great blue herons, green heron, one turkey
Song of the day: “Life is a HIghway” .. from a car on hwy 14 .. thought it appropriate ..
Highs: 13 miles felt like nothing .. Wanted to keep going and felt so strong!
Lows: not sure if there was one!

IAT Day 10 Storrs

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IAT (Map 77f) Day 9 Bowers Lake Road (going east) to Hi-Lo Road – 16.5 miles

Kristen Westlake — Sun, 30 May 2010 02:26:56 +0000

Im really getting to break in my new Solomon trail shoes today! The first about 8 miles I did on the bike and on road, which isn’t my favorite. The farm country though and the back roads are beautiful! I still prefer hiking off road trail. The farmers field I had to get through was almost impassable (Clover Valley State Wildlife Area off County Line Road) and biking shorts would have been much better as pants! Animals today: cattle, bunny, GBHeron, geese, Mosquitos (of course), butterflies, dragonflies, sandhill crane, dog, cat People on the trail portion: 3 on the last little segment… No one else was silly enough to bushwhack that first segment… The wildness of it was pretty awesome though! Highlights: new Salomom trail running shoes and Teko ORGANIC poly ultralight 100% certified recycled polyester (thats plastic, folks) – made in USA with wind power(!) socks. Thankyou Sarah and Dave at Clearwater Outdoor in Lake Geneva, WI for sponsoring me and providing my much loved new Salomon XA Pro 3D Ultra GTX Women’s trail shoes and TekoPOLY Ultralight MiniCrew Women’s socks! www.clearwateroutdoor.com. Lowlight: I used to road bike and mountain bike tons,… But folks my butt hurt after about 2 miles on the bike bit of this route… Also, the bushwhacking was kind of fun but the thistles and prickers weren’t.

IAT Bowers Lake Road Day 9

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IAT Day 8 Promo Prints

Kristen Westlake — Fri, 28 May 2010 23:31:17 +0000

Images on this page at the very low price of $20 per image as a promotion (that runs until I finish the entire hiking of the Ice Age Trail .. ??) – and the more you purchase the greater your savings. All images are printed on glossy paper and surrounded with a stunning black border.

Image Name: IAT527-1

Image Name: IAT527-2

Image Name: IAT527-3

Image Name: IAT527-4

Image Name: IAT527-5

IAT (Map 84f) Day 8 Pike Lake Unit South through Holy Hill & Loew Lake – 16.9 miles

Kristen Westlake — Wed, 26 May 2010 00:00:39 +0000

Story: I didn’t get a huge opportunity yesterday to write the story here. In fact I had had such a dramatic morning that I entirely missed the tracking of the section from Holy Hill Road on down so I’m re tracking that now. Though I enjoy being in nature to enjoy her, .. sometimes she simply and purely offers me comfort and support, as she did yesterday. Too much to rehash but let’s just say I prayed for the answer to a question and the answer quickly unraveled itself from driving to the trailhead and all the way through the entire length of yesterdays trail. Thankyou Mother Earth for disclosing the answer… The delivery is often hard but necessary and always in a way that we will understand. Animals today: mosquitos, ground hog, cardinals, 2 red-tailed hawks, sandhill cranes, bluebird, pheasant People on trail: 2 Highlights: serenity, plain and simple. Kindness of a stranger: A runner offering me shelter at her home as it looks lime bad weather approaching. Lows: mosquitos biting even with natural repellant on

IAT Day 8 Pike Lake Unit

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IAT Day 7 map 82f Hartland thru Lapham on 81f – 14.4 miles

Kristen Westlake — Sun, 23 May 2010 00:00:09 +0000

Story: Number of people today: too many! Animal of the day: indigo bunting, Waypoint 1: Through town it’s a bit of a maze but it makes the town part fun…a little poorly marked out of the park… Waypoint 2: the sign said Boardwalk closed for repairs and I could hear pounding hammers to bails ahead. As I approached two men covered in mud were kind enough not to make me turn around. And so my trekking continues.. Waypoint 3: hits the road again and now need to find Hwy 83 following that to the next off road spot. This section isn’t the greatest so far with very little woods and lots of hwy.WP 4: happy to get away from that highway! Had to walk on hwy 83 and not safe or fun. To top it off after all this crazy pavement there was lo and behold a Starbucks up ahead but would have cost me more wear and tear on my feet with the undesireable asphalt. I was so ready to get off that section! WP 7: used my Shazam Iphone app to tag the song Fascination – love that song from college days so it was nice to hear it blasting! As long as I’ve got to be on roads I may as well have good music! Thanks to whomever was playing it! Lowpoints: too much pavement! Too much traffic, people that don’t say hello when I said hi. Weirdness! Highlights: getting back to do Lapham section. Prairie and a nice breeze on a warm and beautiful day! 2. Taking off my shoes to walk on the trail and really feel Mother Earth.

ice Age Day 7 map 82f Hartland thru Lapham on 81f

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IAT (Map 83f & part of 82) Day 6 Emerald Drive Trailhead South through Monches to Hwy K – 12.4 miles

Kristen Westlake — Thu, 20 May 2010 18:31:26 +0000

Story: Animals today: crickets, red-tailed hawk, mallards overhead, tiny toads Number of other people on the trail: 4 Highlights: the coolest river crossing at Waypoint 3. Toads! Dairy Queen Chocolate dipped cone that was made EXTRA EXTRA LARGE just as I asked… So it’s not on the menu but ask and receive! … Lowlights: tent worms – YUCK, they freak me out! . Also the last four miles being ALL on pavement alongside a busy highway. Feet after 8 miles are pretty tired and the pavement wasn’t fun. I’m done now and beat! Sign of the Day: graffiti on a bridge that said “BE YOU”… how cool! I said,”ok!” It’s another gorgeous day as I sit on a bench listening to the water in the creek. I’m fortunate to not have any battles yet with bugs of the tick or mosquito sort… But the tent worms totally freak me out just to look at! Yuck Waypoint 1: Rats, there was a spot that came out to the road and in .2 miles was to go back into trail from Emerald Road. I missed it and now back on the road for another .4 miles. Keeping my eyes peeled as I love trail more than pavement, thought his road is gorgeous! Waypoint 2: I’m walking through the forest and suddenly hear scurrying that sounds like a chipmunk chasing me. Finally I see lots of amazing little crickets jumping from plant to plant and leaf to leaf. Waypoint 5; the most tortuous stretch of ROAD pavement I’ve experienced so fR on the IAT. No idea how long yet but it’s brutal as the last part of the segment. Feet are killing me on pavement.

ice Age Day 6 start Emerald Drive Trailhead

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