Starting point—Manitowoc
Ending point—Manitowoc
Distance—1.6 miles
Cumulative Distance—113.8 miles
Well, we've already racked up more hiking days (albeit not mileage) on the Ice Age Trail in 2016 than 2015. With an absolutely gorgeous day, temperature reaching 60 degrees, we headed back to Manitowoc for a bit more trail time.
When we were packing for the adventure, we discussed whether we should take strollers or backpack carriers. Dave's response was that it would be all roads or paved trail. (He later amended this to say he meant hard packed gravel trail.)
Well, we had perhaps a quarter mile or so of paved surface. Then we encountered some hard packed gravel. Then some ice. (AJ thought it was funny to have ice on the Ice Age Trail. We saw less humor in pushing strollers up a hill covered in ice.)
Then we got into the fun stuff with big steps, steep hills and the ultimate steep muddy hill. Let's just say it was a bit adventurous with strollers, and that made it a really fun hike. (In hindsight, backpack carriers would have been simpler and left a lot less mud on the car ride home.)
We ended the hike a bit sooner than planned, so the boys could enjoy some quality time in a really neat park. Dave watched them while Kerry took the less muddy roads back to retrieve the car.
Although we might not have covered a lot of ground, it was well worth the drive for all the fun we had.
Starting point—Two Rivers
Ending point—Two Rivers
Distance—2.2 miles
Cumulative Distance—112.2 miles
With temperatures in the mid-40s, it was the perfect day to catch the section of Ice Age Trail through Woodland Dunes that we had to skip last time. (This portion of the trail was closed due to hunting season, so it was the first time we had to go out of order by skipping it.) It was a sunny day and absolutely gorgeous for a February hike.
In hindsight, our ice grippers would have been helpful for this hike because there was more ice than we expected (which was really none). We did a bit of slipping and sliding but no falls, so it worked out fine.
The trail went through the woods, across a dune that looked like a meadow and then wove back through woods until we got to the hospital, which is where we had started our last hike. We saw a woodpecker and plenty of fake owls used to mark some of the other trails.
AJ enjoyed crossing the bridges and had fun narrating the hike. He got a chance to see how hard we were working when he hiked across the meadow on the way back. "Oh, this is slippery!"
Aside from Teddy being crabby the first half of the hike, it was a great way to spend time together enjoying the unseasonably warm winter day!
