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!
Starting point—Two Rivers
Ending point—Manitowoc
Distance—5.9 miles
Cumulative Distance—110 miles
Well, it took more than a year for us to get on the Ice Age Trail again, but we made it at least once in 2015. We took advantage of a sitter for our two boys and the relatively nice December weather and headed to the trail with the intention of knocking off about 5 miles.
We were waylaid from the start because the Woodland Dunes Nature Center and Preserve was closed for deer hunting season, and that's right where our hike should have started. Dave was frustrated that this is the first time we couldn't follow the trail in order because we had to skip the section to comply with the closure.
We caught the trail right outside the Preserve and still hiked about the same distance we had hoped. For December, it was a pretty nice day in the low 40s with plenty of sunshine. It was windy by Lake Michigan but much nicer a bit inland.
We enjoyed our time outside and the tour of Manitowoc as we weaved our way around new streets and familiar spots to David, who worked in Manitowoc for 8 years.
It was also really nice to have a friend come pick us up to shuttle us back to our car, so we didn't have to do a loop or shuttle multiple vehicles.
Here's to hoping for more Ice Age Trail hiking in 2016!
