Feeling the need to get out and get away on a fall Saturday, we were attracted to the Fall Family Fun Drive at Old World Wisconsin, a State of Wisconsin Historic Site. OWW is one of Wisconsin’s historic gems, historic homes and farms from the first generation European immigrants collected from around the state, then restored and preserved at this one location in southeastern Wisconsin. We’ve been there several times, one of my favorite memories is a base ball game we attended a decade or so ago, played according to 19th century rules and conventions (when they spelled it with two words).

Usually when we’ve visited OWW we do a lot of walking, or at least catch the tram that travels between sites. But OWW’s Fall Family Fun Drive allowed us to drive the gravel road between the settlements and keep our distance from the other folks.

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Chasing the last hour of summer on the Badger Trail and the Sugar River Trail to start Trail Tuesday.

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A simple goal at the beginning of May to walk the Ice Age Trail segments in Dane County has been accomplished. The Lodi Marsh sits at the northern end of the county.

The final segment of the trail begins across the road from the other Lodi Marsh segment.

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Nearing the northern edge of Dane County, the Ice Age Trail passes the Lodi Marsh.

It’s a busy day at the Robertson Trailhead.

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Ever since they widened Highway 12 from Middleton to Sauk City I’ve been intrigued by two features of the new road. One is the pedestrian bridge at the top of Springfield Hill and the other is the bike trail along the road that ends abruptly, halfway up the hill.

I always figured I would check out the bike trail at some point, but it had one major drawback: no shade. But then when I found out there was a Springfield Hill segment of the Ice Age Trail, I knew the time had come.

Fortunately, it was a cloudy morning, so the lack of shade wasn’t an issue.

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Indian Lake County Park is the next segment of the Ice Age Trail in northwestern Dane County.

You take a bus marked “Lakewood Drive”
And you keep on drivin’ till you’re out of the city
Where the air is fine with the sweet smellin pine
And the countryside’s pretty
Indian Lake is a scene
You should make with your little one!

An old song by the Cowsills comes to mind when visiting this park.

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Another new section of the Ice Age Trail in northwestern Dane County is at the recently restored Liebtrau Prairie, just north of Cross Plains.

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It turns out I had to backtrack on the Ice Age Trail because I missed a brand new part of the trail that was not on the information I was sent. I stumbled across a newspaper article about the section during a Google search. This part of the trail is at the end of Old Sauk Road.

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I spent a good part of my childhood roaming the Mississippi River bluffs around Prairie du Chien. Table Bluff, on the Ice Age Trail and just off highway 14 west of Cross Plains, is much smaller but still a good hike. (more…)