Tim and Janet On the Trail - Granite Path

We are going to begin posting here again, and the topics will relate to the many aspects of MS and how they relate to our daily lives. So here is an entry that is not about MS, but MS plays a role.

For Christmas this year, Tim’s daughter gave us a Wisconsin state park sticker. This pass attaches to the windshield of the car and allow the vehicle admission into any Wisconsin state park for the calendar year. We thought we had better use it, so we decided to visit as many state parks as we can this year and hike on the trails. Periodically I will post an entry here about one of these state park excursions, called Tim and Janet On the Trail.

Our first state park excursion was to Governor Tommy G. Thompson State Park in northeastern Wisconsin. This park is located about a half hour west of Crivitz, in river country. We started out in the morning, our car equipped with fishing poles, walking sticks, jackets, bug spray, and a cooler. We stopped to buy gas, a picnic lunch, and bait. Of course, since we are rummage sale addicts, we also stopped at a rummage sale, and then a flea market, and then another rummage sale. So much for our goal of getting an early start. By the time we got to the park, it was lunch time.

We ate our lunch by the side of this little lake, which is surrounded by forest.

 There are no motors allowed on this lake, and the wind was roughing up the water on this day, so there were no boats. In fact the wind was so strong that we had to hang on to our garbage pretty tightly so that we wouldn’t be accused of littering.

We finished our lunch, pulled out our walking sticks, and started our hike by walking in circles. From our parking lot, we could not tell where the trails started! We wanted to hike the Granite Path, so we asked a nearby maintenance worker where it began. He promptly replied that he didn’t know, since he had only been working in the park a few weeks. He did point us in the direction of the trail head, where all the trails started.

We hiked down the trail and up this hill along the power line clearing.

When we got to the top of the hill, we read the trail marker and realized we had hiked the wrong way! This was the Forest View Trail, which is 3.5 miles long. Nope! Not the one we wanted! We hiked another trail that crossed through the woods to the trail we wanted.

Once on the Granite Path, we hiked past several very large granite rock formations.

 When you see these rocks, the first thing you want to do is climb on them, so one formation offers a trail to the top, shown here.

 Judging from the stacked rocks and burned areas, this rock has been quite the party spot in the past.

We also hiked through a very pretty popple forest.

 This little offshoot trail led to Popple Rock, which was the largest rock formation we encountered.

 Popple Rock sits on the edge of the park and extends past the park boundary.

Tim uses walking sticks to keep his balance when hiking, and even though this trail was fairly easy hiking, the sticks came in handy on the down slopes. Tim uses the sticks for support when hiking down hill so that his knees do not give out. Good thing, since I would not want to pick him up!

We saw many varieties of wild flowers, insects, and birds on our walk.

Butterflies and moths flitted around the wild strawberries and columbine, while paintbrush danced along the edge of the trail.

We did not see any animals, but did spot some deer tracks, a few very tiny, meaning that a doe and her fawn had passed through.

This wildlife also came through the park. I think he was taking refuge.

This was a fairly easy and enjoyable hike. Unfortunately, we forgot the sunscreen at home. Tim is now calling me lobster girl!