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Rebuilding the walkway on Lake LaGrange

Photo at left: An Ice Age Trail volunteer Gary Klatt measures the area on Lake LaGrange where the Kangaroo Walk has been submerged for several year. Click for recent photos from the the Ice Age Trail.

During this week's walk, Gary Klatt investigated the Kangaroo Walk, a wooden walkway across the south end of Lake LaGrange that has been under water for a couple years.

Our local Ice Age Trail Alliance Chapter is considering a plan for rebuilding the walkway above water level so that this beautiful part of the trail can be reclaimed.

There were tracks left by a blue heron in the fresh layer of snow next to the walkway. Herons usually migrate south for the winter, but with the large area of open water to fish, they apparently have decided to stay this year.

Also, many muskrat houses were sprinkled about the marshy area near the spring hole.

We came back to the Highway12 Ice Age Trail parking lot in time for my hike and found a larger-than-normal group forming by the kiosk.

It turned out that my walkers had a small birthday party planned for me.

After wishing me a happy birthday we went to the Muir trails and walked the short one and a half mile red trail to get warmed up, and then retreated to the Nordic shelter on the other side of County Highway H where cake and coffee were waiting. What a nice treat!

Thank you to all who organized and participated in this special surprise event. The walkers included JoAnn Severson who was walking with us for the first time.

The next day, 19 of us split into two groups, with Meg McCormick and Ellen Davis leading a contingency of five around beautiful Lake LaGrange on the shorter walk.

They took the Ice Age Trail without the detour, so they walked on the ice over Kangaroo Walk where Gary and I had been the day before. They also saw the heron tracks and muskrat houses on their two and seven tenths mile walk.

The rest of us drove to the John Muir bicycling and hiking trails to hike the five mile Rainy Dew trail. This is a very pretty trail through a variety of terrain and associated scenery. We noticed many broken limbs due to earlier heavy snows and fresh tracks were evidence that deer and either fox or coyote had been there.

Happy trekking, Russ

Activities

Feb. 6, 8:30 a.m., Special Volunteer Workday at Kishwauketoe Nature Conservancy followed by the Williams Bay Civic League Chili Cookoff at 12 noon: See more info at HERE

Feb. 12-14, Madison Garden Expo: Help staff a table to share our handouts, calendar, maps, etc. Contact Gary Klatt (262) 473-4973.

Feb 16, 7 p.m., Walworth/Jefferson County Chapter, IATA Meeting at the US Bank, Elkhorn. Contact Liz DeBraal (262) 723-2625.

Weekly Walks

We meet at 4 p.m. Tuesdays and 10:30 a.m. Wednesdays at the Highway 12 Ice Age National Scenic Trail crossing located about four miles east of Whitewater.

We include two or more walks of different distances on Wednesdays, and also do this on Tuesdays when desired.

All ages are welcome.

Note that a state park pass is required to park a car at the Highway 12 meeting place.

A daily or yearly pass may be purchased at the meeting place provided correct change is available.