Snow!

Snow event #1! this was my view as I woke up this morning.

4 weeks to go

As of today, I have 400 miles left of the Ice Age Trail.

I also have 4 weeks left until my imaginary deadline of Halloween.

Perfect.

Bets are now being taken as to when I will first see snow AND how many different snow events I will encounter in the next 4 weeks.

"It stands to reason we're not likely to get very far on a journey to the North, not at this time of the year, with the winter coming on soon and all. And an early winter too, by the look of things. But you mustn't let that make you down-hearted. Very likely, what with enemies, and mountains, and rivers to cross, and losing our way, and next to nothing to eat, and sore feet, we'll hardly notice the weather."
-Puddleglum, The Silver Chair

Zero

This is what my room looks like after I packed up half my stuff. You should have seen before. Packsplosion 2014.

I woke up and spent several minutes packing before I realized that my intestinal distress that has been plaguing me for a few days has yet to go away. I feel great - except food is not my friend right now. I won't go into details (you're welcome) but I decided that I need a zero day to let this run its course. I could maybe deal with my, err, symptoms in the woods but on a roadwalk that is, uhh, awkward. I can at least keep food down. Yay.

The plus side: this sets me up to hike Kettlebowl Segment with a group hike on Saturday which would be so much fun. I hope it works out. (And Nimblewill Nomad might be around!!!)

More plus side: I needed to kill time anyway between here and Grandfather Falls. This is the best possible spot and time to have intestinal distress. I mean, I would gladly have a normal system right now, but if I had to deal with this... Now's good.

An old picture

Throwback Thursday? I forgot to post this aaages ago. This is the pond John Muir spent some years living near. The IAT does a loop around it. It was a little too cold to soak my feet but I tried! I think it's really cool how the IAT is able to tie in cultural history in addition to its geologic focus.

Connecting route

One thing I love about the IAT is that hikers can choose their own adventures on connecting routes. Today I am detouring into Antigo and am so enjoying the backcountry roads I am taking to get there. It stopped raining and is a perfect overcast fall day. I love October!

Langlade!

It boggles my mind that I am on map 39 (started on 105) and that I have reached Langlade County. Wasn't I in Hartland about a week ago? It has gone so fast.

Today is a rest day - a short jaunt into town. It is raining and I am seeing if it stops in the next hour. Last night was in the 40s but I was cozy in my sleeping bag.

Tomorrow might be a rest day too - I am killing time hoping to meet some friends at Grandfather Falls to hike Turtle Rock and Averill-Kelly with me, but in order for that to work I gotta slow down. This is a good time of the trip to slow down. Once I get closer to home I will start moving faster no matter what. My average per day that I need to hike is down to 13.8, so if I take a few short days I can easily make that up.

Looking forward to Langlade County!