Southern Wisconsin Trek 2017 Recap

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Odigan
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Southern Wisconsin Trek 2017 Recap

Post by Odigan »

For a few years now there's been discussion of holding a trek here in Southern Wisconsin with myself as host, and just this week, after juggling all of our respective hectic schedules, I was joined by Greg and Udwin for a couple nights travel along the Ice Age Trail. The trail in it's entirety is presently about 600 miles in length, but we confined ourselves to the segment within the Southern Unit of Kettle Moraine State Forest. I had scouted this location a couple of times, hiking in to the shelters and surveying the terrain, and while I felt it met our needs I didn't think it ideal at the time. The park is a narrow strip criss-crossed by roads, and I had concerns about road noise and excess vehicular and foot traffic. Happily, none of these were a concern, and perhaps owing to being there during the week, we encountered only a handful of people and were easily immersed in what was for the most part quiet isolation. One of the primary reasons for choosing this location was the presence of trail shelters and overnight camping, both of which are very difficult to find in this part of the state. The shelters remain in good condition for 40+ year old structures and are very comfortable and well sited.
The four of us.
The four of us.
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Water, food, and forage.
Water, food, and forage.
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We covered ~23 miles in total, with 9 miles on the first day and 14 on the second, plus brief walks in and out of trailheads, etc. The surfacing of the trails was for the most part quite pleasant, with lots of sandy loam, and the meandering paths regularly provided lovely views through a variety of forests, prairie, and oak savannah. The multitude of mulberry trees were at their peak of ripeness and provided a welcome and regular snack along the way. Water features ranged from sizeable lakes to ponds and small streams (which were were thankful for!). My total loadout came to just around 8 kg/18 lbs, not including water, which if I filled to capacity added an additional 2.5 kg/5.5 lbs.
We rested here briefly to cool off.
We rested here briefly to cool off.
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This reminds me of the album cover to The Joshua Tree by U2.
This reminds me of the album cover to The Joshua Tree by U2.
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Ursus
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Re: Southern Wisconsin Trek 2017 Recap

Post by Ursus »

Jealous! Glad you guys had a chance to get together. What did y'all take for your foodstuffs? Anybody get footsore? Any tick problems? I did an overnight a few weeks back and was surprised to only have to brush one or two off my shirt. Good stuff!
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Taurinor
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Re: Southern Wisconsin Trek 2017 Recap

Post by Taurinor »

Ooo, that looks wonderful! Pictures like this always get me excited to get back out again, but the heat and humidity are miserable in Virginia right now. How was the weather for y'all? Any chance of getting detailed kit breakdowns? Everyone's gear looks great!
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Greg
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Re: Southern Wisconsin Trek 2017 Recap

Post by Greg »

Taurinor, I haven't unpacked my gear yet, so I may take a few photos as I roll it out.

It isn't an active hunting season, so we left bows and large(er) blades at home.

I'll let Odigan and Udwin describe theirs, but I took oats for breakfast as a hot cereal, walnuts, cheese, and apples for walking, and made stew each night with salt pork, potatoes, and flour (dumplings). Odigan made several round loaves of bread which were distributed amongst us at the start and lasted through to the end.

More will come out as we reminisce.
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Taurinor
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Re: Southern Wisconsin Trek 2017 Recap

Post by Taurinor »

Greg wrote:Taurinor, I haven't unpacked my gear yet, so I may take a few photos as I roll it out.
I'll never turn down pictures, but I was just hoping for a list!
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Odigan
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Re: Southern Wisconsin Trek 2017 Recap

Post by Odigan »

Weather was typical for this time of year, ~80 during the day, 60 at night, humidity a little high around 75%, as thunderstorms threatened on and off but we only had one hit - though it hit hard. I have some video of that, not sure the best way to post it here. I don't think anyone had foot issues, and I was was in turnsoles while Udwin was *barefoot*! Surprisingly there were very few ticks and I had none myself, but gnats and mosquitoes made up for it. For the most part during the day we were unmolested but on the first night in particular we were harassed by a volume of mosquitoes difficult to convey here.

For food I do have an image I took just before leaving showing my dry goods, which consisted of millet, toasted buckwheat (kasha), rice, sunflower seeds, salt, and brick tea. Also brought but not shown was some dried fruit and the aforementioned bread.
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Elleth
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Re: Southern Wisconsin Trek 2017 Recap

Post by Elleth »

Oh that looks like a grand time!!

I see a reference to foraging and something green and fresh in the cookpots: might I ask what those leaves are?
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Greg
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Re: Southern Wisconsin Trek 2017 Recap

Post by Greg »

The leafy greens were a fascinating wild variant of spinach I've not been made familiar with previously. Udwin and Odigan could tell you more...definitely not something we have out west.

Odigan...howzabout that "pinterest" (chuckle) photo in answer?
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Re: Southern Wisconsin Trek 2017 Recap

Post by Odigan »

Elleth wrote:I see a reference to foraging and something green and fresh in the cookpots: might I ask what those leaves are?
Goosefoot, aka Lamb's Quarters.
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Re: Southern Wisconsin Trek 2017 Recap

Post by Straelbora »

Odigan wrote:
Elleth wrote:I see a reference to foraging and something green and fresh in the cookpots: might I ask what those leaves are?
Goosefoot, aka Lamb's Quarters.
How bitter is it? I am extra-sensitive to bitter-tasting foods.

Have you ever tried feral (I won't call it 'wild' because it was introduced by Europeans) purslane? It figures into a lot of Turkish recipes.
Vápnum sínum skala maðr velli á
feti ganga framar því at óvist er at vita
nær verðr á vegum úti geirs um þörf guma
Hávamál
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Re: Southern Wisconsin Trek 2017 Recap

Post by Udwin »

A good time was had by all, bugs be damned. Truly an honour to travel with such fine fellows.

My foodbag contents as usual:
-dried venison and ham;
-dried fruit (apple slices, raisins, cherries, strawberries);
-15-20 cram biscuits
-block of Greg's Dublin(?) cheese--very oily but very tasty on toasted bread!
-one of Odigan's small loaves, rationed 1/2 per day.
-a pound of spelt:acorn flour, which I would normally use for dumplings but did not, in light of the above bread.
-dried veggies for soup base (carrots, celery, onion) and a little bit of pocket soup.
-small sheet of fruit leather in my belt pouch.

While a certain amount of fatigue is to be expected due to the non-modern-ergonomic nature of period packs (weight distributed to hips? Pssshhh!), in light of this trip it is impressed on me of the importance of keeping one's kit pared to the bare essentials. During and after a trip I make mental notes of what I carried but Did Not Use, and these get tossed. Or, if you are traveling in a Company, preplanning can allow you to distribute weight throughout the group. My sewing kit is fairly robust (I use it for my everyday sewing), so it could cover the needs of the whole group; similarly, if everyone agrees on a menu, only one cooking vessel is needed for all. One person can carry some of the ingredients, another the other ingredients, and one carries the cookpot.
That said, a washcloth and bar of lye soap are probably better (and certainly more weight-appropriate) luxuries than a mostly-blank book of poetry.

I don't find Chenopodium album bitter at all, although what I gathered were fairly small and hadn't started getting very woody yet. Purslane is nice raw in salads, the succulent leaves give a bit of chewy texture, and the seeds remind me of poppyseeds. Haven't had it cooked yet.
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Greg
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Re: Southern Wisconsin Trek 2017 Recap

Post by Greg »

While I've still got my head in it a bit (and my unwashed tunic behind me on a hanger still smelling of wood smoke...), here are a few things that stick out as learning-experience take-aways:



If there's a storm scheduled to (eventually) arrive, don't neglect to stow some dry wood within your shelter for the night, whether that's a tarp you're sleeping under a full-fledged permanent outpost. Otherwise, breakfast gets difficult.

Stiff-but-sandy ground can be surprisingly comfortable if you dig an appropriate depression for your butt and shoulder blades. Full snapsacks make decent neck-support pillows. Empty ones don't. Apples are uncomfortable.

Don't add your evening/nighttime layers until after you've eaten your cooked supper. If you made a stew or similar dish, as is most common on these adventures, the hot broth can warm you up significantly and actually caused me to sweat onto my just-air-dried linen base layer because of the freshly added layer of wool. Only made that error once, but I made it right before bed.

Keep your ears open. At one point, while we were a bit short on water (and several miles from the next known potable source), we nearly passed by the clearest, coldest, aquifer-filtered water we would encounter the entire trip, and we would have missed it altogether if we hadn't suddenly realized what that quiet babbling ten yards off the trail meant.

Watch the dog. He knows where he's going, even in the dark.

Spare pants would've been great. Linen thorsbjergs roll up super-small...add it to the project list.

Straps suck. Tumpline teasing aside (you had to be there...), straps really just suck. I have bounced some ideas around in my head, and believe that I will be redesigning how I carry my sleeping/dry goods bulk a bit, reverting back partially to a setup I've used in the past which may once again provide the solution, in a new way. My current bedroll setup functions fine in general, but it showed some weaknesses after 23 miles. There will be soreness no matter how you carry things after distances like these (especially on day one when there are five apples in your snapsack because you were in a hurry to pack...), but choosing to not mitigate that soreness after the experience would be foolish.
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Elleth
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Re: Southern Wisconsin Trek 2017 Recap

Post by Elleth »

Wow! Wonderful lists and hints you guys! Thank you all so much! :)
yMy current bedroll setup functions fine in general, but it showed some weaknesses after 23 miles.
I've worried/wondered about that. My old colonial-era bedroll could be moved around quite a bit as the miles wore on and one part of me or another got sore: fantastic as it is for shorter jaunts, the bedroll/snapsack and quiver arrangement is much more static. :( I recall at one point you did a "travelling dress" vs "patrolling dress" post: I suppose the same approach might be in order here?

As an aside, I just ran across my brother's old duffel bag after it had been in storage for years. I saw that he had heavily padded the handles with spare socks, presumably on one of his crazy adventures. It's got me thinking about similar "field modifications" for my own quiver strap. Scrap of fleece here, scrap of wool there.... ponder ponder ponder.
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Greg
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Re: Southern Wisconsin Trek 2017 Recap

Post by Greg »

Udwin has needle-felted wool shoulder strap pads on his rucksack, fyi.

On this trip, I didn't have the quiver with me, and was able to move the roll around a fair bit, including switching sides, etc. That certainly does work...but I still have a new idea.
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Re: Southern Wisconsin Trek 2017 Recap

Post by Harper »

Maybe a piece of shearling for the straps? The leather would prevent curling and digging into the shoulder. You might be able to re-purpose an old hat or coat collar.
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