Ice Age Trail - Memorial day weekend

[IceAge]

Anyone else going out on the IAT around then?

I called to book a couple of the shelters for that weekend in the Kettle Moraine North and they really need to change that system.

The way it stands now, the shelters I booked will show up as full, even though they hold 10 people and I only need it for my wife and me. I was not able to book all the shelters I wanted so I will just assume there is room in the others. We'll bring a tent for insurance.

This will be my wife's first backpacking adventure in a long time, so I hope she enjoys it.

[mkmangold]

I'm not sure how I missed this post. Will you be out this Friday and Saturday?
Which shelters did you book?

[Lilred]

This trail interests me very much. Would love to read a trip report.

[big_muddy]

Technically, those who booked the shelters in Kettle Moraine North have exclusive use of them for the evening they book them, it is just like a campsite at an established campground. You reserve the site, pay the $24, and you get to use it. Unlike the AT you do not have to share the shelters. Also, there is some discussion as to whether or not you are allowed to tent at the shelter sites. Some say you can, but I have also heard you are suppose to stay in the shelters. I'm sure if you showed up most people are good natured enough to share, but it is not a guarantee.

[IceAge]

Cool, I thought this thread was DEAD!

We're going to be out on the trail on Sat & Sun, hiking SOBO from Glenbeulah. We have Shelter #4 on Saturday night, and I'm not going to claim exclusive rights to it, so if any other WBers are in the area, stop on in.

We're taking it easy on Sat., hiking the 11 or so miles to the shelter, then finishing the segment Sun. at Hwy H

I hear ya, big muddy. From what I understand, people should not be tenting at the shelters, but I have not checked with anyone officially on that. I still think they should split the shelter reservations, it's ridiculous for the two of us to occupy an entire 10 person shelter.

[IceAge]

Oh yeah, I should note that because of the goofy shelter situation we changed our plans and are only planning to spend one night on the trail, so we won't be trying to horn in on anyone else's shelter

[mkmangold]

Cool, I thought this thread was DEAD!

We're going to be out on the trail on Sat & Sun, hiking SOBO from Glenbeulah. We have Shelter #4 on Saturday night, and I'm not going to claim exclusive rights to it, so if any other WBers are in the area, stop on in.

We're taking it easy on Sat., hiking the 11 or so miles to the shelter, then finishing the segment Sun. at Hwy H

I hear ya, big muddy. From what I understand, people should not be tenting at the shelters, but I have not checked with anyone officially on that. I still think they should split the shelter reservations, it's ridiculous for the two of us to occupy an entire 10 person shelter.

Tentativelyl, Ben and I will be headed NOBO Saturday and catch up with you at shelter 4 late afternoon/early evening. I'll split the cost with you, too.
An advantage of the shelter system is that we don't have to carry tents for one day hikes but there are the disadvantages you talk about. We can discuss them Saturday!

[big_muddy]

Watch out for 'sketters the size of 747s . . . I was up at shelter #6 two weeks ago and got bit up as I slept, thought it was still to early so I didn't have a head net.

[IceAge]

Thanks for the tip on skeeters, I'll bring the bug net!

Excellent news, mkman! Don't worry about chipping in on the shelter, see you on the trail!

[mkmangold]

This trail interests me very much. Would love to read a trip report.

For what an overnight trip report is worth LilRed: last night was our third time in the same shelter along the Ice Age Trail in the Northern Unit of the Kettle Moraine. Despite that, finding the trailhead again was difficult.
The hike to the shelter is easy to moderate but strewn with horse apples. Mosquitos only became a problem when stopping for a drink or rest.
I like the shelters. I never ran across one in our little jaunts on the AT so I have nothing to compare them to. The shelters are three-sided with the open end facing away from the prevailing winds. There are benches along the walls which we slept on. This particular shelter had a concrete floor but the one we stayed in in February had stones. There is a fire pit which we used. I also discovered that my WoodGas stove is just too heavy to carry on short trips. On longer trips, the advantage of not carrying fuel outweighs the weight issue.
Again, thanks to Ice Age for getting the shelter for everyone. Ben and I had a great time.

[IceAge]

Trip report:
We parked my wife's car at the Hwy H parking lot (south end of the State Forest) on Saturday morning, then met up with our friends who drove us to the north end of the trail and dropped us off.
Miles 1-4 were a lot of low rocky hills. I named a particular ridge "Potato Rock Hill" because it seemed the entire hillside and trail was made up up potato-sized rocks, very difficult to traverse downhill without slipping, uphill would probably be worse. About 3 miles into the hike you meet up with State HWy 23 and the trail follows alongside it for around a half-mile on a paved rails-to-trails corridor. The weather was perfect, low 70s and just breezy enough to keep the mosquitoes away.
We decided to stop for lunch at Greenbush Group Camp, about 6 miles into the hike. I set up the kitchen next to the water area at the campground and I cooked up a freezer-bag lunch concoction of dehydrated gound beef, minestrone soup mix, and instant brown rice. It was good, but a little soupy. My Chinese knock-off Pocket Rocket worked perfectly.
Back on the trail, between miles 7 and 8, we heard a giant dead elm creaking ominously just after we passed. I jokingly said to my wife "What did you do to piss off that tree?", the words were barely out of my mouth when a branch about a foot in diameter crashed down on the trail about 40 feet from where we were standing. That made our mouths open just a bit! Lots of beautiful spots along the trail here, you walk in and out of tremendous meadows, into stands of towering pines, then back under the deciduous canopy among winding glacial land formations. Miles 6-11 were probably my favorite part of the trail.
Mile 11 marked our stopping point for the night, at Backpacking Shelter #4. A nice couple from Green Bay by way of Connecticut were already there, tending a small fire in the provided fire pit. Gus and Barb were getting some experience and testing out gear for an attempt at the AT next year, they were very nice and I wish them good luck! We set up our tent behind the shelter and had dinner. We rested for a bit and a short while later Mkman and his son Ben arrived. We chatted pleasantly about gear and other nonsense. My wife and I hiked down to the water source to resupply. It's a little under a mile just to walk down to the parking lot to get water. On the way back we ran into a couple of guys that looked out of place and confused. We gave them directions to the parking lot, and they seemed relieved. After discussing them with the rest of the group at the shelte, we think they set out from the Greenbush Camp thinking they were on a loop trail, I hope they made it back OK.
Mkman noted the horse crap on the trail, there was a group of four people on horseback that rode by the shelter not long after we got there. I held my tongue but I really wanted to lash into them, there is a perfectly good bridle trail that runs next to the IAT, it ticks me off to see ******** and their horses ****ting on and tearing up the hiking trail. I don't believe I'll keep quiet in the future.
Next morning we broke camp, and one of the poles snapped up and hit my wife in the mouth, chipping a couple of teeth! Then we realized we left the keys for my wife's car at our friends' house the day before, so we were hiking to a car we didn't have the keys to! Embarrassing but true. Mosquitoes were really bad on the trail today with no breeze to subdue them. We walked until we found a road where we could get cell phone reception, about 5 miles down the trail, and called our wonderful friend Kelly to please bring us the car keys. We walked another mile or so to the intersection with the county hwy and waited. When Kelly showed up my wife announced that she was done with the hike, the chipped teeth, mosquitoes and key situation had put her in a grumpy mood. I talked about continuing on, but between repacking all the gear so that I could go it alone and learning of the threat of tornadoes later in the day, I decided to call it quits myself.