Pandemic Possibility

Anyone who knows my family is well aware of our affinity for time in nature. Chances are you'll find us exploring one of our favorite spots or discovering a new location outside. Luckily for us, the Ice Age Trail gives us both options. While we can trek familiar trail, we also have hundreds and hundreds of miles yet to enjoy.

However, our experiences with the trail shifted when pandemic life took over in March. We temporarily halted the Tyke Hike program we coordinate for our local chapter. As we adjusted to the new expectations of social distancing, we wondered way hiking would like. As stay at home orders went into effect and parks closed, we worried we wouldn't be able to engage in one of our favorite activities.

Luckily, while many things around our community closed, the Ice Age Trail remained open. With extra safety precautions, we took advantage of our adjusted work and school schedules and took to the trail. While the world around us was evolving and seemingly flipped upside down, the trail remained a constant. A constant source of fun. A constant sources of physical exercise. A constant source of family.

Pandemic Family Hike - Loew Lake Segment

 

From March to May, while we navigated the new expectations of our world, we made sure to keep the Ice Age Trail and other natural areas close. For our own mental and physical sanity, we felt it crucial to spend time outdoors. Then June came. We had heard that an ultrarunner would be working to create a new FKT (Fastest Known Time) of traveling the entire 1,100+ mile path of the Ice Age Trail. 

Maybe it was the lack of professional sports. Maybe it was our envy of such stunning endurance and physical ability. Maybe it was jealousy of being able to travel the state. Maybe it was a combination. Either way, we were excited to follow Coree Woltering's journey. Our excitement jumped up a notch when by random chance, we met Coree and his team in the Devil's Lake State Park parking lot while he prepared to climb the bluffs and we were about to venture on another family hike. As his journey brought him closer to our home segments, that anticipation jumped another notch. My wife and I provided each other with regular updates. My kids chimed in, wanting to know where Mr. Coree was. 

We even decided to bring the team brats and donuts as they ventured into the parts of the trail we called home. My wife, Jillian, took it even one step further. In following Coree's journey, we saw that he was looking for someone to trek with him as he pulled an all nighter. With his team being in our home segment and my wife being a third shifter, the stars aligned. She was able to join him for the Scuppernong Segment. The next night was my turn. We communicated with this team throughout the day and I offered to run through the night with Coree should he choose to pull another long night. Selfishly, I felt bummed when I didn't get that opportunity, but after some grueling days, Coree and his team took a well-deserved break. With three kids in tow, it just didn't work out this time. I look forward to helping out in some way in the future.

Jillian and Coree at Scuppernong Segment

Coree achieved the FKT and I think he would be the first to say he didn't do it alone. His amazing tram helped out tremendously. However, in post-FKT conversations and interviews, a pattern emerged. Coree and his team acknowledged the Ice Age Trail community as being helpful, generous, and encouraging. 

I couldn't agree more. Now for six years, I've volunteered for the trail logging over 1,000 hours. Yet, my contributions seems miniscule to what I have noticed around me. The Ice Age Trail community of volunteers is a uniting force that works extremely well together. So many selfless individuals donate time, talent, and treasure to help the trail move closer and closer to the end goal of completion. Hearing Coree and his team reiterate the amazing collaborative power of the trail community solidified my love for the trail and inspired me to push my volunteer spirit even further.

John Muir Segment

But if this experience lit a spark for me, it created a wildfire for my wife. Since the pandemic, she has dug deeper into the trail than ever before. Like many chapters, our chapter has a hiking reward program for completing all the miles of the trail with in the chapter. That was her first goal. It was fun to see her scour the guidebook to plan out her next hike. It was also wonderful to see her bring in a handful of friends on the trail. She hiked each segment with one friend at a time, alternating friends and segments, and officially completing the Walk the Wauk program in quick fashion. While walking the 45 miles is impressive enough, seeing how she inspired her peers to get outside (and some even joined the chapter) is inspiring. 

But she didn't stop there. On our regular trips to the Lake Delton area, she planned out a four day adventure that included four new segments explored and four new segments completed. I joke with others that ask if I am a 1,000 miler (the term given to someone who has completed the entire trail). Rather than hike the entire trail, I jest that I have hiked the same one-mile stretch a thousand times.  Seriously though, with children offers challenges not faced when with adults in on your own. Luckily, finding a few wild blackberries or seeing an awesome bird helps motivate the kids. Stopping in a trail town for ice cream certainly doesn't hurt either.

Baraboo Segment

  

Over these four days, we found four new experiences and four new adventures. With plenty of memories made, I can't wait for our next segment excursion. Being able to spend this time with my family, trekking "new to us" trail and venturing into new communities once again deepened our connection to the trail. My kids enjoy making their adventure videos after each hike and seeing themselves in social media. I know my wife loves adding her date and completion notes in the guidebook. And I absolutely adore seeing the people I love grow closer connections to an organization I love in the state that I love.

Lodi Marsh Segment

 

And of course, as I type this, my wife is taking another hiking friends out on the trail with hopes of knocking out one segment today and two more tomorrow.

City of Lodi Segment

This pandemic has certainly created problems. But for us, a family that loves to turn obstacles into opportunities, it has also created a world of possibilities.