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| Heading south on 150th |
Following my completion of the Gandy
Dancer State Trail Segment (see last post,
Hikes 4-7), I headed down 150
th
Street to the entrance to the Trade River CC Ski Trail.
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| Trade River Segment |
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| Some of the scenery on 150th St |
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| Near the entrance of the Trade River Ski Trail |
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| I'm glad they groomed it for me |
Fortunately
for me, it had been recently mowed which made traversing it
relatively easy. What's more, after four successive hikes on the
Gandy Dancer, the change in scenery was a welcome sight. Some of the
IAT in this segment runs on private land easement and at least on the
afternoon that I hiked this section there were parts of the trail
that were barely kept up. (Note to prospective hiker: It's always a
good thing to go to the Ice Age Trail Alliance [or IATA] website and
check on trail conditions of the section you are interested in hiking
BEFORE you hike. Trust me. I know. Here's the link to the
IATA website
) It was only early June and the grass, in some places, was already
up to my waist.
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| Somebody's tree stand |
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| My brother-in-law says this reminds him of Andrew Wyeth painting without the girl |
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| Too bad they weren't around |
I stopped for a break in the shade of a tree on the
grounds of the Seventh Day Adventist Church on 140
th
Street and I can still recall thinking, “I should have brought more
water.” Too bad it wasn't Saturday. There would have been some
Adventists around so that I could have got a refill on my water
bottle.
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| The field of blood (as in mine) |
There is a large field that the IAT
crosses before it enters the woods that is officially part of
Straight Lake State Park. On that day it was a tick's paradise as I
pulled several off of me that afternoon during my hike as well as a
few more when I got home that night.
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| The Trade River |
There is a wooden footbridge
that crosses the Trade River. As rivers go, it's a pretty quite one.
It fact, it looks more like a stream to me – but then again it was
a warm day in June when I crossed it. The Trade is a tributary of the
St. Croix River that runs for nearly 50 miles. Apparently at times it
has also been known by the names Atanwa or Ottoway River both of
which are Anglicized versions of an Ojibwe word for “trade” (Got
that little tidbit from this
Wikipedia article .)
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| The footbridge over the Trade |
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| Trade River |
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| The large erratic |
A little way past the footbridge I came
upon the large erratic that stands along the IAT on the Lundberg
property. According to the IAT Companion Guide (2004 edition),
this large monstrosity got moved here by the Superior
lobe...well, a long time ago. I noted in my journal that night that
“The erratic is
something to behold but it was so buggy in the woods I kept on
going.” I
did. I can't remember if I had forgotten to apply some bug spray or
it wasn't strong enough to hold off the all out blitz they sent at me
in the woods. The Guide says the IAT also passes an ancient beaver
dam but if it does I missed it entirely. The last section of this
segment passes through another easement on farmland. By the time I
got to my bike it was mid-afternoon, I was thirsty and now I had 3-4
mile bike ride back to my van. Note to self: always bring more water
than you think you will need.
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