What am I thinking?

I've been thinking about this for a while now. I must be crazy, it was the first thing I told my friend when I was forming plans. I must be crazy. I want to try hiking some more of the Ice Age Trail. True my first week sucked, horribly, but I want to finish the trail. Even if it takes me years.

I never did share more than a third of the pictures I took because in most of the ones of me I look so miserable. I think now though, I feel comfortable enough with the experience that I would like to share some of those pictures. Including the ones of me crying, or just before I cried, or just after I cried. I cried a lot. And that is why I figure I must be insane. Why would anyone choose to go back out to a task that they know they hated the first time?

I certainly don't know, but here are some more memories of my first week on the Ice Age Trail.

Read more about Days 1-2 here.

Day 1: At the top of the first "pointless" hill. I came down off of it on the same street I went up it.

My first campsite, before it started to storm, you can see my dinner cooking in the table.

Shreds keeping me company during the first wave of storms I survived the first night.

Tired, probably just after I cried my way through the first storm.

Day 2: I woke up relatively happy the next morning.

My "nest" at the rest area on the Gandy Dancer segment. I hung out here for lunch and phone charging.

Hiking 26 miles to the Cafe Wren where I would be sleeping, I was very wet and cold and crying. 

Read more about Days 3-4 here.

Day 3: Hiking through the snow in the pine plantations.

Snow allows you to see who else is using the trail...

At this point I was pretty much hoping I was almost to my campsite. I wasn't.

Day 4: I was limping this day, and I almost went over backwards trying to get over this thing.

One of the many feathers I saw. I think this one is from a Yellow Warbler.

I was in good spirits as I knew I was going to have a bed that night and it didn't matter where I stopped.
The chapter coordinator was going to come get me with his car wherever I was.

Some awesome big white pines in this segment.

These three were the inspiration for my one painting.

 Read more about Days 5-6 here.

Day 5: I was still in good spirits shortly after being dropped off.

Hiking through a swamp quickly put me in a poor state of mind.

This was the last segment I finished. It was here, at this sign I realized I wasn't going to keep going.

The last picture I took of my hike. I was hot, tired, and yes, crying again.

I made it to the end of the Sand Creek Segment and waited for someone to come pick me up. I was disappointed. In myself, the experience, my choices and how I handled the whole thing. SO, do I want to go back to prove to myself that I can do it? Or because I want to make sure I really do dislike this kind of hiking? Or I'm hoping I have a better experience? Read about my initial post hike thoughts here.

Whatever it is, I'm hoping to go sometime in October, (I'm likely to have bad weather again, but it is the only time I have to go), to do another 80 miles in one week, which would be the next two chapters. I also hope to have some company at least for a little bit of my second attempt which will make the miles seem easier. Maybe I'll look into hammock camping, get rid of my tent weight. And I'm only taking peanut butter and jelly, raisins, breakfast bars, some trail mix and hot chocolate. I realize the hot chocolate means I will have to take my stove, but that way if the weather is bad I can have a hot beverage, but not have to think about cooking every night.

Final Prep For My Ice Age Trail Thru-Hike

I felt I needed to do the obligatory "gear" picture and "meal plan" picture. So here's my final gear plan. I realize now that I don't have my actual hiking boots in here, or my maps and I didn't put in my bathroom items as I am still using some of those. I know already that there are a few items people are going to look at and immediately want to tell me I'm wrong. Well, guess what? Maybe that item is wrong for you, but it might be what will make MY hike possible.

Most of my gear.

The two most obvious of those items are my fleece blanket and my puppy "Shreds." I can totally and completely understand why some people might think these are just extra weight. Here's my reasoning behind them and you can agree or disagree with my decision, but just remember it is my choice and if I decide I no longer want to carry something, I can mail it home at the next little town I go through that has a post office. So when I went on my first hiking trip to the Porcupine Mountains, I wanted something on the bottom of my tent, something soft, and I didn't take anything with. Then when I went to Colorado, I again did not take anything and I tend to spread out when I sleep and never stay completely on my sleeping pad and all night (each night) as soon as I touched the cold floor of my tent, I woke up. So this time I am taking a fleece blanket, it is fairly lightweight although a bit bulky, so it will get strapped wherever it fits. Plus I can wrap my feet and legs in it to keep them warm since wearing socks to bed only makes my feet colder.

"Shreds" my travel puppy and my fleece blanket.

Now the puppy. "Shreds" was given to me by a friend for my 18th birthday. He came to college with me and sat on my desk all four years. He came to North Carolina with me, riding shotgun, in 2010 when I drove solo to Penland School of Crafts for a two week pottery class. He kept me company while I sat for two hours waiting for assistance on the side of I-65 in Indiana while my parents and I tried to make sense of a AAA membership that the paperwork never got run. He came with me on my short, but solo trip to Grand Marais and my broom making class last year. And most recently he accompanied me on my trip to Colorado riding in the cup holder the whole way. He didn't actually come on the hike with me, but he was there in Colorado. "Shreds" is my travel puppy and he's going to be riding shotgun on my pack for this hike for as long as I want him. And since I can't take my slightly senile 19 (92 in cat years) year old cat, Shreds is going with.

Yes that is my bra she is sleeping on. Saturn (and her brother Neptune when he was alive) always seem to know when I am going away and end up in my clothes, suitcase or what ever else when I am trying to pack.

And here's my food for the first five days, plus a little more. You can't see everything because of how it is packed, but I have tuna, pita pockets, cheese (because I am a true Wisconsin girl and can not go with out my cheese, and I will buy more along the trail as I use up what I am taking with), breakfast bars, five dinners with a package of ramen if I need more, assorted drink powders, peanut butter and jelly, and assorted snacks including peanut m&ms, cashews, Reese's Pieces, mini chocolate bars, fruit gummy snacks, dried fruit and raisins, fruit leather, crackers, Gardettos and corn chips to add to my mashed potatoes. The tube of tomato paste will last through much of the hike and is for some of my pasta dinners and a couple of the rice dinners that need a little more flavor. Plus I have seeds for sprouting in hemp bags, I have my first crop already going so I can have some my second day out.

Each resupply box has some variation on this based on how many days I need to get to my next box.

And here's an update on my temperature afghan. This is as far as I will get before starting my hike. When I get back I will look up the high temperatures for the days (months) I missed and then catch up. I was glad when it started to warm up, I ran out of the 30 degree color. And if you can see the two stripes of multicolor yarn? Those are family birthdays. I made a slightly taller stitch with the color for the day then chained around the shaft of the stitch to make it stand out. I have a brighter yarn I am going to use for the summer birthdays.

In a holding pattern for the next two months...

Next time I'll see you on the trail!

Pre-Ice Age Trail Thru-Hike Planning

This week has included grocery shopping, food prep, packing supply boxes, finalizing my hike with estimated campsites, post office pickups, and last minute gear purchases. I leave really soon and I still can't believe I am going to do this.

Breakfast bars and fruit leather.

I've also been planning with my mom for when and where she will be sending my resupply boxes, managing my expenses and bill payments while I am gone, and how to get in touch with her even when I can't send her a message because of poor cell reception.

My boxes are almost packed. Tomorrow I will be sending out my first box so it gets to the post office well in advance of when I will be getting there just to make sure it does beat me there.

This hike has been in the planning stages for about a year now. I read Wild, by Cheryl Strayed, like so many others and I decided to do a thru-hike. Except I decided to stay close to home for my first grand adventure. And I am glad that I did, because planning a hike on the other side of the country when I had no experience with this sort of thing would have been enough to push me back into my comfort zone. I know I have people in Wisconsin who can rescue me if it gets to be too much for me to handle, or if there is a problem with a resupply box. And a couple times this week I started wishing that my mom would finish planning this for me. I was getting frustrated. (Happens often, and right from the beginning.)

Yellow is the trail/path I plan to take, orange is post office treks, pink is estimated camping, though that will depend on how much I can actually manage in a day.

I tried to keep my post office resupplies to no more than 5 days in between, in a couple places though it ended up being 6 or 7 because where I wanted to stop would have been a Sunday or a holiday, so I had to find alternative towns. If anyone is interested, here is the list of post offices I plan to visit, (you send the mail to "Katlyn Koester, c/o General Delivery" followed by the post office address. Hopefully with my boxes going ahead of me they will know when I am coming and put any other mail with my boxes.):

2964 Us Highway 63, Barronett, WI 54813

W14392 Railway Ave, Weyerhaeuser, WI 54895

705 McComb Ave, Rib Lake, WI 54470

N9575 County Road B, Summit Lake, WI 54485

200 Clark St, Hatley, WI 54440

215 W Conant St, Portage, WI 53901

2012 Park St, Cross Plains, WI 53528

102 E North Ave, Monticello, WI 53570

116 N 3rd St, Palmyra, WI 53156

1202 Franklin St, Manitowoc, WI 54220

I've set a fairly optimistic pace for myself, but I won't hold myself to it, and I will be passing plenty of small towns where I can do extra resupply if needed. I decided though, next time I do a thru-hike, I'm taking the makings for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, nothing more. Too many options is making my head spin!

My Own March Madness

This month has been crazy for me. Not because I set up a basketball bracket and cheered on my team, I've never been big into sports of any kind, but because I have spent the last three weeks making pottery, grocery shopping for my hike, planning my hike, packing for my hike and thinking about my hike. I only have a little while longer to get ready for my thru-hike of the Ice Age Trail and I've got my first art show of the season thrown in for a little added extra fun stress.

Glazing everything, little by little.

I believe I have mentioned this before, but I plan to be gone for two months. That's two months I would normally have to get some extra pottery made for my summer show season and since I won't be around I had to do a little extra early and hope I have enough to keep my shelves stocked until I can get making again. I should be fine, especially with this last week I have gotten three glaze firings done. Add that to everything I have left from last year and everything I made earlier in the winter, I will be fine for at least a few shows.

The first firing of the month.

I have a show next Saturday in Phelps. It is actually a craft show and so I will be bringing my crocheted Kritters, my new sweater monsters, and my beaded sun catchers along with my pottery, but then I won't have another show until July, and I won't be available to mail out anything if anyone is looking for a Mother's Day present or shopping from my Facebook page. I do still have work at Chocolate's and More in Minocqua and a larger selection at Artistree gallery in Land O' Lakes.

The second firing.

Between making pottery and sweater monsters I have also been preparing my food packets for dinners on the trail. I have been testing assorted meals and making lists of the last few things I have to remember to buy. I've also been in contact with several of the chapter coordinators for the Ice Age Trail, getting some information about the trail itself and any tips and contact information that care to offer. It is appreciated, but however many tips and heads up I get I will still need to "hike my own hike."

The third firing.

I've heard this phrase from blog posts, magazine articles and a couple of the chapter coordinators have mentioned it. I can take everyone's suggestions for what I "need" to do, or what I  "should" do, or what I "should" bring, but then I'm not doing this for me and how I feel about what I need. Yes, I've asked for help, suggestions, tips, ideas, but ultimately I have to decide what is best for me and *MY* hike. If I took every suggestion for gear I should have (here is a partial list of what I'm taking), I'd have at least 5 more pounds of gear. If I hike the distances that have been suggested (part of my distance planning can be seen here), I'll still be walking in August. And if I take a hiking partner like has been suggested, the whole point of the trip will become null and I might as well not go. I'm sure I will want socialization at some point and welcome some chance encounters or people coming with me for a day now and then, but you know what? I am really looking forward to seeing what I am capable of on my own.

Getting dinner packets ready for the trail.

Tentative Schedule

I finished planning my daily miles for my Ice Age Trail thru-hike. If I keep to that schedule, which I probably won't, I will complete the hike in 58 days. There is still a lot of planning left, a few supplies to buy, and of course food planning, buying and sorting.

The last two pieces of gear I ordered, my tent footprint and
solar charger. The solar panel is a bit heavier that I expected
so I am going to try to reduce my pack weight elsewhere.

The next thing I want to do is go through the whole hike plan again, but this time enter every town where I could possibly get a resupply box. I want to get a box every 4-5 days. That means I would only have to carry about 10-12 pounds of food. That's about 2 pounds of food a day plus one extra day of food. I hope to have less food weight per day than that, but 2 pounds is what many resources have recommended. And at least in the beginning I can bring less food, because I tend to not eat much in general. Eventually I will have to add some more calories, but I can easily have a few crackers with peanut butter and raisins as an additional snack since I will be carrying them anyway.

I am not a big fan of dried fruits and veggies, I think I mentioned that once
before, but I did like the papaya and pineapple.

I also still want to email the trail chapter coordinators and the Ice Age Trail Alliance for tips in those areas of the trail where there are no camping options. Maybe they have suggestions or might offer to come collect me at the end of the day. And to just get general information about the trail.

There are a couple places where I might take an extra day simply because I know I will love being there, I can plan those as "rest" days. I want to be able to take my time and enjoy Parfreys Glen and Devils Lake State park in the Baraboo area. I went there on a Geology class field trip in high school and I was in awe of Parfreys Glen. And Devils Lake has shower facilities, I can maybe be clean for a day or two.

I am a part of the Facebook group, World's Biggest Marble Hunt,
I will be doing some hides while I hike. If you want to find one of the marbles
I hide, join the Facebook group and watch for my posts. I will be doing this
as a way to keep myself entertained and you all will have an advantage to
finding them since you already know where I will be.

I keep finding myself in tunnel vision. I can focus on getting one thing done then move on, but I'm having problems keeping up with all the things I have to do in order to get back into the reality of post-hike life. I spent a week making pottery and during that week I did no planning, I stopped going for walks and generally stressed about trying to multitask without actually accomplishing any multitasking. The last two days I have loaded the bisque kiln and today is my second bisque firing, which has left me with time to think about the hike again. The problem I am having is that I know I will immediately have to jump into art shows when I get back, and that requires having enough inventory on hand, since I am missing two months of work time, I have to make some extra work now, while I am also planning and preparing for the hike. Plus I want to be able to fully enjoy myself while I am hiking and not think about everything I will have to do when I get back. So if I can get most of it done now, I (hopefully) won't be thinking about it while I hike.

Tuesday	28.6	39.3	10.7	3f	4	Moh's Mountain
Wednesday	39.3	59.7	20.4	5f	5	Polk County Primitive Camping
Thursday	59.7	75.3	15.6	6f	8	Burnett County Primitive Camping BW13
Friday	75.3	90	14.7	8f	9	Barron County Prim. Camping Bear Lake Segment
Saturday	90	113.2	23.2	10f	10	Barron County Primitive Camping BW3, rookery
Sunday	113.2	134.3	21.1	12f	11	North Lake Primitive Campsite, RU2
Monday	134.3	160.3	26	15f	14	Primitive Campsite CH13
Tuesday	160.3	184	23.7	16f	16	Brunet Island State Park
Wednesday	184	209	25	17-19f	16	Otter Lake County Park
Thursday	209	229.2	20.2	21f	18	Taylor Cty. Chequamegon Forest Primitive Camping
Friday	229.2	249	19.8	22f	19	Chequamegon Forest Primitive Camping
Saturday	249	269	20	24f	20	Taylor County Forest Primitive Camping
Sunday	269	293.8	24.8	26f	21	Taylor County Forest Primitive Camping
Monday	293.8	315.8	22	28f	24	Turtle Rock Segment
Tuesday	315.8	339.2	23.4	29f	26	Underdown Segment Primitive Camping
Wednesday	339.2	364.5	25.3	31f	29	Langlade County Adirondack Shelter or Primitive
Thursday	364.5	384.9	20.4	33f	30	Camp Susan's Prim. Camp. Highland Lakes Eastern

Just a little of my 58 day plan. The day of the week, start mileage, end mileage, total daily miles, map number from the atlas, page number in the databook and where I hope to camp that night. Of course these are guesses, estimates for how far I can hike in a day and some are simply the next available camping area. The final will also include where I will pick up my boxes, the contact numbers for the places I plan to camp (if I need to make reservations), and the post offices I will visit.