Anyone who reads this blog realizes the amount of planning Mike puts in to make everything perfect for our Splorin’ adventures. This weekend proved the old Yiddish proverb “Mike plans, God laughs”. Mike had a plan for us to go to breakfast in Gilmanton, hike the Red Cedar State Trail from Downsville to Menomonie, stop and do happy hour in Menomonie, hike back to the van, then head to a supper club in Ellsworth, WI. On Friday we took the van in for an oil change and tire rotation and when we were called to let us know it was done they also let us know the coolant was half empty. A refill and pressure test later let us know the radiator would have to be replaced at a cost of $1100. This is our old, not so trusty 2006 Chrysler Town and Country van. It was determined that this was the time to let her go to the great junkyard in the sky and for us to replace her. We decided to still ‘splore on Saturday and go van shopping on Sunday, but a quick survey showed us that would not work as no place to buy a van is open on Sunday. Some quick research Friday evening led us to one particular van and we decided to go as soon as the used car dealership opened Saturday morning to see about it. 3 hours later we were walking out with the keys to the new van and a chance to still do some abbreviated ‘Splorin for the day!!!
Luckily we had already talked about the Lake Menomin Loop trail that goes around (oddly enough) Lake Menomin in Menomonie, WI. So after getting everything squared away with the van, we were ready to ‘Splore. This was an 8.3 mile loop. We decided to start with Happy Hour since we were already starting our splorin’ day a little late and stopped by Waterfront Bar and Grill where we had amazingly good bloodies and some appetizers (spicy naked wings and spicy cheese curds). We were then off to conquer the trail.
This was a really nice and easy walk where, once again, we could avoid some of the nasty “pre-spring” trail conditions. When not walking on the sidewalk or streets, the trail is fully paved. It winds its way around the lake, sometimes close to it, sometimes far from it, but it was a lovely “pre-spring” day to enjoy the weather and some fresh air!
We made our way around the lake and you would think getting lost would be out of the question, but alas not for us! At the trailhead in Wakanda Park, it was not clear where the trail actually started. So when we got to the end of the trail, we didn’t know where to go to get back onto the start of the trail. We eventually figured it out, but they do need to do just a little better job with trail markers there.
We did still enjoy a #SupperClubSaturday dinner at one of our old favorites — Jake’s Supper Club. We have been here many times. First with Tammy’s parents for some family celebration, then for Senior Prom, then several of our own family celebration and taking pictures for our kids Proms. Last time we were here however we got stuck at a table in the bar and the food was not that great. This time, thankfully, we got a nice window table with a view of the Red Cedar River. We walked down on the deck by the river and grabbed a couple pictures before we left.
That is typically the end of our blog entry as #SupperClubSaturday usually completes #SplorinSaturday — BUT WAIT! Don’t stop reading yet — this entry is a TWOFER!!!! (I bet you didn’t know twofer was actually a word….but, yes, yes it is!). We decided to push our plans for Saturday to Sunday (well at least the breakfast and hiking part)…this is not all bonus edition of a #SploringSaturday blog entry!!!
We started with breakfast at Donna Mae’s Panther Cafe in Gilmanton, WI. We thought since it was Sunday we probably wouldn’t see a good ‘ole coffee klatch and we were right, but when we pulled up and saw ALL the cars we thought for sure we might be in trouble. Turns out everyone must have driven their own (or maybe two) vehicles. There was a just a single family eating breakfast. The food was awesome, the coffee was OK (what I think we have explained before we would call it “airport coffee”). It was a perfect fuel up for our day!!
The Red Cedar State Trail is a 14.5 mile trail that stretches from Dunnville to Menomonie. Since we were doing out and back hiking, we started about halfway up the trail in Downsville and hiked to Menomonie.
While those pictures make it look like we started at the beginning we actually went in reverse to start. We knew the trail might be a little muddy and when we started we could tell it certainly HAD been muddy.
There were very deep foot prints, but they were in frozen mud along the trail. One of the “perks” of starting early in the day. We figured we might be in trouble if that thawed out for our way back. We quickly came to a bridge across the river — and boy was the water flowing fast!! There had just been some rainfall and snow melt, so the water level and speed were up.
The trail was really nice two-track with lots of room to walk. There was a little ice and softer spots, but nothing too difficult at all. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking though! The trail parallels the river for the entire route — there is never a time that you cannot see or hear the river.
At one point in the trail we came across three Sandhill Cranes half a mile up the trail. As we got closer they kept moving up the trail until they finally went off into a marshy area and began their very distinctive loud, rolling, trumpeting sound to indicate their displeasure that we disturbed them on a such a beautiful day.
A little further up the trail we saw some beautiful rock formations that apparently were signaling some not so great trail conditions to come. You can see in the picture a little bit of snow/ice on the trail.
What you can’t see is that the snow/ice stretches for a about half a mile and was very treacherous. This trail is used and groomed for skiing in the winter. This particular section of the trail gets almost no sun all day long so it take a long time to melt in the spring. We did our best to stay upright by walking the edge of the trail. Even in the middle of this section there were some pretty amazing rocks (that were obviously blocking the sun from the trail).
A little further up the trail was a gorgeous stream cascading down into the river.
Up around a bend in the trail we could see more snow/ice. We were worried this would be yet another dangerous section of slipping and sliding. But as we approached we saw that it was melting ice from the bluffs. In this area of Wisconsin we see a lot of this in the winter where water moves through the limestone and when exits in winter it makes beautiful ice formations. These were the remnants of those. The pictures in no way do justice to the formations now as they are melting from the back to the front. So, these were actually like ice “walls” that had space between the bluff and the ice. There were large chunks that had fallen out onto the trail, so you really did not want to linger too long and look.
We made it to the beginning (our end) of the trail and walked the mile into downtown Menomonie for a stop at the Log Jam Bar and Eatery on Broadway St. We had a couple of bloody marys and some food (bunless burgers and salads). The burgers were unremarkable, but the salads were very good and very large! Our break was too quickly done and we had to get back out on the trail.
The remainder of the hike back was equally breathtaking. It always amazes us that you see such different things on the same trail just by walking the opposite direction. The trail conditions actually improved for the hike back. The areas that were a little muddy on the way up had dried out (the compacted ice/snow was still ALL there but a little easier to maneauver since we had done it once before) and we didn’t have to do as much walking on the side of the trail as we did on the way up. We got to one section where there was a large cut corn field to our right and we heard this very loud echoing cackling. At first we thought it was more Sandhill Cranes, but it ended up being turkeys — their gobbles were echoing off the bluff walls. We saw a group of about 10 – 15 streaking across a field. Not sure if they were running from us or if something else spooked them, but they were moving fast!
A little further up the trail we were surprised when about 50 feet in front of us a big turkey ran out onto the trail and began to run away from us. Followed by another, and another and another and still yet another. Five turkeys came out on the the trail. The last three ran for about 10 feet and then flew off towards the river. Mike commented it was like clowns coming out of a car — they just kept coming. Mike yelled off into the woods to let any more turkeys know it was time for them to go, none responded. But, another 50 yards down the trail there was one more left that took off flying instead of running and flew right across the trail in front of us.
We made it back to the van in time to head back to Eau Claire to pick up our weekly groceries…yawn. It was still Sunday afterall. What a terrible ending, but hopefully you’ll come back to see where we ‘Splore next weekend!!
Splorin' Saturday 