A Gem in the Making: Plover River Segment

National Guard Wildcard Sept. 7-8

The Plover River segment of the Ice Age National Scenic Trail didn’t exist until 2010, but now stretches for over 5 wandering miles along it’s namesake river in Marathon County.  The segment isn’t finished growing though, not by a long shot.  Once corralled in by Hwy 52, the segment was itching to burst through north of the highway and explore and interpret the spectacular glacial features that were awaiting the stage the Ice Age Trail grants the landscape.  Now, with the help of a Wildcard Weekend and a full, weeklong Mobile Skills Crew Project, that growth spurt has started.

The new section is 2.7 miles through rough and tumble boulder trains, stone holes, the terminal moraine, and oh yeah, a half mile of white cedar swamp.  The focus of the 2012 projects at Plover River were to construct two long boardwalks through the cedar swamp and corridor clear the rest of the trail route to allow hikers to make it through.  This was a monumental task, so the Ice Age Trail Alliance (IATA), enlisted the help of the National Guard.  The troops answered the call with gusto.  Troops need good leaders so a Wildcard (cue sound effect) was tossed out to MSC Crew Leaders and they answered with their own gusto, as over a dozen Crew Leaders found time to fit the Wildcard into their schedule.  With Fluff, Fritz, Fred, Chuck, Brad, Barbara, Rich, JB, Tim, Gail, Jerry, Jo, Jo(elle), Ceci, Wollmer, and Matt around, the project was in solid hands.

Getting our orders

Jerry and Rich directing the troops

People arrived on Friday to get the rundown of the work and check out the project area.  I wasn’t there, but I can only imagine the look on their face when they saw the task at hand.  The National Guard may not be enough!  Everyone gathered Friday night at the “no-name” bar on the corner of Hwy 45 and 52 for a fish fry.  Matt and I showed up in time to enjoy a drink (you can’t say you’ve been to a bar unless you have a drink in that bar) and were surprised to find a special treat, Jo(elle) and Ceci!  They have been off on their own adventures this year and haven’t been at a project, Jo(elle) moving to more majestic settings at the Grand Canyon and Ceci traipsing around China. 

(Photo by Fluff)

With no project support, Brad threw together a breakfast in the morning to get us going.  Everyone gathered ‘round to receive our orders for the day, with the main objective being to have the trail route cleared within the cedar swamp.  We got out to the project area and realized we didn’t have a trail route to follow.  The National Guard was arriving in 30 minutes and we didn’t have any work for them.  Uh oh.  The property manager and county forester the day before had changed their mind on where the trail could go.  So after years of trail layout, planning and discussion, the route was scrapped the day before the project began.   Matt and I were enlisted to find a route through the swamp with the National Guard on our heels (I’m not much of an adrenaline junkie, but my adrenaline got pumping that morning). 

The swamp before the National Guard began working

We threw together a route through the first swamp in short order that enabled everyone to start working.  The second swamp turned out to be more difficult.  A timber harvest had thinned the cedars, but on the north end, wind damage had led to a section of the swamp being clear-cut.  You wouldn’t think there would be much difficulty laying the trail out through a clear-cut, but you’d be wrong. 

After much deliberation, Tim goes “Have you seen Waterworld?”

“Yeah,” I responded.   “Once.”

“It’s a classic, I’ve seen it 20 times,” Tim stated.

I had no idea what Waterworld had to do with our predicament so I walked on.

Gail dirty and wet at the end of the day (Photo by Fluff)

On my way back to lunch, I struggled to imagine how this boardwalk was possibly going to be completed with all of the corridor clearing that needed to be done.  And then I came upon the work the National Guard had done that morning.  Holy Cow!  It was a complete transformation.  Where there was brush and downed trees was now a clear, wide swath snaking through the woods.  Maybe this project wasn’t impossible.

Corridor after National Guard

Teamwork helps the work go quicker

To give you a little background, the area north of Hwy 52 and over west to HH and the Marathon/Langlade County line has been the focus of a lot of attention over the past few years as the DNR purchased the “Kretz” property in 2010 and the IATA promptly began to snoop around and get a feel for where the trail would go.  After the DNR marked the property lines, it was realized that more land was needed to put the Trail where it needed to be, namely the terminal moraine.   The missing parcel was purchased in early 2012, opening the door for the Ice Age Trail. 

Laying out nearly 3 miles of trail through a cedar swamp and dense upland woods was quite the undertaking as many people took a stab at it over the last few years.  Flag lines were placed, but none felt quite right.  During one of these sessions, I was out there by myself and not once, but twice thought I was heading a certain direction only to have the compass tell me I was off by 180 degrees (and I’d been on the property close to a dozen times already).  It wasn’t until Tim and JB spent a few weeks scouring the landscape over the summer that a route that was up to National Scenic Trail standards was pinned down.  It was a long process, but was worth it in the end.  The Trail can speak for itself. 

Brad trying to look tough

(Photo by Fluff)

Crews after lunch broke past the swamp (after a few run-ins with bees) and started to hammer away at the corridor in the uplands.  Progress was swift as chainsaw wielding people led the way, cutting down trees and bucking up downed logs, followed by people with pick mattocks to clear away the cut trees and grub out the stumps.  A gentle rain began to fall, which soon fell with greater intensity as the afternoon carried on.  Instead of turning around to go back to the parking lot, we put our heads down and kept moving further into the woods.  By the end of the day, the corridor was cleared up to section 28.  Fantastic progress!  We couldn’t have done it without the help of the National Guard.  Thanks!

Tim and Rich surveying their options

(Photo by Fluff)

Back at camp, I was trying to get a fire lit under the pavilion they have at the group camp at the Dells of the Eau Claire County Park and the rain was not helping.  I was coerced had volunteered to fire up my grill and cook dinner.  Brats, burgers, and a myriad of veggies were on the menu.  Jo(Ellarson) supplied a bounty of tomatoes and peppers and also acted as my sous chef.  We cut potatoes and wrapped them in aluminum foil with some spices and tossed them on the campfire to cook while the grill managed the rest of the food.  The food was late, but good (at least I thought so).

Cooking over an open flame (Photo by Fluff)

Food tastes better when grilled with intense facial expressions (Photo by Fluff)

Fluff Tater taking the last tater

Quotes:

“I’m kinda drunk” – Me

“Is that why you’re writing like a 4 year old?” – Brad

“When they’re breeding, you can move.”  Dave Mix

“Frosty licks his pick.” – Fluff

“Sitting between you is like running a chainsaw all day.” – JB sitting between Gail and Rachel

“You can fool dirt, but you can’t fool a tick” – Brad

“That’s the worst thing I ever put in my mouth.” – Barbara

The night was filled with great quotes (well some not so great, like my comment about “regular volunteers”) and some quotes not appropriate for this space.  I asked Tim where he was going with the Waterworld question before and he explained “stabbin’ the boat.”  To make a long story short, in the movie, a drifter on the ocean tries to make a trade, but Kevin Costner’s character refuses, so the drifter loses all hope and begins to stab his boat, which is his only refuge and chance for survival.  There were no good answers, every answer was wrong.  So use “stabbin’ the boat” when you’re at wits and don’t know the answer.

We left Sunday with the stage set for a wild ambush the following week when the full MSC project arrived.

Plover Project Sept. 18-23

The immensity of the project dictated an earlier start than most MSC projects.  The project kicked off Tuesday, Sept. 18 and ran until Sunday the 23^rd.  The progress made at the Wildcard enabled crews to get cranking right away at the boardwalk.  A standard boardwalk where you dig posts into the ground wasn’t going to work in the swamp.  There was a layer of seemingly bottomless muck in places ready to suck down any post we tried installing.  A solution was found by setting the posts on metal pans that acted like floatation devices, preventing the muck from claiming a post.  These were new to MSC, so a learning curve was expected to figure out the best way to place the pans.  We couldn’t just set the pans on the uneven ground, so we had to hack our way through the trees, roots, duff and organic layer that covered the swamp floor to get down to the mineral soil (muck), allowing a somewhat solid/level layer to place the pans.  After getting the hang of it, Rich and crew moved along fairly well crafting the sinuous boardwalk through the white cedar swamp. 

Tim directing the crews

The boardwalk crew wasn’t the only crew working hard.  Building two long boardwalks requires tons of lumber, literally, so decking and posts had to be cut to specification and the boardwalk frames built.  With possibly 1000 feet of boardwalk to be constructed (we didn’t have time to measure exactly beforehand), a lot of frames had to be put together.  A frame is 8 feet long with 3 2x6 stringers and 6 smaller inserts holding the stringers together.  Crossbeams are set between the posts and the frames are laid on the crossbeams.  Frames are overlapped by each other at the ends so each frame gains roughly 7 feet of distance.  Doing a rough calculation of 1000 divided by 7, you get 143 frames needed to span the swamp.  That’s a lot of frames! 

Frames ready to be carried to the boardwalk

Gail led the crews (and did a great job as local chapter rep) that worked through the week, organizing the lumber, building frames and then hauling them along the route to keep the boardwalk going.  Slowly, but surely, the structure began to take shape; perhaps curving through the swamp wasn’t such a bad thing after all.

As I lay in my tent in the early hours of Friday, a Gordon Lightfoot song began to play outside.  An “Early Morning Rain” greeted the early risers, but thanks to my sloth-like morning movements, the rain had petered out by the time I made my way to breakfast.  The clouds broke to reveal a picture perfect fall morning as we gathered for stretches.  What a beautiful way to begin the day.

Jo enjoys the beautiful morning....

....Ruth, not so much

The volunteers were split into 4 crews, 3 would tackle the boardwalk and the other crew would focus on clearing the corridor.  Before the corridor crew left, they were tasked to haul frames and decking to the north end to keep the boardwalk crews busy.  We took the troad back which was quickly turning to mush from the rain and repeated boot stomps.  You had to be careful where you stepped or you might lose a boot or leg to deep and welcoming muck.  On one of the trips back, I commented how the troad was in better shape than it was a few years ago after the logging operation when Jason fell in up to his hip and hadn’t hit bottom yet.  Of course, shortly thereafter I went in up to my knee but was able to save myself from a muddy grave. 

Carrying a frame down the troad

I was assigned to the big corridor clearing crew, along with Jerry and Fluff at the helm.  Hmm, I thought Fluff and Jerry could handle the crew themselves so I lobbied to get put on a boardwalk crew.  Most of the boardwalk people had been there all week and I thought they could use a boost of my youthful ignorance to hack away at the roots and stumps.  JB granted my wish. 

Rich, B-Funk and Travis “Chops” (Travis usually has a good beard going but trimmed to some thick mutton chops at one point and it just feels like a good trail name for him) led the boardwalk crews and I fell in with B-Funk.  I wanted to swing a Pulaski so I helped Rambo, Kevin and Ed “Soup” Spoon chop through the roots to get the pans placed.  They were having a hard time getting the final orientation right for the pans to be able to make turns and get around trees so I said “Who’s the idiot who laid this trail out.”  A hush fell around us as everyone thought I was talking about Tim.  I laughed and said I was the idiot who laid it out (this also gave people the opportunity to harrumph the layout). 

Chops resting at lunch

It was tough going as we encountered massive roots that needed to come out (here’s where my youthful ignorance became an asset).  We kept pushing ahead, careful to measure many times to make sure the pans were in the right spot.  The top layer of roots and organic material was all connected and essentially floating on the underlying muck so when a pan was pounded into place, the whole ground shook.  It reminded me of the scene in Jurassic Park where they are in the Jeep and the glass of water begins to vibrate from the footsteps signaling the impending arrival of the T-Rex.

Placing a pan wasn't always the easiest

With pans in place, the next crew came along to affix the upright 4x4s and attach the crossbeams.  This job was made harder because someone (cough…Brad) had purchased masonry bits instead of wood bits to drill the holes for the bolts.  After a while, work on that job came to a halt as the bits became useless, just spinning around, not digging in at all.

Groovy and LRRP installing the crossbeams

TW trying to get the masonry bit to work

Over on the south boardwalk, Rich’s crew had placed all their pans and frames, with the decking crew trying to catch up.  Rich couldn’t be stopped though and more boardwalk was decided to be added onto the very southern end to make sure hikers have dry passage.

Thelma did her best to keep us from losing weight (like usual)

Fluff and Jerry’s crew kept brushing back and grubbing the corridor through the northern uplands.  2 miles is a lot to clear, but the crew kept plugging away and finished the day with over a thousand feet of open corridor to show for it.

Back at the north swamp, B-Funk’s and Chops’ crews were steadily working towards one another.  When constructing boardwalk, you start at one end and work your way towards the other end to eliminate waste and the problem of meeting in the middle if crews are working from both ends.  With the amount of work needing to be finished, this wasn’t an option so crews worked from both ends, hoping it worked out in the middle.  Needless to say, there was a lot of talk of the Transcontinental Railroad and Promontory Point. 

The two crews meeting in the middle

With the crews getting close, we started measuring things out to see where the two sections would meet.  Miraculously, they met at the same point!  For two crews to have each built a couple hundred feet of boardwalk to meet at the same point is very impressive (and lucky).  Well not everything worked out because promontory point fell right in the middle of a stump.  I looked at it and said we could get it out.  I took the first shift and broke through all the roots I could see before tiring, Rambo and Soup took their turns, but the stump didn’t appear to be giving up.  We hooked up the Super Pull-All (a big come along) to the stump and gave it a yank, but to no avail.  Sometimes the best tool in getting a stubborn stump out is a handsaw so I dug into the dirt and started sawing through all the roots that could not be accessed by the Pulaski.  After 20 minutes, we tried the Super Pull-All again.  With tension rising, we heard the telltale crack of a stump on it’s deathbed.  We had it!  With all the pans placed, we called it a day, a good day.

We filled our bellies with Thelma’s cooking and settled in to enjoy a special treat; Lonsdorf and his wife Marilyn entertained the crowd with their musical talents (although I’m not sure what Lonsdorf was displaying would be considered talent, musically at least).  They alternated between Lonsdorf’s guitar and Marilyn’s flute, which had to have been the first flautist to perform at an MSC event (I don’t think Ian Anderson has ever been to MSC).  Lonsdorf showing his usual wry sense of humor, led us through rousing renditions of “We Gotta Get Out of This Place,” “Under the Boardwalk” and “Poison Ivy” (I’m sure some of the grainy footage will reappear down the road).  Marilyn graced us with “Misty” and other standards.  The music was a new and welcome addition to the MSC project.

Marilyn provided dessert with her tasty flute solos

Quotes:

“Looks like a Gorilla in the mist” – Marilynn Nash

“What is that?  It doesn’t measure up” – Randy

“I haven’t seen yours in picture” – Fluff

“I don’t know what’s worse – scrotal warming or global warming” – Randy

“I wish the liquor would work all over” – Fluff

“It’s only pretty in the dark” – Leah

“That’s a country song” – Luke

“That’s a song Randy would sing” – Matt

“Don’t make me beat you with my cheese” – Randy

“Pounding your own stakes in Wisconsin is illegal?” – Tyler

“After I skun it” – Randy

“You’re a good man, I like your underwear” - Tom

The Hoofers from UW-Madison arrived Friday night and were ready to go Saturday.  School had recently started so a lot of new Hoofers joined the fray.  Moneybags Luke and I headed out early to get the tool trailers unloaded and tools ready for the crews to put to use.  Rich and his crew were working on finishing their section of boardwalk while Gary, Fred and crew were tackling the north boardwalk.  The rest of the volunteers, including most of the Hoofers, headed into the uplands to continue clearing the corridor.  After all the crews had left the staging area, Luke and I looked around and realized we had nothing to do.  Soon enough we found a need and began constructing the last of the frames.  We weren’t sure we had enough lumber to complete the task, but after scavenging around, we managed to have exactly enough 2x6’s to build the last frame. 

Ceci and a couple Hoofers

The talk of the Transcontinental Railroad and Promontory Point the day before had given Rambo an idea.  He had gone into Antigo Friday night and found gold paint.  If we were going to finish this boardwalk, we may as well do it right.  The last bolts were painted gold and driven in to fanfare as great as the golden spike at Promontory Point (well, not exactly, but close).

Rambo driving in the last golden bolt at Promontory Point

With all the frames in place, crews focused on laying out and screwing in the decking.  It was a sight to see as the decking began to cover the boardwalk and you could finally see what the finished boardwalk would look like as it wound it’s way this way and that.  It reminded me of the Kickapoo River which means “one who goes here, then there” in Algonquin.  We ran out of decking for the boardwalks but some ingenuity enabled safe passage for hikers until more decking could be installed.  The boardwalk was viewed as a necessary evil, just a connector to get through to the good stuff in the uplands, but as the boardwalk took shape, the curvaceous beauty as it glides through the cedar swamp was, frankly, stunning.

Wanda and Ron laying out the decking

Randy showed up as his old self, brandishing a pole saw and missing all the important branches that needed to be cut.  After lunch Luke and I were given a new job of building a ramp out of cedar at the north end of the boardwalk.  This was only temporary because the boardwalk will be extended next year, but that didn’t stop us from building a superb structure.  We found 4 cedar logs and notched them to fit on the end of boardwalk.  The logs were kerfed with the chainsaw and knocked out with the adze to create a flatter surface to walk on.  After attaching the logs to one another, we realized the stability wasn’t where it needed to be so three H-frames were added to solidify the ramp.  Something was missing, so a handrail was built with precision cuts to make sure everything fit perfectly.  A few finishing touches here and there and the temporary ramp was finally fit for the Ice Age National Scenic Trail. 

The best temporary ramp on the Ice Age Trail

At the end of the day at the parking lot, a bottle of champagne was brought out to celebrate the monumental work that had taken place over the previous week.  1029 feet of boardwalk now rose out of the white cedar swamp taking hikers on a fantastic sweep through the primeval forest. 

With the major work completed, and temperatures dropping, everyone crowded around the campfire at the end of the night.  Randy took his place as campfire moderator, and with a whole new audience of Hoofers, this was right up his alley.  Good times were had and the beer, wine and liquor went down with ease, as it does after a day of hard work (this last point is not applicable to me).

Lovely Rita enjoying the evening

Randy was the campfire entertainment

Sunday was spent cleaning up and continuing the corridor clearing on the north end.  Fred and Marilynn tried to GPS the route, but the thick canopy prevented a good satellite signal.  A lot of people went for a hike to view areas of the project that they hadn’t seen.  I walked up to the terminal moraine to try and comprehend how fantastic the project was and segment will be when finished.

Starting from the parking lot off of Hwy 52, the trail immediately whisks you into the white cedar swamp with a boardwalk that flows like a river around tree trunks and stumps, floating above the muck.  Leaving the swamp behind, the trail begins to rise to the uplands, finding boulders strewn about the kettles and frost pockets.  The terrain becomes hummocky the further north you go and a sense of excitement builds; you can feel that something great is ahead.  Finally, the trail reaches its zenith at the terminal moraine, gazing out towards the Antigo Flats.  Standing there, at the glaciers furthest extent, you can imagine looking back at the massive sheet of ice in slow retreat, melting its way into oblivion. 

Boulder train (pictures do not do it justice)

I sat down and thought about how the experience the trail gave me was like a great symphony - Beethoven’s 9^th came to mind.  The trail plays with themes, providing you different sensations as you walk further along its lyrical line.  The boardwalk gives hikers a distinct sentiment and sound that changes and evolves to something different once the uplands begin.  These themes join together to create a chorus of feelings while building to the triumphant crescendo.  Understanding where you’ve been, gives greater meaning to where you are. 

In the 9^th, Beethoven works with themes, trying to find the right one.  He’ll follow a theme or idea for a while, only to discard it for a new one.  This continues until the 4^th movement when past themes re-emerge and you realize that the symphony has been using those themes as building blocks, creating something greater than any one of the themes and that the “Ode to Joy” 4^th movement would not be possible or as meaningful without what came before it.  Standing on the terminal moraine would not be the epiphany it is without the boardwalk, boulder trains and kettles that led to it. 

Taking it one step further, this segment could be the “Ode to Joy” of the Ice Age Trail’s 9^th Symphony.  I see echoes of the Grandfather Falls Segment in the curvaceous boardwalks, the hummocky terrain reminds me of walking through the Jerry Lake Segment in Taylor County, the kettles bring to mind the Northern Unit of the Kettle Moraine State Forest, the boulders reminiscent of Straight Lake and the terminal moraine conjures up the views of the moraines, high above Devil’s Lake.  These are all great segments on their own, but when viewed in the context of the entire Ice Age Trail, they gain greater meaning. 

Grandfather Falls

Jerry Lake

Kettle Moraine State Forest

Straight Lake

Glacial Plug at Devil's Lake

Segments are never completely stand-alone, the knowledge and insight gleaned from adjacent segments or others around the state help shape the new segments, creating an even more impressive trail.  The trail builds upon every foot of boardwalk and tread, creating the foundation and tools to better interpret the land.  Trail builders as composers?  Beethoven just rolled over in his grave.

I may succumb to the taste of hyperbole from time to time, but the Plover River Segment will be an unabashed gem, a segment to point to and say, “This is how special the Ice Age National Scenic Trail can be.”  Reputations of greatness are created from segments like Plover River.

After the Straight Lake and Trade River Segments were completed I needed a new sweetheart (you can never have too many) and searched all over the state for it.  I finally found it with the Plover River Segment, specifically from Hwy 52 to HH.  A trail sweetheart can mean different things for different people – a segment you’re invested in from laying out or constructing, one that catches your fancy with beautiful scenery, or just your old standby segment that is always there for you.  Plover has found it’s way into my heart over the last few years; starting with marking the property boundaries for work and continuing with trying to lay the trail out as a volunteer for the IATA and getting lost amongst the cedar swamp and the upland glacial features (It was a love/hate relationship at that point.  After being lost multiple times in one rainy day and finding my way out, all I wanted was another shot at it [and a cheeseburger].  It's interesting how you can cuss and complain about something you love, but after taking a step back and catching your breath, you want to get back in the ring and discover the beauty that lies waiting for you).  Seeing the trail being put on the ground brings me joy since the trail serves as a conduit, allowing hikers the opportunity to explore what makes this property special.  Everyone needs a sweetheart, and I’m willing to share, so check out the Plover River Segment and perhaps you’ll find a sweetheart waiting for you.