Posted here are trip reports submitted up by our trip leaders summarizing some recent club trips:

Door County Bicycling Trip, Labor Day Weekend, 2007
New York AT Trip, September 18, 2007
Backpacking Trip on Knobstone Trail, November 2-4, 2007
 

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Leaders: Warren Smock and Karen Anttila
Participants including leaders: 7

Have you ever come home from a vacation, excited and ready to return or considering how nice it would be to live there? I'm sure most of us can answer yes to that question. A more important question is: How many of you have actually done so? Personally, I don't often return to the same area to vacation. It's not that I don't love the places I go, just that there are new places to discover.

The Door County Peninsula is one of those places where you want to return; in my case, it is an exception to my norm. When Karen Anttila expressed an interest in leading a bicycle trip to Door County, I enthusiastically volunteered to co-lead. This was my fourth trip there since my initial trip in 1995, and I have never been disappointed.

Wisconsin is known as a bicycle friendly state, and the Door County Peninsula may well be their crown jewel for bicycling. Historically grounded in a Scandinavian and maritime heritage, the area makes you feel you have stepped back in time and crossed into a different world. We used the Open Hearth Lodge on the south edge of Sister Bay as our lodging and headquarters for the weekend. The Lodge offered an indoor pool, hot tub, and outside fire pit for our final evening bonfire. Its easy accessibility to the area allowed us to bicycle right from the lodge and made this a perfect choice to headquarter our activities.

Perfect weather with sunny clear skies and mild temperatures ranging from the mid 60s in the morning to mid 70s to very low 80s in the afternoon complemented four days of almost perfect cycling. Riding the Shore Road and Skyline Drive in Peninsula State Park, taking the ferry to Washington Island, visiting the lighthouse in Bailey's Harbor, and stopping to see the Cave Point Bluffs and Whitefish Dunes made four outstanding days of cycling. Not to mention the wineries, general stores, and lunches on a pebble beach or overlooking the Fish Creek harbor, all of which enhanced the whole bicycling experience.

Sitting around the roaring bonfire Monday evening before the sad-to-leave departure early Tuesday, the group came up with the top ten things we should share about our trip to Door County and reasons to visit for the first time or return for another visit.

Number 10: Unique eating experiences
Everyone must do a Fish Boil, a local Door County tradition, and stop by Al Johnson's, a Swedish restaurant featuring a traditional thatched-roof building with live goats on the roof to act as lawn mowers. Spend one evening at Fred and Fuzzy's and watch the sunset over cocktails. These and dozens of other interesting and unique places await your discovery.

Number 9: Washington Island
Bicycling to and taking the ferry to Washington Island. Washington Island is 22 square miles (about 5 by 6 miles) and has been a part of maritime and commercial history in the greatest of the Great Lakes, Lake Michigan. Settled in 1850, Washington Island is the second oldest Icelandic settlement in America. It offers many attractions including the Jacobsen's Museum, Schoolhouse Beach and Mountain Tower in addition to numerous shops and artists' studios. Of special note is the Stavkirke church, an authentic stave church and a perfect way to preserve the Scandinavian heritage of the island.

Number 8: The Villages of the Door County Peninsula
Villages with populations in the low 100s and names like Egg Harbor, Fish Creek, Ephraim, Sister Bay, Ellison Bay, Gills Rock, and Baileys Harbor offer numerous opportunities to shop, eat, and relax along the bays. Even a long weekend trip is not enough time to do them justice.

Number 7: The Roads
Low traffic and bicycle friendly design makes this a utopia for bicycling

Number 6: The State and County Parks
Door County offers several state and county parks. Whitefish Dunes offers fine sandy beaches for relaxing and swimming. Peninsula State Park, maybe the most popular and spectacular in the Door County, offers a full range of activities. Bicycle the many bike paths and don't miss riding the Shore Road and the Skyline Road as they open up numerous dramatic views of Green Bay and even the Michigan Upper Peninsula on a clear day. A visit to Cave Point County Park will take your breath away as you look over the sheer bluffs and watch breaking waves crash into the walls.

Number 5: The Lighthouses
Door County has the second largest concentration of lighthouses for any county in the United States. We had the opportunity to tour several of these beacons including the two most visited, Eagle Bluff Lighthouse in Peninsula State Park and the Cana Island Lighthouse just north of Baileys Harbor.

Number 4: The Scandinavian and Norwegian Heritage
From Swedish lingonberries to wool clothing from Norway and novelties from around the world, the shops are full of authentic imported items. You often hear waiters and waitresses speaking their native language, lending to the feeling of having stepped back in time and into another world.

Number 3: The spectacular scenery and sunsets
This in general is just a beautiful part of our country. Whether riding the coastline with panoramic views of the lakes and the beaches speckled with lighthouses or riding through the center of the peninsula featuring traditional farmland with immaculate farms raising bison or growing corn, the next view is always a pleasant surprise. It inspires you to continue to see what is just over the next peak or around the next corner.

Number 2: The Fish Boil
What is it about the Door County Fish Boil that makes everyone who visits sing its praises? Maybe it is the main ingredient, steaks of mild, delicate whitefish fresh from the waters of Lake Michigan. Perhaps it is the fiery spectacle of the "boil over" that signals it's time to eat. Most assuredly the savory combination of ingredients that fill the boiling kettle plays a strong role. One fact everyone seems to agree on, the end result is delicious. And remember, seconds are expected so don't be shy, but save a little room for the traditional Door County dessert, Cherry Pie. (paragraph taken from The Official Guide, Door County with minor modifications).

Number 1: Did I mention the roads?
The peninsula is accessible by two main highways. State Road 42 runs up the western Green Bay side of the peninsula and State Road 57 accesses the eastern Lake Michigan side of the peninsula. Both have large berms that provide safe and convenient bicycling opportunities. Additionally the peninsula and these two state roads are laced together with a patchwork of county roads featuring smooth surfaces, great scenery and what seems like an absence of traffic. Truly a utopia for bicycling as pedaling your way around the island is safe and hassle free.

In summary I would have to say, everything considered that successive visits have not been as special as that first visit in 1995, but each has offered its own memories and discoveries that keep pulling me back. I'm sure that a fifth visit is somewhere in my future.

Let's go to Door County, Wisconsin

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Leader: Heidi Dixon-White
Participants including leader: 10

The fall AT trip left Indianapolis on September 18th and took us to the town of Stormville in the southeast part of NY for a five-day hike totaling approximately 37 miles. Our first night was spent in cabins in Hariman State park which allowed us to gear up and split up food and supplies for a hike through old forests and mountain ranges that saw Revolutionary War action. On our first day we ascended Stormville Mountain, ascent 500', within the first mile of hiking and continued along the western slope of Hosner Mountain, resting for our first lunch together. The old pros munched on cheese and crackers and the newbie brought out his 3 pound bag of snickers, count of 60, allowing for a ration of 15 per day.

We opted to spend our first night on Shenandoah Mountain at an elevation of 1000'. Jeff was sent ahead as scout to make sure water was available. Unfortunately, Jeff did not take his pack with him so he did the last 1.3 mile ascent as well as descent of what, at the end of the day, felt like the entire 1000' two times. We loved Jeff for being our scout. This campsite tied for first place as the favorite campsite. (For those who can't wait, the other favorite was the Graymoor Friary). The campsite was an old farmstead with a working hand pump for water, a mowed and well-maintained area for sleeping around an old barn, and three glorious, organic apple trees full of juicy, tart fruit. The night was full of stars, and we started a campfire with wood provided for us in the fire pit. The night's entertainment was securing one end of the bear bag to a picnic table which we then proceeded to move around the site in order to get the bags higher and higher.

Our second day of hiking led us through old spaces once cleared by settlers and marked with three foot pile rock fences everywhere. Acorns continuously fell, making one a little skittish that bears were behind the next tree when in actuality it was only gray squirrels gathering nuts for winter. The temperatures continued to be unseasonably warm in the mid 80s. Within a hour, we reached the summit of Shenandoah Mountain at 1282', where we rested and took in the view. We started descending back through old growth forest with the sound of the West Point Cadets' shooting practice. The steep descent led us to the part of the trail that followed along Canopus Lake to NY 301 where we regrouped and enjoyed lunch.

After lunch our trip took us along the 1820's Old Mine Railroad Trail with the most beautiful stone masonry on the bridge trestles. We did pass our only waterfall of the hike where water bottles were refilled with cool (and then treated) water. Our campsite that evening was at Dennyroad Group site, named after the Denny family that operated an iron mine during the 1880s on the mountain east of the campsite. Near the water source was a stone building, which appeared to be a chapel, but was actually a chicken coop. I think everyone turned in by 7:30 for a very dewy night.

Our third day of hiking took us over three mountains, or hills as the AT books referred to them. This area saw considerable activity during the Revolutionary War where on Oct. 9, 1777 the British moved in on 2,000 continentals that then headed to the hills. The area was rich in stone walls and in mountain climbing with steep ascents to the top of Canopus Hill for lunch immediately followed by a steep descent. Again we wandered through forest rich in stone walls and crossed swampy areas only to again ascend steeply along rocky areas to reach the top of Denning Hill where you could see the New York City skyline. Fortunately, this day of hiking ended at Graymoor Friary where an outdoor Japanese style shower house gave all of us a much needed boost of energy. The camp area was in an old ball field at the bottom of the monastery and as dusk came on, the sky was full of eastern blue birds eating flower seeds from the gardens.

We were also treated with a lighted pavilion and picnic tables as we enjoyed another Heidi gourmet meal of jambalaya and beans and rice. The bells of the chapel rang out through the night counting the hours until dawn.

The next morning we broke camp and were on the trail by 8am. After crossing Highway 9 and proceeding on a puncheon through a cattail field, our trail followed on old carriage road before veering off to a 400' ascent along Canada Mountain. This was our first overcast, cool day and the hike, once you got to the ridge was easy going. Well that is except for walking the crevice of a boulder the size of a small Indiana hill in which if you leaned to the right you would plunge down 30'. Near the end of this trail section was a side trail leading to Anthony's Nose, which had spectacular views of the Hudson River and Bear Mountain. From the Nose, we continued a steep descent leaving the forest and across Bear Mountain Bridge, the oldest suspension bridge in the United States built in 1924. A light rain fell as we crossed the bridge. Looking back over our shoulders you could see the mountains we had just conquered shrouded in clouds with only their tips visible.

The irony of this entire trip was that the last mile of this section of the AT Trail went through Trailside Zoo. As our last steps to the van led us through the zoo, the caged animals pacing back and forth sat on concrete slabs, reminded me of how we all need to head back to the woods, be rejuvenated, and leave the concrete jungle behind.

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Leaders: Heidi Dixon-White and Frank White
Participants including leaders: 10

On this trip we tackled the 12-mile Delaney Park/Spurgeon hollow loop at the northern terminus of the Knobstone Trail in southern Indiana. We were fortunate on this trip to have six hikers participating in their first CIWC trip and even a few that were backpacking for the first time! We departed the south side of Indianapolis Friday afternoon for the quick drive to Delaney Park near Salem, Indiana. This lovely park has lots of campsites as well as HEATED restrooms, shower and laundry facilities, and the KT trailhead was conveniently located near our campsite at the rear of the park. We quickly set up camp and prepared dinner as nightfall rapidly approached. It was a cold, crystal clear evening, but master fire builder, Jim, kept us toasty with a great campfire. We awoke to frozen tents and water on a cold, cloudless Saturday morning. After a hearty breakfast we hit the trail for a beautiful hike in the splendor of the Indiana fall foliage.

The Knobstone Trail is unique in a couple of ways. It is probably the most dramatic terrain in the state, and for much of the year water is virtually non-existent along the trail. The terrain consists of flat ravine and ridgeline walking sprinkled with very generous portions of straight uphill climbs and straight downhill descents. We hiked at a leisurely pace, enjoying lots of friendly conversation as we all got to know each other better on a near-perfect fall day. Making new friends and enjoying the great outdoors… a pretty good combination! A short distance before our campsite we had cached lots of water to carry us through the evening and the next day's hike. We camped on a sunny ridge top and enjoyed another hearty meal and lots more friendly conversation. Note: no one ever goes hungry on one of Heidi's trips! Due to fire burning restrictions in the backcountry, sadly we were not to be treated with another of Jim's campfires to take the edge off of the evening chill. So at sundown with full stomachs, we all retreated to the warmth of our tents and sleeping bags for a long evening slumber.

Sunday morning dawned as another beautiful day and thankfully, a bit warmer than the previous morning. Sunday's hike, while a bit shorter than the day before, was quite a bit more difficult with several long uphill climbs followed by steep descents. We were, however, treated to some absolutely stunning fall colors with the sun shining brightly through the trees highlighting the contrast of the golden yellow, green and red leaves with the clear blue sky. We arrived back at the van early in the afternoon a bit tired yet feeling a great sense of accomplishment. What a great weekend getaway!