Month: June 2025

Sturgeon Bay, June 7, 2025, by Roger Carpenter / Greg in Wild

Near the finish of my previous three long-distance thru-hikes, I met with unexpected encounters with wildlife. I considered those moments to be omens for strong and fulfilling finishes to the hikes. On the PCT in 1996, a deer and a rabbit lingered in my final campsite. On the CDT in Glacier National Park, three deer watched as I hiked nearby, never showing fear of my presence. On the Appalachian Trail in 2021, I heard the familiar sound of a Roufus Spotted Towhee, a species closely related to the Spotted Towhee I see daily at home in Oregon. When I saw the Towhee in the brush near a rock outcrop just one day before reaching the end of my AT hike, I knew the karma was alive on the AT, too! On June 4, I watched and listened carefully for a transcendent moment along the Kewaunee River.

At 7:30 a.m. on the 4th, I looked ahead through the foggy, smoky morning air and noticed a deer about 100 feet away. It is not unusual to see deer early in the morning. But this deer was running TOWARDS me. The doe stopped and continued slowly, coming even closer before stopping again. I watched as the doe bobbed its head up and down, refusing to budge. During the full minute of our staredown on the Ahnapee Trail, I smiled knowing this beautiful animal was sending karma my way, wishing me well for the rest of my Ice Age Trail journey and the days after I finished.

Continue reading “Ice Age Trail Days 73-74, June 4 to 5: Finishing Well”

June 3, 2025, by Roger Carpenter / Greg in Wild

Manitowoc is a smallish but busy industrial and port city. The vehicles on the streets of a light-industrial park were driven by workers getting to their jobs at 8 a.m. As I approached an intersection, I nearly jumped out of my Topos when the driver of a Mustang pressed hard on the gas pedal and accelerated to what looked like 60 but sounded like 100. I kept walking. A bicycle passed me, and I glanced at the young man quietly riding to work. “Happy trails!” he said to me before turning down another street. Thus, I began my walk through Manitowoc on a positive note.

The IAT route through Manitowoc includes a leafy residential neighborhood where lovely, brick homes are framed with well-manicured lawns. Many of the towns along the IAT have this pleasing look and feel of small-town Midwest Americana. I stopped to rest in a city park before continuing to the lakefront. The vertical yellow blazes guided me to the Mariner Trail, which is essentially a sidewalk along the lakefront between Manitowoc and Two Rivers. To be clear, the sight of Lake Michigan is exciting because just over 100 miles remain on my hike. But, as I am more of a mountains man, I do not get carried away at the sight of large body of water. Just north of Manitowoc, it was the Spirit of the Rivers sculpture that captured my attention. The sculpture portrays three Native Americans, including one woman and two men, with one man holding a canoe above his head. The three figures, with facial expressions shown in fine detail, were mesmerizing. This is the land of the Menominee, Ojibwa, Ottawa, and Potawatomi.

Continue reading “Ice Age Trail Days 68-72, May 30 to June 3: Lake Michigan, Two Rivers and the Kewaunee River”