The Great Wander of 2026
Day 21: June 15th, 2026
States Hiked: Wisconsin (16 total so far)
Trails Hiked: Oak Trail to Hickory Trail to Bicentennial Loop, Bicentennial, Hickory, and Birch Loop, Ice Cream Midnight
Distance Hiked: 8.4 miles, .5 miles
Elevation Gain: 1,152 ft., 10 ft.
Cumulative Wander: 148.9 miles
Duration: 2h
This hike wasn't deliberately about being Petty Mayonnaise toward someone who had recently walked with me in this same park, but it didn't hurt the matter either. Not what this blog is about though, otherwise many more veiled references (because it's 'shade' you see) would be made.
I finally felt like I was doing a real hike again, which is an absurd thing to say when 16 states and several mountains have been on this journey, but also, being under two miles and doing rest stops just to get steps on the ground is not my style. Days 19 and 20 were particularly underwhelming for me, and with the trip almost over, I wanted to push myself hard at least one more time.
Funnily enough, even the return trip hike in Wisconsin was both on the border with Minnesota and somewhere very familiar to me, so I guess once I got this close to home, it was inevitable. A trip to Devil's Lake would've been more fitting for the theme of this wander, but the only time I went there was with a hiking buddy in February, not to mention someone who had the state parks pass for the appropriate state. And after paying 20 dollars to flirt with heatstroke in Antietam (and without the wool uniforms in the summer to boot), I wasn't eager to give more money for the privilege of walking somewhere.
When anyone asks me where the best places are in Minnesota to hike, the easy answer is "along the eastern crescent." Northern Minnesota on the Iron Range and along Superior, Southern Minnesota along the river bluffs, which of course extends to the other side in Wisconsin because that's how glacial valleys with bluffs work I guess. I'm not a geologist but it made sense in my head for someone who took the geology credit senior year, second semester "rocks for Jocks" and netted the only C on the transcript (working harder for that C than any other grade, for the record, I do not science). What was I talking about? Oh right, bluffs and hiking. Hey, it was three weeks in, don't judge me.
Hixon Forest was lovely when starting from the top at the aforementioned Petty Mayonnaise junction, but hitting up the trailhead on Bliss Road before the climb was even better. Having a hiking companion is lovely, but even after three weeks of pushing myself on various levels, getting that elevation gain and working for that Verified Complete badge when the miles and elevation are higher and harder? Always gonna be the way I do it; it's one of the few cases where "they have to learn everything the hard way" is actually a compliment rather than an annoyance muttered by someone frustrated with my need to trek the more difficult path, literally or metaphorically.
Decent gains, actual views at the top, and increasing the miles, all good things. But after the top of Camel's Hump, it couldn't help but be comparatively underwhelming.
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